Re: ILH-2 status, the natives are becoming restless from Tim Ellis on 2006-10-02 (HeroQuest RPG)

From: Tim Ellis <tim_at_...>
Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 09:55:19 -0000

> Hello all,

> ILH2 is in stock at my fullfilment house, Impressions, and they have

> started supplying the market via distributors. I don't really know

> long it will take to get the books into game shops. Much of that

> depends on game shops wanting to stock the book, asking a

> for it, who in turn gets it from Impressions.

Thanks for the update, Rick. I'm slightly uneasy by the last sentance quoted above, as it seems to be the opposite way to the way I understand the RPG market normally working (but I freely admit to having no professional or insider knowledge, so please feel free to correct my misconceptions...) As I understand it, rightly or wrongly, Games stores tend to rely on the distributors informing them that a new game has come into stock before ordering it. There would appear to be an impasse here if (and again, I may be misreading your mail) Impressions are waiting to be asked for the book, and the stores are waiting to be offered it.

There does appear to have been a long delay in these books getting to market - such that my decision to get Mythic Russia at Continuum, but not ILH2, on the grounds that the former may be harder/take longer to get through my FLGS has been proven mistaken (MR was offered to them on Friday, and should be readily available in all good UK shops from Wednesday) while ILH2 is still in the "There are lots of people who will buy this when we can get it" pile...

What can we, as customers do? (Other than bitch on rpg.net or immmoderategloranthaquest, neither of which is particularly constructive)? Where there is a good relationship between customer and shop owner, passing on the information that Impressions have it available to Distributors might make it back up the chain to generate orders, but I'm not sure it would work in every case? (And yes, I know we could also order it directly from you, or from Ingo, but I'd prefer to get it from my FLGS for two reasons - firstly because I like having a FLGS and want to support it by buying games there, and secondly, because a healthy demand for HQ products in shops means they will be kept in stock and thus able to catch the attention of the casual browser, increasing the number of players/potential purchasers (This is even more likely with the advent of the new Mongoose RQ, since there is a crossover potential with new RQ players looking for moire Gloranthan info.