A Remembrance of Everway: The First WOTC RPG that was too Good to Succeed

[Bagpuss]

What I heard from a then WOTC distrributor was that WOTC offered their distributors better prices on Magic if they ordered this, distributors did the math, ordered copies that they knew would never sell to save more money on Magic than they had to pay for Everway, dumped them quickly for cash flow, undercut all the stores that were trying to sell it for full price, and hurt the market for Everyway. Then, they did it again with Ars Magica....

I bought three copies from a discount bookshop (The Works, for folks in the UK) ages ago at £5 each, gave them to everyone in my group, as I already had my own copy.

 

[SteveC]

Great post - the only thing I think it's missing is that a bunch of people wouldn't buy Everway because they were mad about MtG. Obviously this is PURELY anecdotal. But it's an attitude I heard both IRL and online, and even from someone who I think was a staff member at the London FLGS, Orc's Nest, who was uh, speaking out against WotC, MtG and Everway. If it wasn't a staff member maybe he shouldn't have been in the little counter-island thing! But that attitude seemed to be this - "MtG was intentionally designed to steal customers/business away from TTRPGs, and Everway was made by the same guys, so people shouldn't buy it!".

In retrospect, it seems like MtG must have made Orc's Nest a ton of money so I'm confused but whatever man.

I hope y'all don't mind another off topic comment but early EN World time was when I was traveling to London pretty regularly with a friend of mine. I remember stopping at Orc's Nest specifically because I heard it mentioned here. It may have been YOU who even did it. Good times. And for what it's worth, I still have my copy of Everway locked up with my favorite older rpgs.

 

[Bagpuss]

In retrospect, it seems like MtG must have made Orc's Nest a ton of money so I'm confused but whatever man.

I am certain lots of RPG shops only survived due to MtG.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I hope y'all don't mind another off topic comment but early EN World time was when I was traveling to London pretty regularly with a friend of mine. I remember stopping at Orc's Nest specifically because I heard it mentioned here. It may have been YOU who even did it. Good times. And for what it's worth, I still have my copy of Everway locked up with my favorite older rpgs.

It's a decent shop and easy to access from visitor/tourist-friendly locations (esp. as it's so near the British Museum and Oxford Street). The premier London FLGS is Leisure Games (I hope no-one from either store is insulted by me saying this), which is a larger and more comfortable location and has a deeper stock. Unfortunately they're all the way out in Finchley and whilst there is a tube station like, less than ten minutes away, that station is itself a long journey to get to from most of London.

There also used to be Playin' Games which was even closer to the British Museum and a few minutes from Orc's Nest (possibly less than two? I forget), but unfortunately that closed down in about 2010.

 

[Bagpuss]

Talking of MtG and Everway, I've been adding the full art cards from the Set Boosters to the inspiration cards for Everway.

You can often get them free from MtG players.

 

[SteveC]

There also used to be Playin' Games which was even closer to the British Museum and a few minutes from Orc's Nest (possibly less than two? I forget), but unfortunately that closed down in about 2010.

I went to Playin' Games quite a few times after spending time at the British Museum. It was a great place, but I can imagine rent there eventually drove them out. I was just looking at google maps to see if it was still around, sad to see it wasn't. You're bringing back all the memories: Leisure Games, Forbidden Planet, and there were so many used bookstores that I would spend time at. For me, this was definitely the best of times. Okay, last thread interruption, I promise.

 

[Thourne]

I am certain lots of RPG shops only survived due to MtG.

Around here it was Card games and Comics (almost every gaming shop around here was "and comics") that kept them afloat until board games really took off again.
Now it is a better mix of incoming revenue but I would be kidding myself if I didn't accept it is mostly cards and boardgames.