THE COMPILED LIST OF IDEAS FOR
SMALL COLORFUL THINGS
============================
BATTLE DAMAGE CODE RED
DEFINITION: An old product we did long ago, didn’t really work right, but produced some strange results.
NOTES: Not really for this topic, but noted here as it keeps coming up in conversation.
- - - - - - - - - -
BOOKMARKS
DEFINITION: Something 1x6 inches which is given away in mail orders.
NOTES: We have done these before and they’re a "better than nothing" use of bonus printing.
- - - - - - - - - -
CAFE PRESS: This is just a general note. We have a store there. It sells one or two or three items a month. Very disappointing, particularly given how many people swore they would buy stuff there who never did.
- - - - - - - - - -
CALENDARS: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. We have looked into this several times without finding a practical production means. We just don’t believe there are enough sales to risk the money printing them, due to the short sales lifetime.
- - - - - - - - - -
CARDBOARD HEROES
DEFINITION: Cut out and stand up RPG characters.
NOTES: Don’t sell very well, very expensive to have artist do them.
- - - - - - - - - -
COFFEE MUGS: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. Available (or can be made available) on Cafe Press.
- - - - - - - - - -
CUSTOM DICE: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. We have looked into this several times without finding a practical production means.
- - - - - - - - - -
EMBROIDERED PATCHES: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. We have done these before, and they don’t sell very well, so we’re reluctant to spend time and money on them.
- - - - - - - - - -
EMPIRE COVER PAGES FOR R-SECTIONS
DEFINITION:
NOTES: Not much demand, high production cost.
- - - - - - - - - -
F&E MAP OVERLAYS AND EXTENSIONS
DEFINITION: This could extend the map (into the Hydran off-map, or the Paravian area, or the Carnivon area) or change the map (show the Vudar).
NOTES: Depends on available paper space and work time. The problem is that this requires something 8x10 or 11x17 and would have to be put inside a product, not given away for free.
- - - - - - - - - -
FC: COLOR SET OF COMMAND CARDS
DEFINITION: Easy to do. We did B&W ones in Orion Attack.
NOTES: Takes a full sheet, dubious if they would sell.
- - - - - - - - - -
MEGAHEX COUNTERS:
DEFINITION: one-inch full-color art counters, for ships not in FC or in Module H1.
NOTES: Could fit into any number of odd corners, but limited demand makes these impractical for press runs of 1,000. Would fit great into squadron box cover sheets as we print small quantities of these.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOUSE PADS: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. Available (or can be made available) on Cafe Press.
- - - - - - - - - -
PLAY AID CARDS
DEFINITION: There are many possibilities for something that would be cooler in color than in B&W, at least one good idea for every single game system.
NOTES: Would be better if laminated, which is not practical for bonus and leftover printing.
SFB Racial or food group master weapons charts.
SFB Ground combat gameboard.
- - - - - - - - - -
PLAYTEST COUNTERS
DEFINITION: Could be done for any game. We have done this at least twice for F&E and at least once for SFB.
NOTES: Ok for a giveaway.
F&E: Paravian playtest counters.
F&E: Civil Wars playtest counters.
- - - - - - - - - -
POSTERS TO GIVE AWAY for free isn't likely (as they would cost over a dollar a piece printed 1,000 at a time). Stores would love to have them but add in the cost ($7) to put in a tube and mail and it's not likely to get approved by the Board.
- - - - - - - - - -
POSTERS, BIG; normal printing, 22x17 size, I'm getting a quote but the lowest print run is 1,000 and we've never sold more than 300 of anything by mail order, so this is a money-losing suicide mission. One possible way of doing this (a trick from TFG4) is to include the poster in a product, upping the cost of the product to cover the price of the poster. This "forces" enough people to "buy" the poster that it becomes economical to print, but are players going to resent paying $5 more for a product in order to get a poster many of them may not have wanted?
- - - - - - - - - -
POSTERS, SMALL: limited run (print on demand) on IGEN3 equipment. Easily done but limited to 11x17 size. Theoretically could be done for a modest price (sold mail order only) but shipping could be icky (unless folded in half and included in a regular shipment). Even so, could easily be done.
- - - - - - - - - -
PRIME DIRECTIVE FOLD UP SHUTTLE FOR RPGS
DEFINITION: SVC did the art a long time ago. You cut it out (die cutting it would cost a fortune) and fold it up into a three-dimensional shuttlecraft that could be used in RPG play.
NOTES: We need a healthier RPG line to make this useful.
- - - - - - - - - -
RING TONES FOR CELL PHONES: I cannot begin to imagine how we’d do this or what we’d do.
- - - - - - - - - -
SFB/FC COLOR CARDSTOCK TURN GAUGES
DEFINITION: The standard turn guages, but done in color.
NOTES: Would take at least one 8.5x11 sheet for the small size, three sheets for the big size, sales potential is not there.
- - - - - - - - - -
SFB ESG TEMPLATES
DEFINITION: A hex thing showing the radius of an ESG.
NOTES: Sounds cool but I have serious doubts if this could be used in combat, and doubt it is needed.
- - - - - - - - - -
SFB KLINGON FIRING ARC TEMPLATE
DEFINITION: shows those strange arcs out to 12 or 20 hexes.
NOTES: Would not have to be done in color, easier to do in B&W.
- - - - - - - - - -
SFB PAPER PAPERCLIPS
DEFINITION: These would slide onto the side of the Impulse chart to indicate the impulse that certain activities occurred. The player would cut them out and then clip them onto the side of the impulse chart to label when things happened (I'm assuming custom cutting for something like this would be wayy too expensive to consider). I'm thinking things like WW launch, DF, Drone Launch, plasma launch.
NOTES: Does not seem practical. They would not hold up well in use.
- - - - - - - - - -
SFBF CARDS
DEFINITION: Various possibilities, including battleships (an expansion that would not have to shuffle), playtest or expansion cards, etc.
NOTES: We did giveaway dragon and battlecruiser cards, which were popular. I think that a set of battleship cards would sell, but this would take an 11x17 area.
- - - - - - - - - -
STORE SIGNS, SHELF TALKERS, SALES AIDES
DEFINITION: Could be done in many sizes.
NOTES: We have done these many times before.
- - - - - - - - - -
T-SHIRTS: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. Available (or can be made available) on Cafe Press.
- - - - - - - - - -
TOTE BAGS: Don’t fit this topic, but came up inconversation. Available (or can be made available) on Cafe Press.
- - - - - - - - - -