Newsletter #6: I owe you guys all a Christmas present....
Psst, hey. Sorry for going ghost mode for a while. My life has been extremely hectic as usual, and I’ve also been dealing with writers’s block, as usual!
Tis the season of gifting and I happen to know Lichcraft is always a popular gift (for that trans family member you want to support, but you also don’t want to just buy them yet another pin?)
To make your seasonal gift-buying that much easier, I’m offering 100% free shipping storewide. But you have to be quick. I’m going away for the season on Friday, so you need to order by Thursday 7th to ensure quick delivery before Christmas.
Having said that, I did a couple of fantastic cons recently and I have a new boxset! I’m gonna put the boxset bit first so that I can ramble for ages about cons. You can skip the next section if you’re not interested in spending money :)
Hieronymus: The Last Boxset (Bruges)
I produced a new box set. It’s perfectly christmas present size, ideal for any of your family members and/or partners who are really into medieval art.
The Hieronymus Boxset is the only way you can get your hands on a hardcover version of the book online. Otherwise it’s only sold at cons. Additionally, I got the amazing Kayla at the Rat Wave Game House to produce a brand new worldscape playmat for the set. I wrote a mini pamphlet for it. And there’s a bunch of extra character sheets, stickets and so on in there to make play easier and more fun. Oh and the box is pretty as well. Here’s a poorly lit photo of it:
Personally, I think every game designer goes through a phase where they just want to put things in a box because it would be really cool, even if it isn’t really financially viable. Well, hopefully I’ve got it out of my system now…
I may be making a mistake, but shipping on the set is free as part of my storewide free shipping in the run up to christmas, so check it out.
Dragonmeet!
So I had such an amazing time at Dragonmeet this year I thought I’d loop everyone in. A lot of people asked us how we started stalling at cons. And basically, it’s almost always worth it if you have good games to sell, and its not as complicated as you think. Mainly, you just need loads of energy.
Dragonmeet is only a one day con but it’s a long day. We paid for a double stall in the Upper Hall which was £400. As you can see, Hieronymus features heavily on the table, and tahts because I brought out a new box set prior to the event.
I spent about £500 getting all the materials I needed for it and made £400 selling the box set at the con, so we are nearly in profit. (If you want to get me over the edge, they are now up on my website, and its one of your only chances to get a Hieronymus hardback online)
Overall I made about £1000, which means I will end up paying more for the stand than my pals since we split out costs commensurate to what we make. But by far the most valuable bit of the con experience is meeting people who have already got copies of my games and hearing about their experience.
I get so many mini play reports, and I do a happy dance at each one (which sometimes looks a bit odd…) So if you ever spot me at a con, please come say hi even if you ahve no intention of buying anything.
At Norwich Games Con earlier in the year, I met someone who was playing through Stolen Crown. They showed me a little 3-D set they had build out of clay for one of the encounters. Look how cool!
Anyway, the con experience is well worth it for me. You’re not going to get rich quick, but bring some bigger items and you’ll probably at least break even and meet some great people!
A few last takeaways:
- solo games are in, clearly signalling which games are solo and which are not is a good idea
- tarot cards are in
- everyone has a copy of lichcraft so I may as well stop bringing it!
This Dragonmeet also saw my first panel guesting opportunity! It should be up at some point on the Dragonmeet podcast channel, wherever and whatever that is.
Anyway, that’s my update for this season, with a few other points:
Inevitable, a game I wrote a page for is coming out soon! Keep an eye out!
So is another project that I don’t know if I can talk about, but I will as soon as it’s out!
As usual I’ll try to bring out something free around Christmas or New Years. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Please keep warm and welll rested in this freezing cold.
Laurie