Rappan Athuk: Reloaded SOLD OUT by wide margin!!

[Olaf the Stout]

I think that 2,000 overall could be underestimating the total sales figure. If he sold nearly 1,000 in pre-orders directly I would have thought that there would be a similar amount of sales made through people's FLGS, especially since Monte was encouraging this as another purchasing option so that people could still support their local stores. Add to this orders from Amazon, Alliance, and other distributors and it would be plausible that the final sales figure could be several thousand.

But having said that I am still just making an educated guess.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

So any idea on how much the .pdf version of this is going to be? They are making some bold statments about the caliber of this dungeon on the website and I may have to see if it measures up. Surely if it is the most deadly dungeon ever my players must encounter it. I never read the original version.

Is City of Brass gonna be a limited edition like this?

 

[Nightfall]

Flexor,

Without spoiling too much, there's plenty in the original that would have killed a lot of 7th level parties. And that's just on the first 3 levels. I'm not sure anyone is ready for how bad ass they made the "Reloaded" version.

 

[Treebore]

7th level?! The final encounter can munch 14th level parties! Even higher! There are two cases where this was taken into the Epic levels and the parties barely won! Can't wait to see what has been added with RA:R!

 

[Orcus]

OK, lets make sure to keep this in perspective.

Sold out means sold out of our warehouse. They are all out to distributors.

Sold out /= unavailable.

You can get RARE. You have to go to your local game store (friendly or not) and ask them to order it for you from Alliance.

What that means, as we warned, is that discount online retailers wont be getting any.

This is not mismanagement, it is absolute 100% perfect management.

So RARE is available. Just go to your store and ask for it.

Necro is doing great. In our whole history, we have lost money on only 1 book. Imagine that. Because of smart management of products like this, we are still around and doing fine. The Wilderlands was a special exception for us (and no we didnt lose money on it). It was a labor of love for Bill and I. It wasnt made with profit in mind. And it had margins that otherwise wouldnt have been acceptable. But while the industry is definately slow right now, Necro has planned well and stayed the course by a number of excellent business decisions made in partnership with our various partners--and I mean authors and print partners and online pdf retailers, etc. Necro has been profitable every single year. How is that for a company started by two gamers in my basement.

Clark

 

[Orcus]

And we dont hate Amazon. But Amazon is last in line to get books. Why? Because distributors hate Amazon, and distributors are our friends. And your local game store cant compete with Amazon. Bill has repeated what I have often said: no one ever pulled up a chair at Amazon and taught a kid how to play D&D, or let people run D&D games at their online store. They take the gamer money and contribute NOTHING to our hobby. As a result, they get our books last. Because we want to protect the people who help our hobby: gamers and game stores and the distributors who have built their whole business model on supporting them. I dont have a relationship with Amazon. They are pure commerce. They are a purchase order. I choose not to let $$$ define my business ethics. We, as business, have a choice. And you, as gamers, should also care. Plus, we are very good about giving our fans a heads up if there is a limited print run that might not make it to Amazon. Normally you can get our books at Amazon. They dont usually sell out from our warehouse in the first autoship.

But RARE was a special product: it was a revision and update. The market has way less love for updates of prior 3E products. As for the poster who said we should have done more market research, we did. You cant compare Ptolus or Wilderlands boxed set or other products to RARE. RARE can only be compared to, say, Creature Collection Revised or other early 3E products that were updated to 3.5 and expanded. So there is a very limited set of products to compare RARE to. So our business model was to target a sell out at the first autoship. That doesnt mean that you cant get it, you can! Go to your game store and ask for it. Or use any of the many online retailers who also support the game industry distributors. They exits. Use them. Even our friends overseas. You can get it. BUT RARE is not Bard's Gate. It needed a different business approach. And we warned people not to rely on Amazon. I've stated the reasons why. And you are, of course, free to disagree with our approach.

But there is one thing no one will disagree with me about: if you get it you will definately enjoy Rappan Athuk Reloaded.

Clark

 

[Orcus]

I dont think 1000 copies is a "success" for any normal release. RARE is a boxed set, which is itself a niche product. It is a pure dungeon, which is itself a niche product. It is for DMs only. And, on top of that, it is a revision and update of a prior 3E product.

I would never target 1000 as a success for a product that didnt have that profile. We absolutely do more for our normal WW release books. 1000 would be a drag for a normal WW release book.

But given RARE's unique profile, we had to come up with a print run that erred on the short side. The print cost for that book is huge. HUGE! 3 interior pre-printed books, a box, and we commissioned all new maps by the man himself! This baby was expensive. You cant speculate on this. You cant guess. And there arent many good comparitive products. If we'd printed 2000 and sold 1200 we would be in big big trouble. So even if 200 people are screaming for more, that doesnt mean we made a mistake. Because incremental print runs are a drag. You really need to do 1500 or 2000. So, as a result, we viewed this as a "limited edition" type of printing. We didnt do this as a normal product. It was special. From the beginning. Numbered boxes. Special gift card inserts, signed by Bill and I. Special prize giveways. This product was designed from the outset to be unique and special. So you cant really compare it to our other releases.

I love RA. I'm glad we did RARE. It is a rockin product. I love it. I got Masse to do the cover that I always wanted but couldnt get for RA3. I got killer maps that I always wanted. It was a flagship product for Bill and I from the beginning of Necro. I totally deserved an update and reprint. I think you will love it.

Clark

 

[Geron Raveneye]

And for those who complain they won't get a bargain out of this...there's always still ebay. Like this. Actually selling off a pre-order.

http://cgi.ebay.de/Rappun-Athuk-Rel...ryZ44112QQssPageNameZWD3VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Oh, and while I'm sticking my head into this crossfire-ridden battlefield...is there any chance Tomb of Abysthor might see another print run at some point? I've been trying to locate it, but neither my FLGS, nor the online store that still listed it as "available" have been able to deliver so far.

 

[sam500]

What booth will RAR be sold at in Gencon. Is it the white wolf booth 1601 I think or is there a separate necromancer booth. If so, which one is it (ie: what number).
Cheers guys,
Sam

 

[sam500]

And for those who complain they won't get a bargain out of this...there's always still ebay. Like this. Actually selling off a pre-order.

http://cgi.ebay.de/Rappun-Athuk-Rel...ryZ44112QQssPageNameZWD3VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Oh, and while I'm sticking my head into this crossfire-ridden battlefield...is there any chance Tomb of Abysthor might see another print run at some point? I've been trying to locate it, but neither my FLGS, nor the online store that still listed it as "available" have been able to deliver so far.

I just won this auction.... I think. I hope they actually have it.

I've got Tomb of Abysthor. It's good.