B'Ham - Half time score

From: Nick Hollingsworth <nick.hollingsworth_at_...>
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 18:47:16 +0100


Birmingham demo, day 1 of 2, score at end of day:
. thee demonstrators
. two demos ( 1 blackspear, 1 hound tower)
. 11 punters
. 30 boxed sets sold
. of which about 17 were preordered

of the punters I think only 4 were people not presold on the game - I think a couple of them bought it and the other two said they would not buy but would play again.

Roj (the owner) was very pleased at the level of sales which he appears to consider quite exceptional for an RPG launch. However, it must be noted that these are mostly to RQ fans who have been waiting for the thing to ship for half a lifetime.

A couple of the non-RQ players who played blackspear commented favourably on the setting - the way that politics and clan relations were emphasised while combat was played down. And the fact that there was clearly a bigger picture which the scenario fitted into. This is a good scenario for demos because it sells Glorantha not just the rules. It probably needs to be tightened up a bit though as its got enough in it for a couple of nights play if you tried to use it all. I remain unconvinced that Hound Tower has the same strength of flavour though folks enjoyed it.  

Comments:

Most of the people coming in to the shop came in for a specific purpose and did not have a few hours to spend playing a game, hence you end up demoing to the converted, which is nice but not as productive as pulling in new players.
Demos at conventions would be much better as there are a large number of punters who are there for the day and often open to having a go at something, plus there is not always enough to do at cons. People have limited time to give to a demo in a shop or a convention where they have come to do other stuff. A snappy two hour game that gets the flavour across would be better than a worthy four hour game. Something like GenConUK would allow a longer demo, but a two hour game run several times still 'processes' more people.

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