Well, there are three "boardgame stores" in Portland, and all three carry ADB products. Maybe we are overly-awesome, here.

(Although, of course, if you count 'comic book shops' that have a shelf or two of games, there are probably twice that number, and none carry ADB products)

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Quote:

But companies like Wizards of the Coast and Steve Jackson are in ALL of the stores. We're just not in that league

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By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Saturday, May 01, 2010 - 02:25 pm: Edit

I would guess that Steve Jackson getting into "all" the stores really means the Munchkin line, not the GURPS line, at least for product regularly on the shelves. My local store has Munchkin and D&D and comics regularly on the shelves, but not GURPS or any ADB stuff unless I special order.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, May 01, 2010 - 07:15 pm: Edit

Nope, GURPS did not help. Doing a munchkin game might, but SJG already did a "space munchkin" game that would make any need for an "SFB munchkin" game irrelevant.

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Sunday, May 02, 2010 - 06:55 pm: Edit

There's one not so friendly local game store in our area (and we have a lot a SFB/FC players in our area).

The owner of the store orders three copies of each ADB product (other than minis) and when those sell - which happens rather quickly, they are gone. There is no "extra" stock kept on the shelves. Whenever someone else wants a copy of an ADB product it can be special ordered but there is no big rush to get it in and it must be paid for in advance.

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Sunday, May 02, 2010 - 07:10 pm: Edit

*shudders*

Munchkin.

ICK.

There's certainly enough room for a 'SFU munchkin' product (the 'space' one certainly involves a LOT of Trek stuff, but SFU-themed, especially with its rich history, would still have enough material work).

But, really...why? Munchkin is such a...non-gamers game.

(Actually, thinking about it - you COULD take a somewhat more serious tone with it...well, a touch, anyway...and end up with something like 'Battle-Force-Lite-but-with-People-Instead-of-Ships'. Might be amusing? Never understood why 'Battle Force' wasn't more accepted, anyway - that's an AWESOME 'beer and pretzels' game. Grabs a lot of the feel/texture of SFB, but plays so incredibly fast, and is FUN.)

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 10:50 am: Edit

Tony.

The solution is that when you come in to buy a product that is already gone to:

1) Ask if they have it on backorder already.

2) When they say "NO" you then say, "OK, I will just buy it directly from them. I just wanted to give my Local Gaming store the business first."

3) Then when they say "we'll order it for you" you reply "No, its OK, I can get it faster and at the same price if I buy it direct. Now if you had it in stock or backorder..."


this tells the store that you value their presence and would buy from them if they had the stuff. And that if they buy more ADB stuff, they might sell more. Which would tend to make ADB have a longer shelf life/ presence. Which I would pray would be bait to bring in new players.

By Tony L Thomas (Scoutdad) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 12:26 pm: Edit

Mike... that would work - if the owner cared about any business other than "clicky-base", 40K, cardboard crack, and WotC book of the month.

I've been in the store before and heard him comlain about having to walk away from his MMORPG to ring upa sale or to answer a question from a customer.

That's why we quit shopping there, and quit gaming there, and no longer have an FC league, etc...

It's not a pleasent establishment to visit - so we avoid it like the plague...

As for new players... very few people over the age of 13 shop there any longer; and the one's that do are still complaingin about how hard the new DND rules are and how the "clicky base" stuff has too many choices to make... and so on.

By Phil Shanton (Mxslade) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 07:21 pm: Edit

Tony,
that's the same problem we are having here in NEPA/WNJ area. I stopped using stores up here and started using a store in King of Prussia and now they are acting the same way. The rest of the people I game with order from on-line vendors.

At 43 I am tired of trying to convince stores to carry what I want, trying to start leagues and gaming groups at places that could careless.

The joke around here is that any gamer trying to do something other than CCG, CMG, Clickys, or GW crap will be visited by Chris Hanson and Dateline NBC because we're twice to three times the age of the crowd these stores are vying for.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 08:25 pm: Edit

My wife drives me over 60 miles through some of the worst traffic in the country (to Tacoma), once a year as my birthday present, so I can shop at the one game store in the metro Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area that really services the full-breadth of the gamer customer-base (Game Matrix).

They do all the money-making clicky/Munchkin/CCG/Flames of War/War Hammer/etc. stuff, but they carry the rest of the hobby's products in equal depth. It's the only store I've ever seen that has essentially every SFU product, in-stock, essentially all the time. The same seems to be true for all the other lines.

It's got to be all the military folks from McChord AFB and Fort Lewis that can support a store as good as Game Matrix.

I dearly wish they were closer to where I live, but I know I'm lucky they exist at all, given what is more usual.

I have stores closer to home, but they have the usual problems listed above (in various measures). The ones that will keep some SFU in-stock have surly jerks that get [expletive] if I drag them from their WarHamster game to take my money, the ones that have great people keep next-to-nothing (or just plain nothing) SFU in-stock... [sigh].

By Howard Bampton (Bampton) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 09:00 pm: Edit

The store in King of Prussia seems to have much better service if you go during the week vs. on weekends. I've walked out twice on weekends because I couldn't get service. Since I drive by there 40+ weekends a year on my way to my Mom's place, they are leaving north of $500 in business on the table that instead goes to ADB and other companies via mail order (or my trunkfull of stuff from my trip to Origins).

Back in the mid to late 90's the store had a weekend shift and a weekend one (basically one person M-Th, two Fri 5PM to close, plus Sat and Sun).

I've been shopping there on and off (moved out of town for many years) for more than 25 years...

By Phil Shanton (Mxslade) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 09:23 pm: Edit

yeah I've been going there since 1985(monthly trip with a group) but now,I don't know I only get there on weekdays (pass by for work) and the person there is getting more difficult to deal with, plus he's into confusing SFB with ST:SCS and bashes the game alot and doesn't seem to be bothered with ordering or restocking. In the late 90's and the early part of this decade there was a group who met on wendesday nites to play SFB, but I was heading north (home) about the time the sessions started.

There's a store just off of 495 in Delaware and everybody I talked to says he's great to deal with, but I don't get a chance to stop there more than twice a year and I know he carries alot of SFB/FC stuff.

By Ryan Opel (Ryan) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 10:14 pm: Edit

I shopped at Phoenix Games in Minneapolis and it's predecessor. I try and stop by when I'm home but they had closed shop last time I stopped by. Just found out that they moved out to the western subarbs so I guess I'll have to stop by the next time I'm home.

They even gave me a free copy of a Osprey book when I got back from Iraq. I was looking for it and couldn't find it. As I left and walked by the outside window and saw it there. I came back and and they gave it to me for free as a thanks for my service.

Great store.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Monday, May 03, 2010 - 10:26 pm: Edit

Guys, this isn't really on new products and SVC uses this as a working topic. How's about we talk about the FLGS (and the not-so-friendly ones) in my topic?

Otherwise, we could hear SVC ROAR!

By Shawn Hantke (Shantke) on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 - 03:58 pm: Edit

How about a Captain Log Revisited or Best of, that takes reprints of 3 or 4 old Captain's Logs, bind them in a cardstock cover (like Galactic Conquest) and sell them in stores. Maybe do the same for a Captain's Log Presents: The Best of Nexus, (containg reprints of all the nexus material) and a Captain's Log Presents: The Best of Starletter (containing reprints of all the Starletters) and also Captain's Log Presents: The best of the Star Fleet Times. Good way to make some money of off the old stuff, and still keep making new Captain's Logs with the new stuff player's want plus a great way to get the old stuff back ito the hands of players who want the old stuff and/or didn't know it existed. It would also be great because it would get it on store shelves instead of eBay and the web.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 - 05:32 pm: Edit

I'd rather just sell each issue.

By Michael Bennett (Mike) on Tuesday, May 04, 2010 - 09:20 pm: Edit

I guess some of the scenarios out of the old CLs would still be okay, but the main thing from them would be the fiction and similar support material as long as it doesn't contradict anything from the newer ADB era.

It would be VERY nice to have the fiction with the accompanying scenarios (both SFB and FC versions) in a format similar to Glory of the Empire.

By Mike Barlow (Wpol) on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 09:40 am: Edit

Are there plans for a FC scenario book?

I always loved the SFB ones. The FC one wouldn't have to come with map panels or anything, just a book.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 11:01 am: Edit

I don't want to do CapLog compilations, other than the fiction stuff.

Yes, there will be an FC scenario book.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 11:44 am: Edit

Just wondering if there is a need for D module update?

IIRC the module D3 came out back in the early 1990's and included Fed Saucers, Klingon Booms, and Neo-Tholians, all of which should still be current and require (I would think) no updates.

Just curious if there is enough new material (new booms and saucers, perhaps update the Klingon Booms with the Collar attachments that were published in Captains Log a couple years ago...) to justify a Module D4?

One advantage would be no new counters.

A second advantage, it would be (one would think) relatively straight forwad to add some selected SSDs for any new designs that aren't already included in the D3 data file, and update the inside front cover information (specifically the list of ships included in the product.

Might even allow for a couple more scenarios to be added.

Heck, D3 even predated the dreaded Crawford Box, so SPP won't even have to delete the Crawford Boxes from the SSD's...

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 01:10 pm: Edit

I am not sure if D3 was the worst selling SFU product in history, but it was close.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 02:48 pm: Edit

Ah... I had no idea that D3 was so poorly received. Funny, I have found it helpful on a couple of occasions over the years.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 03:57 pm: Edit

With the miracle of POD, we can do a low-sales product if it doesn't take a lot of work, so ask me after Origins.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 04:25 pm: Edit

Will do.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 05:11 pm: Edit

New Product Idea

Has anyone thought of a product designed to generate SFB scenarios from F&E? Personally, I use F&E as a campaign system (with all of the appropriate "big picture" rules for movement and economics) and resolve encounters with SFB.
This requires more effort than merely lining up the F&E battle force and throwing them on an SFB map to slug it out.

It seems to me that a system to bridge the two systems would be really cool. Any market for that?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 05:52 pm: Edit

It seems to me that such a thing is a page or two of guidelines, maybe a scenario set up, not a product. Those few who have done this did not seem to need any help figuring it out.