Here's What's Available For Free RPG Day

Free RPG Day is on July 25th. New organizer Gaming Days has revealed what free RPG products will be available to stores. Each store gets over 100 items to give away.

• 9th Level Games: Level One Anthology of Indie RPGs (15 copies)
• Cubicle 7: Warhammer 40K Wrath & Glory (7 copies)
• Dave Taylor Miniatures/Mantic Games/Army Painter: How to Paint a Library (7 copies)
• Fantasy Flight Games: Genesys Keyforge (11 copies)
• Gatekeeper Games: Dice (3 items)
• Goodman Games: Dungeon Crawl Classics (7 copies)
• Hit Point Press: Humblewood (3 copies)
• Magpie Games: Root RPG (7 copies)
• Oni Games: Junior Braves (7 copies)
• Paizo, Inc.: Pathfinder RPG (15 copies)
• Paizo, Inc.: Starfinder RPG (15 copies)
• Q-Workshop: Dice (3 items)
• Renegade Game Studios: Kids on Bikes (7 copies)
• Renegade Game Studios: Overlight (7 copies)
• Roll20: Subscription Promo (12)
• Wizkids: Warlock Tile exclusive item (1 item)

 

[univoxs]

Man what a great line up. I want most of them! If I got one of these free I could justify reviewing one on my podcast rather than the little one page deals I usually do. So many games...too many games!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

No store within an hours drive of me has participated in Free RPG Day in many years, unfortunately.

Certainly not in my relatively small town. I ask every year. One of these year's I'll volunteer to run games for it, then maybe they'll participate.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

My FLGS does Free RPG day and it’s usually a big day. I’ve offered to run virtual games for folks who visit the stores. Don’t know how to arrange that or confirm it, or if it’s even needed.

Hey @darjr of the rotating profile images. I REALLY like your profile picture today and will join you.

 

[Knightfall]

Hopefully, all or most of these items will also be available on that day at DriveThruRPG or on a company's web site.

 

[Mr. Greengoat]

I don't know why FLGS opt to not do Free Rpg Day. Free comic book day is always killer business for comic stores that I know of.
Is it the pain to organize tables for the day or dealing with grabby neckbeards over the free giveaways? I have seen some stores give away the freebies with purchases, but even that seems to short circuit the "reason for the season". Is it too much pain to organize an RPG fun day with raffles?

These are all questions that are pre-plague of course.

 

[prosfilaes]

I don't know why FLGS opt to not do Free Rpg Day. Free comic book day is always killer business for comic stores that I know of.
Is it the pain to organize tables for the day or dealing with grabby neckbeards over the free giveaways? I have seen some stores give away the freebies with purchases, but even that seems to short circuit the "reason for the season". Is it too much pain to organize an RPG fun day with raffles?

Besides possible non-obvious differences, game stores aren't just RPG stores; RPGs are just one product line.

Also look at Full Line-Up of Free Comic Book Day 2020 Comics Announced! ; Archie, Power Rangers, My Little Ponies, Legend of Zelda, Stranger Things, Batman, Little Lulu, Mean Girls, the Tick, Asterix, the Loud House, Blade Runner, Street Fighter, and Naruto. To no one on this forum does nothing on that list ring a bell, and it would be hard to find a reader here that did not recognize most of them and didn't consider themselves a fan of at least one. That extends to most Americans; there will be something that attracts them.

On the other hand, of the list above, there's Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K. I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of users on a comic book forum had heard of none of the lines stuff was being given away for; in some ways, the "we're legally distinct from Stranger Things" product would garner the most recognition. (Note that Free Comic Book day has an actual Stranger Things product.) There's no D&D or even 5E SRD stuff, so only Warhammer 40K would attract any recognition from someone who stopped playing ten or fifteen years ago, whereas if you haven't hit 95 years old, at least something in the comics list was from your childhood.

Free Comic Book Day, at some level, targets virtually everyone. I'm not sure Free RPG Day successfully targets most current roleplayers, much less promises to bring in new people.

 

[darjr]

It brings in new people. I know that for a fact.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I don't know why FLGS opt to not do Free Rpg Day. Free comic book day is always killer business for comic stores that I know of.
Is it the pain to organize tables for the day or dealing with grabby neckbeards over the free giveaways? I have seen some stores give away the freebies with purchases, but even that seems to short circuit the "reason for the season". Is it too much pain to organize an RPG fun day with raffles?

These are all questions that are pre-plague of course.

Here are a couple of reasons:
1. Because there's a cost to the retailer. It's not "free" for them
2. Because they don't actually have an RPG community. Maybe they focus on CCGs or mini wargames (40k), or boardgames. If you don't already have demand, having a free rpg day won't drum up that demand. Also you don't have access to quality GMs, since you don't yet have a community.
3. Game Stores run on razor thin margins (seriously, a profitable store owner of a store that is selling mostly new stuff is probably making 1-2 pennies on every dollar sold - and that's if they are doing everything right.), and depending on the volume a store does in RPGs, paying the ~$200 for the free RPGs may represent the entire profit margin on RPGs in a month or quarter.
4. Free "X" Day should be seen as an opportunity to a) get your existing base into the store to spend money they wouldn't have spent normally and b) get new people into the store who have never been there before. Free Comic Book Day was born out of Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors having a "Free Scoop Day" once a year (or maybe it was a one time promotion). As noted in post #16 in this thread, Free RPG Day doesn't succeed in b as effortlessly as other Free X Days like Free Comic Book Day or Free Scoop Day. It may do ok in a.

[edited to add: Having a bunch of Free RPGs for RPG lines you don't carry is a waste of time. Most stores only carry D&D, PF, and maybe one other line - Genesys, Starfinder, Warhammer RPG, Call of Cthulhu. So the other Free RPGs are sort of a waste to pay for. And as noted in the OP, you get a set bundle of products - no mixing and matching to optimize for your own store's product mix.]

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And even Free Comic Day is a big hassle for stores and most people come through and buy nothing, or act as though the shop is screwing them if they only give out a free item with another purchase.

These shops are basically hobbies that pay the rent, and not something making anyone rich. Asking them to pay out for an event that may not actually generate any sales they weren't getting anyway is a big deal and it doesn't surprise me that smaller shops especially don't do it. I live in Southern California, and it's mostly the shops that are doing the best (as evinced by having more than one location) that tend to do it.

 

[Von Ether]

For my local FLGS it's a popular event that brings in people all day. I often run 2 to 3 gaming sessions from the items available. In fact, some of the freebie have to be rationed or become door prizes to make sure they last most of the day. Otherwise, everything would be gone within a couple of hours.