Free RPG Day is Saturday!

[CharlesRyan]

Much to my surpise, I just realized I haven't heard (read?) a peep about this. Has anybody been discussing it? Does anyone realize it's happening?

If not, here's the scoop:

This Saturday (20 June) is Free RPG Day. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, it's a bit like Free Comic Book Day: You drop in at your local shop, and they give you some free RPG stuff. And no old, throw-away junk from the back room, either, but new items of real value, provided by the manufacturers specifically for this global event.

The lineup of stuff retailers will have this year includes adventures, rules, and/or accessories from about a dozen publishers, including WotC (an Eberron adventure with a Dungeon Tile!), FFG (a Rogue Trader adventure--how cool is that?), Paizo, Mongoose, White Wolf (preview of Geist!), Goodman Games, and more.

Clever shops will do something interesting, and have demos or game sessions ongoing to celebrate the event, but that's not a requirement.

If you haven't planned to drop by your FLGS on Saturday, you should!

 

[DM_Jeff]

This is a great opportunity to not only pick up some really nice stuff, but perfect for a more casual non-gamer to get into the hobby if something catches their eye.

I determined which store in my area was participating over a month ago and have it right here on my desk calendar.

-DM Jeff

 

[Festivus]

Sadly I can't get to any stores this year. I have picked up some great things in the past. Changeling: The Lost for example was neat and would never have looked at it if not for the free RPG day thing. My FLGS isn't on the list

 

[Windjammer]

My FLGS in Britain sent an email which specifies which goodies people can pick up at stores which participate at Platinum level. The numbers will surely vary from store to store, but may help you decide how quickly you ought to make it to your FLGS on Saturday. Happy hunting, everyone!

Chessex: Commerative Dice: 4
Claymore Entertainment Store: Sample Hero's Bane Quickstart & Adventure: 1
Exile Game Studios: Hollow Earth Expedition Adventure: 4
Fantasy Flight Games: Platinum Rogue Trader RPG Adventure: 15
Goodman Games: 4th Edition Hero's Handbook: 15
Lone Wolf: Hero Lab demo w/ unique data files: 7
Mongoose: The Troubleshooter Reference Manual: 15
Mongoose: Introduction to Dragon Warriors: 7
Mongoose: Corporation: Grab the Cache: 4
Paizo: Pathfinder Bonus Bestiary: 15
Q-Workshop: Unique Dice: 14
Troll Lord Games: C&C Quickstart and Adventure: 4
White Wolf Gold Geist RPG Quickstart: 15
Wizards of the Coast: "Khyber's Harvest", Eberron 4E Adv: 22

 

[occam]

And the URL:

http://www.freerpgday.com/sponsors.html

 

[Aus_Snow]

I've selected the item I want to receive, as an add-on to an order, from a local-ish place. Hopefully, they have enough of them, and others haven't snagged them already. . .

Some nice stuff there, anyway. A fine tradition, and this is the first one I *might* directly benefit from.

 

[Dire Bare]

The gamestores in Boise don't "believe" in Free RPG Day, so I am out of luck. Not willing to drive to Twin Falls or Idaho Falls, hours away, so no freebies for me this year.

The first year of the promotion practically every shop in town participated, but all they did was dump the box of freebies on a side table and . . . well, that was it! I even walked into one store (forget which one) to ask about Free RPG day, and the clerk claimed no knowledge whatsoever, then I noticed all the free stuff on the table RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!

Now one of the sole remaining stores, my own FLGS, claims the promotion is too expensive and not worth it. Sigh. If they had actually used it for, well, PROMOTION the first time around, perhaps they'd feel differently.

 

[Crothian]

No local place is doing it this year. Anyone willing to pick me up something?

 

[Bumbles]

So what game systems are represented here? Looks like a couple of dice, and a few different ones, with WW and WoTC 4e, but I'm not sure of the others.

 

[deadsmurf]

Store need to promote the promotion, and put some work into it.

Free Comic Book day is an easy sell. Anyone who can read (and some that can't!) can go in and grab some comics and start reading them/looking at them right away!

RPGs are a hard sell (at first anyways) so more work needs to be put in. Put up posters everywhere. Have demos going on the day of. Tell everyone (especially regulars who you think might enjoy RPGs, but don't play them) about the event. Have a draw at the end of the day for everyone who came in that day for free game books, or just door prizes.
Get gaming going (of any kind!)