Free RPG Day Coming on June 22, 2024

[Abstruse]

Free RPG Day announced the date for this year’s festivities: June 22, 2024. The annual celebration of the tabletop gaming industry takes place in local game stores around the world with giveaways of tabletop RPG products.

Partners for 2024 so far include Paizo, Free League, Goodman Games, Evil Genius Games, R. Talsorian Games, Kobold Press, The Story Engine, Royan Rook & Decard, 1985 Games, WizKids, 9th Level Games, Loke Battle Mats, Dispel, Marvel Multiverse Role Playing Game, Cool Mini or Not, Foam Brain Games, Roll & Play Press, Sirius Dice, Studio Agate, Renegade Game Studio, Need Games!, Hitpoint Press, Wet Ink Games, BCW, and Magpie Games.

Find out if your friendly local gaming store is participating using the Free RPG Day Find a Retailer search. If your local store isn’t listed or if you’re a retailer in the United States seeking to participate, verified brick-and-mortar game stores can place their orders now for a retailer kit and be added to the search. Retailers in other regions should contact their primary RPG distributor for information on how to order a kit.

Free RPG Day started in 2007 based on the Free Comic Day event for the comic book industry. The organizing body for the event was purchased in 2019 by Gaming Days LLC, who have been administrating the event ever since.

 

[Von Ether]

Just a bit of advice to retailers. Please stock the games related to the demos in the kit.

Getting people in the door to play a demo and then hope to sell them on a completely different game because that is what you already have in stock is literally a bait and switch.

 

[Von Ether]

I'd like to add that if you do this tactic and it doesn't work, you can't blame Free RPG Day and say, "We didn't have any luck with it this year."

 

[aco175]

What! The new 5e PHB is coming out this day. (Tries to sell me the 2014 edition to clear room on the shelves.)

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Just a bit of advice to retailers. Please stock the games related to the demos in the kit.

Getting people in the door to play a demo and then hope to sell them on a completely different game because that is what you already have in stock is literally a bait and switch.

Sounds like that happened to you (the selling of a different game), and if it did, shame on that retailer...

On the other hand, a retailer should never buy inventory they think won't ever sell for a profit - that's the way to an early "going out of business" sale...

Since a retailer has to buy the entire kit - they can't pick and choose like they can with Free Comic Book Day - they are no doubt going to get free product for games they don't think they can sell. They should still give away the free thing and be honest with whomever gets and tell them - "We made a conscious decision not to shelf-stock this game. But we're happy to special order it for you." And the gutsy retailer may even add "And if you pre-pay for the copy we're going to buy for you, we're going to get another copy for the stands" and the super smart retailer will then say even further "And if that one sells within 4 months, we'll keep ordering another copy until it stops selling within 4 months"

 

[Von Ether]

Sounds like that happened to you (the selling of a different game), and if it did, shame on that retailer...

On the other hand, a retailer should never buy inventory they think won't ever sell for a profit - that's the way to an early "going out of business" sale...

Since a retailer has to buy the entire kit - they can't pick and choose like they can with Free Comic Book Day - they are no doubt going to get free product for games they don't think they can sell. They should still give away the free thing and be honest with whomever gets and tell them - "We made a conscious decision not to shelf-stock this game. But we're happy to special order it for you." And the gutsy retailer may even add "And if you pre-pay for the copy we're going to buy for you, we're going to get another copy for the stands" and the super smart retailer will then say even further "And if that one sells within 4 months, we'll keep ordering another copy until it stops selling within 4 months"

It didn't happen to me, but a local retailer would keep buying the kits and them complain they didn't work for them without even trying to stock some of the stuff from the kit, like core 5e or Pathfinder books.

To clarify, I didn't imply mean they should stock everything but try something. For a most stores, some of the demos should be related to no-brainers for their local meta.

 

[GMMichael]

Sounds like a good day for me to have an Elden Ring adventure module ready!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

It didn't happen to me, but a local retailer would keep buying the kits and them complain they didn't work for them without even trying to stock some of the stuff from the kit, like core 5e or Pathfinder books.

To clarify, I didn't imply mean they should stock everything but try something. For a most stores, some of the demos should be related to no-brainers for their local meta.

Yes 100%. Every retailers should participate to the extent they think the package will drive them more sales. But to sell they have to have the product in hand on the day of the event (imho, the special order approach is a backstop/fallback solution). In other words, sounds like the retailer in question had an axe to grind but didn't really get into the spirit of the promotion.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I own two of the Roll & Play gamemaster books of tables and they are excellent. If they put a portion of that content in front of a wider audience, I expect a lot of people to become big fans of them. The tables are meant for mid-game play, when someone wants to pickpocket townsfolk or wants to know what's on the tavern's menu or what a spaceship in the space station is named and what its cargo is. The spiral-bound books are also lightly laminated and digest-sized, making them really easy to find space for at a table that might already have a lot of books on it.

I'm curious about some of the other announced publishers.

Free RPG Day would be an ideal time for 9th Level to have the newest edition of Kobold Ate My Baby available to preview and sell.

Not sure what Wet Ink will have. A preview of their recently Kickstarted mega-dungeon?

1985 Games doesn't seem like they're close to publishing Obojima, but that'd be a great product to preview to a such a large audience.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I'm beginning to think the kits should include a mini guide for the stores on how to use free rpg day to grow sales.