Press Goodman Games Inks Exclusive Distribution Deal with Diamond Book Distributors

[Egg Embry]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Goodman Games Inks Exclusive Distribution Deal with Diamond Book Distributors

(Hunt Valley, MD) — (December 2, 2023) — Diamond Book Distributors is pleased to announce that it has signed a worldwide distribution agreement with Goodman Games to exclusively distribute their products to North American and international book markets. Distribution to the comic book specialty market is handled exclusively by Diamond Comic Distributors.

Goodman Games is a tabletop role playing game publisher known for their classic adventure, Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game (DCC RPG), first released in 2012. Grounded in the sword and sorcery fiction that underpins classic RPGs, DCC RPG is the most popular tabletop RPG in the sub-genre now known as Old School Renaissance. “You’re no hero,” states the DCC RPG guide. “You’re an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them.”

DCC RPG has sold more than 100,000 copies through 11 printings for traditional game and hobby channels, and the broader line of DCC adventures has sold more than 750,000 copies. To date, Goodman Games has released more than 40 DCC adventures. Each adventure is a pre-designed scenario that expands the options available to a DCC game. Goodman Games also publishes popular titles such as Mutant Crawl Classics, Xcrawl Classics, Fifth Edition Fantasy, and the hit Original Adventures Reincarnated series. Diamond Book Distributors is very excited offer Goodman Games’ full line of products to the book and comic trade.

“Diamond is the gold standard in book trade distribution,” said Joseph Goodman, founder of Goodman Games. “They’re selective in which RPG publishers they represent, and we are very pleased to be working with them. Their staff is friendly, knowledgeable and extremely competent. It's a pleasure to be working with Diamond as a company, and all the individuals who make up Diamond’s team.”

“Diamond is delighted to be the global distribution partner for Goodman Games,” said Tony Lutkus, President of Diamond Book Distributors. “Goodman Game’s dedication to classic RPG adventure is tremendous. Their Classics rulebooks and adventures channel the best in fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and ‘sword-and-sorcery’ storytelling and are the perfect guides to players who want to take the next step in making their own exciting and imaginative games. Dungeon Crawl Classics and Goodman Games' other books are perfect additions to the core RPG shelf."

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ABOUT DIAMOND BOOK DISTRIBUTORS — Diamond Book Distributors (DBD) is a division of Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., and is dedicated to making a wide selection of its graphic novels and other pop-culture merchandise available to bookstores, libraries, schools, mass merchants and more worldwide. Based in Hunt Valley, MD, our team of professionals is committed to helping DBD’s client publishers tell their stories, grow their businesses and reach new customers. We work to provide insight at every stage of the publishing process—from initial concept, to marketing, sales and distribution.

DBD is the home to several world class publishers, including Image Comics, publisher of The Walking Dead, Saga, Monstress, and Spawn; Dynamite Entertainment, publisher of James Bond, Red Sonja, and Vampirella; Valiant Entertainment, publisher of Bloodshot, Ninjak, and X-O Manowar; as well as Gemstone Publishing, Paizo Publishing, and others.

© 2023 Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. All rights reserved. Diamond, the Diamond logo, Diamond Books logo, and PREVIEWS are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Diamond Comic Distributors in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective copyright owners.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Can @FitzTheRuke or others with store experience explain if this is better or worse for Goodman and consumers and whether this is, as the press release states, a big deal?

Last time I looked at the Diamond catalog, there were only a handful of pretty big RPG companies listed, as I recall.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Shrug. All press releases try to make everything seem like a big deal. Usually it's just a shift - neither good nor bad, just different. This is most likely that sort. A game store that wants Goodman Games to sell might have to use a different channel than they used to, but there will almost certainly be a channel (and probably one that they already use) for them to get them from. Exclusives are annoying (in that they sometimes mean that you can't get them anywhere else, but not always).

Diamond Book Distributors IS part of Diamond Comics Distributors, but it's a different part than, say, the Previews Catalogue. It distributes primarily to Bookstores - so it's not exclusive to Comic Stores.

Honestly, I'm not sure how this will effect your average game store, or myself even, for that matter (mostly because it'll probably be different in Canada - I'm not sure we use Diamond Book Distributors up here, even if we still get quite a few comics off their comics distributor.) It's possible that unless some other distributor has a Canadian exclusive with Goodman, we'd be able to get them with our comics. Otherwise we may already get them from whoever their Canadian distributor is, so nothing will change.

I'll let you know if I find out anything more. I'll have to look into it.