What I Learned About RPGs From Running a Game Shop #1

19 Dec What I Learned About RPGs From Running a Game Shop #1

After I finished my Kickstarter for Infected RPG back in 2015, I had big plans for creating lots more good RPG content. And then I ended up starting a family, moving cities, and buying a shop! It’s been quite an adventure.

I put my RPG-design plans on hold, and worked flat out seven days a week to build our shop from a small (and struggling) second-hand DVD & CD store, into a fully-fledged board game, hobby, and RPG shop. Something must have worked, because now we’re one of the larger game shops in our city (though our city is Canberra, which is pretty small to be honest).

During these years of standing at a counter, buying stock, negotiating, and pitching games to customers, I’ve come to learn a few things about what works and what doesn’t. I can only speak from my experience, but perhaps it will be useful for others wanting to give their book the best chance at surviving in a sea of RPGs.

The Top RPGs

The top RPG we sell is D&D, hands down. However, even within that, there are some books that sell more than others. Setting books, and books that allow people more options within the game become must have items. This is a lesson in itself – will your latest book help the players to make their own game? If not, it may not sell as well as it could.

Other top sellers include: Mork Borg, Alien RPG, Call of Cthulhu, Blades in the Dark, Things From the Flood, Tales From the Loop and Star Wars. 

Branding

There’s a lot of things that go into a popular tabletop RPG. One of the most important is branding. My knowledge of this is strictly from the coal-face. I sell the books, and I know the ones that sell. I can usually see which books will be popular before they’re put out. I find the most popular ones are those that strike a clear message from their front cover.

One of the biggest reasons books do well on the shelf is because customers can immediately see what the book is.

It has to stand out, and tell you what experience it offers. And it has to do that from the cover and the blurb. Make the blurb too long, and no-one will read it. Make it too vague (an epic fantasy with dragons and magic) or worse still have no blurb and you are too similar to others to pick out.

Think about branding like standing on a black backdrop. If you wear black clothes, you’ll look invisible. Wear something striking to stand out from the crowd.

There are basically two pieces to this: Cover and Blurb.

Try to summarise your blurb in one short sentence:

“A doom metal album of a game. A spiked flail to the face. Rules light, heavy everything else.“

“A Nordic horror roleplaying game”

“Roleplaying in the 80s that never was.”

“A tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city.”

“The world’s best roleplaying game of mystery and horror.”

When I get asked by a customer what a book is about, I need to be able to tell them in one or two sentences. Then I can elaborate, show them the art and so on. But if the blurb doesn’t show their unique selling point immediately, interest and thus the sale can easily slip away.

Covers also need to be evocative. I see many covers that look cool but don’t snag buyers on the shelf. I think that’s largely because they don’t stand out enough, or they don’t pitch their premise enough.

The best covers I find tend to have a scene that shows potential player characters in a situation. It’s depicting what the customer will experience when they buy the book. Not everything follows that rule. But all of them have to stand out, and show their premise just from the cover.

This is definitely an art rather than a science. I’ve seen some covers that look awesome, yet haven’t gotten buyers, and vice versa. Probably the weirdest cover I’ve seen is Mork Borg, but it’s so weird that it attracts attention and therefore sells. If people don’t pick your book up, they can’t buy it.

Here are some examples:

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Try it out for yourself:

Work out a short 1-2 sentence pitch for your game, and then draw up a rough sketch of your cover, and what words you’d put on it. Then put it away for a day or two and when you bring it out later, look at the cover for just a couple of seconds, casually read the blurb.

What impressions did you get? What stood out? What would you change? Rinse and repeat until you feel like you’ve got a killer cover and blurb.

I hope this helps! There’s more to come, so if you like this sort of content, please let me know. And if there’s anything else you’d like me to cover, please ask 🙂

`Oliver

Clearance Sale

My warehouse wants my books gone, and they’ve given me 30 days to clear them out! I think this is a good opportunity to give some great bargains during Christmas on what is a first print of my full colour, lavishly illustrated, hardcover book.

I poured my heart and soul into Infected, and I learnt a lot. What’s more, I think it’s a truly beautiful book, and would make a special gift for yourself or the RPG lover in your life.

BUY IT NOW FOR 50% OFF! THAT’S JUST $40 AUD.

Not only that, but you’ll get FIVE FREE PDF SCENARIOS to go along with it, and a FREE PDF of the book!

If you like the sound of that, enter the Promo Code INFECTEDXMAS to get this great deal, and thank you so very much for the support!