Absolutely correct. For those of you that haven't heard this fact the last several times it was mentioned. At best, Issaries is a two employee company. Greg Stafford and Stephen Martin are the only two official employees. Steve's efforts are largely on a volunteer basis and Greg's efforts, while consisting of a full time workload, don't generate enough revenue for a full time wage. Everything else is done by freelance writers, artists, lay out designers. Most of those work for little money as well. This is not meant to mean that Issaries is a cheap company that runs a sweat shop, but their budgets are incredibly tight.
The main purpose of my original email on contributing to Glorantha was to not ask what Issaries can do for us, but what we can do for Issaries. Other than best wishes, sincere thanks, and a bit of free product, Issaries isn't going to have much, if any official presence at any conventions where Greg isn't invited and paid for. Their travel budget, let alone their budget for buying convention table space, is ZERO. Their advertising budget is also zero. You may be saying to yourself, "what a way to run a company", but Issaries' choice was simple: that way or not at all.
Fans have kept Glorantha alive through several dark eras in the past. For many of us this is nothing new. It is also something we must be willing to do again if we want to see Issaries keep publishing.
If there's a convention you will be attending, contact the organizers and volunteer to GM an event. Run a short seminar for newbies on how to get started playing in Glorantha. Contact Issaries and let them know what you intend to do. Start with Graham Robinson; he's their volunteers coordinator. He'll let you know what freebies or demo material is available to support your efforts.
If there's a local game shop that sponsors on-site gaming, get some Hero Wars sessions on the schedule. Ask the shop to stock one or two copies of each book, if possible.
If you have the money, buy Hero Wars books as Holiday presents to fellow gamers. Even if each of us got one new person hooked, our numbers would double.
Issaries doesn't need sales figures that rival D20, although it wouldn't hurt. What it needs to at least struggle on is sales of say 5,000 to 10,000 of each book. That would really help keep things going.
In the end:
Buy the books
Run Demos at cons and game shops
Write articles/draw art
Alternatively, you can sit back and passively watch Issaries go under. Bitching about how Issaries doesn't do X or didn't do Y is neither constructive or helpful. Issaries would love to have the resources to publish 12 high-quality books a year, and have a big booth and loads of events at every convention possible. Don't remind them to do that, Help them make it happen.
Rick Meints
www.glorantha.co.uk
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