My FNSLGS participated, and I ran a demo of DCC for them. My FLGS also participated (at least according the to FRPGD page) but I don't know how/what they did. It seems to be the usual "you get out what you put in" situation. Gary Ray definitely had a good day, for example.
US gamer here...my local game store does make a big deal about Free RPG day, in addition to the various free quickstarts and whatnot that gets passed out, he also has game masters set up and run games all day, he does a raffle for gift certificates, usually has doughnuts or bagels...you get the idea; and not only does it draw a crowd, it has ended up in sales for the store...he will run some X% off on this game today only type thing, people that play whatever game (or games) is/are featured will end up purchasing or ordering said game...it's not at all a shitshow; it's well organized and ends up drawing attention to games that would otherwise might not get seen (for example, I ordered Garbage and Glory after picking up the quickstart). Seems pretty worth it to him (and a few others), I think.
Here in Denver it seems to be a big enough thing - although the nearby stores didn't run with it, a fair number of stores further from my home did, with various events and games to play. As such, it seems as successful as Free Comic Book day was? The local gaming subreddit had a thread or two about it as well.
I didn’t know about Free RPG Day until a few years ago, when I happened to be in a game shop the day it was happening. Now it’s one of my favorite days of the year.
The last two years I’ve run demo games at my local comic shop (which doubles as the neighborhood game shop). It certainly gets butts through the door, but that depends on how much the store invests in the day. It definitely doesn’t get enough attention in the broader RPG world.
Not sure how effective it is as a sales tactic without any real numbers.
Interesting, it definitely seems like the onus is really on the store (or perhaps even more volunteers from the local scene) to really push it, which on some level makes sense
but in my experience these things really need both a coordinated central push to ramp up the buzz and cut through and reach people outside the bubble plus of course ensure more buy in from the industry at large.
like I know some of the bigger companies like Paizo get involved on some level but it's striking how many well respected publishers only seemed to pick up on it during the day itself and then not entirely get what it is actually trying to achieve.
oh for sure, that's what makes it so bad imo. Record Store Day obviously involves some outlay on behalf of record labels but for many it can help fund so much else of what they do.
here we seem to have a situation where publishers aren't really benefitting and it seems like the public aren't really getting much out of it either, just a bit pointless then all round
re: Free RPG Day -- I'm so glad it's not just me. I'm sort of new to all of this and thought I was just missing something everybody else knew, but it sounds like nobody had much of a clue. I feel like someone, somewhere had a vision for this with an actual point, but didn't quite know how to execute the plans for it...or to include anyone else in said vision. :) Fingers crossed for next year.
I too was caught off guard by Free RPG Day. No where near me was participating, though I'm based in Germany. I don't think it does such a great job at bringing new people in as the organizers might hope, though I'm interested to see if there's some other kind of event that people could run to try and achieve those results.
My FNSLGS participated, and I ran a demo of DCC for them. My FLGS also participated (at least according the to FRPGD page) but I don't know how/what they did. It seems to be the usual "you get out what you put in" situation. Gary Ray definitely had a good day, for example.
US gamer here...my local game store does make a big deal about Free RPG day, in addition to the various free quickstarts and whatnot that gets passed out, he also has game masters set up and run games all day, he does a raffle for gift certificates, usually has doughnuts or bagels...you get the idea; and not only does it draw a crowd, it has ended up in sales for the store...he will run some X% off on this game today only type thing, people that play whatever game (or games) is/are featured will end up purchasing or ordering said game...it's not at all a shitshow; it's well organized and ends up drawing attention to games that would otherwise might not get seen (for example, I ordered Garbage and Glory after picking up the quickstart). Seems pretty worth it to him (and a few others), I think.
That’s really good to hear.
Here in Denver it seems to be a big enough thing - although the nearby stores didn't run with it, a fair number of stores further from my home did, with various events and games to play. As such, it seems as successful as Free Comic Book day was? The local gaming subreddit had a thread or two about it as well.
That’s good to hear!
I didn’t know about Free RPG Day until a few years ago, when I happened to be in a game shop the day it was happening. Now it’s one of my favorite days of the year.
The last two years I’ve run demo games at my local comic shop (which doubles as the neighborhood game shop). It certainly gets butts through the door, but that depends on how much the store invests in the day. It definitely doesn’t get enough attention in the broader RPG world.
Not sure how effective it is as a sales tactic without any real numbers.
Interesting, it definitely seems like the onus is really on the store (or perhaps even more volunteers from the local scene) to really push it, which on some level makes sense
but in my experience these things really need both a coordinated central push to ramp up the buzz and cut through and reach people outside the bubble plus of course ensure more buy in from the industry at large.
like I know some of the bigger companies like Paizo get involved on some level but it's striking how many well respected publishers only seemed to pick up on it during the day itself and then not entirely get what it is actually trying to achieve.
Anyway well done for running games yourself there
Free RPG is only free for customer side, those wishing to participate must pay it's organizers. It's a business, not a fun tradition.
oh for sure, that's what makes it so bad imo. Record Store Day obviously involves some outlay on behalf of record labels but for many it can help fund so much else of what they do.
here we seem to have a situation where publishers aren't really benefitting and it seems like the public aren't really getting much out of it either, just a bit pointless then all round
re: Free RPG Day -- I'm so glad it's not just me. I'm sort of new to all of this and thought I was just missing something everybody else knew, but it sounds like nobody had much of a clue. I feel like someone, somewhere had a vision for this with an actual point, but didn't quite know how to execute the plans for it...or to include anyone else in said vision. :) Fingers crossed for next year.
I too was caught off guard by Free RPG Day. No where near me was participating, though I'm based in Germany. I don't think it does such a great job at bringing new people in as the organizers might hope, though I'm interested to see if there's some other kind of event that people could run to try and achieve those results.