Free RPG Day 2008-Saturday June 21

Posts: 2269 · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:05 pm

I picked up a 10 items from my local game store - pretty much anything that looked interesting. I went around 11am first and they only let me take 2 but they said if they have any stuff left over at the end of the day then I could have the rest. I went back and I think I was the only one that even took anything.

Although they did say that 4th edition was selling well.

Posts: 602 · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 6:12 pm

My FLGS participated after all, and I managed to snag everything important to me, including Traveller Book 0. It might be enough to put me over the top and buy both Mongoose's offerings and the T5 CD that is also supposed to be available.

Posts: 74 · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 6:18 pm

Nearest store to me that participated (listed on their website) was roughly 65 miles away...doing the math on that at 25-28 MPG at $4.10/gallon cheap gas....just couldn't do it this year

did they have less stores participating this year?

Posts: 125 · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:00 pm

I'm spoiled for choice here: I have two FLGSs that participated, EndGame in Oakland and Games of Berkeley.
EndGame let each customer take two free items. The staff at GoB at first had no clue what they ought to be doing or if there even was a plan. "Free RPGs? Whuh?"

After a while the one employee who did know the location of the promotional stuff rolled in late for work, and the disclosure of the box was followed by an ugly customer free-for-all. Typical SNAFU, really. I have a sentimental attachment to Games of Berkeley because they've been around forever, but EndGame outclasses them in service and organization.

Posts: 108 · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:08 pm

I went to RIW Hobbies with 2 other guys from my Meetup around 1pm. By then, the 4E adventure was "sold out" -- the staff said it wast the most popular item. I got the last DCC freebie, one of pals got the last 4E adventure tile, and I don't remember what my other friend got.

They were officially limiting people to one freebie per person, but the clerk gave all three of us the 4E miniature ("Lurking Wraith"), because she said nobody wanted those. Go figure.

By the way, Noble Knight says they're doing Free RPG Day this Wednesday.

Posts: 3151 · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:12 pm

And the stuff has now started appearing on Ebay.

ShaneG.

Posts: 4449 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:15 am

JohnGaunt and I did the DFW Run...hit every store in the area participating, (9 in total I believe). Only one store let us have "one of everything", which we stocked up on for our own collections. That was the second store we went to, everyone else was one item only although a few were cajoled into giving us more than one (or in JG's case he simply picked up a handful and walked out....what are they gonna do, call the cops? It's FREE GAME DAY STUFF!!!!!)

Unfortunately unlike last year we did not get a lot of extras, although we are going to go back to several locations tomorrow to see what they still have, as many of the stores had gigantic stashes of goodies that were not going to be taken. The one item per customer, while fair, was ludicrous when so few were participating. Even towards the end of the day, many of the stores had large stacks of items available.

The most popular item, by far, was the 4E module Treasure of Talon Pass. Several stores were out when we arrived, and some ran out almost immediately. The rarest items were the Castles & Crusades Quick Start (only available at a couple of stores), the Harnworld, Castlemourn, Hollow Earth and Iron Heroes modules (most stores didn't get any or only two copies). Special mention was the Lurking Wraith mini, which most stores were only giving away if you participated in a demo game (JG and I found a few stores that weren't running demos and had them on the tables), and the special Game Day dice (no stores gave them away, they were only available as a prize). Also, the Exalted adventure Return to the Tomb of 5 Corners was the rarest item of all, only found at a single location in our multiple store journey.

Least rare items? The DCC module Punjar: The Tarnished Jewel (stacks and stacks), Trail of Cthulhu module The Murderer of Thomas Fell, the Mongoose Traveller book, Heirs to Olympia, and Hunter the Vigil (Ditto, tons of copies). Average amount of copies available included the Pathfinder adventure Revenge of the Kobold King, Tunnels and Trolls quickstart, Song of Fire and Ice Quickstart, Cthulhlu Live adventure, and Starsiege.

Most interesting item: As I have only flipped through my copies, so we are going by appearance only, my choices would go to the Harnworld Quick start and adventure module (52 pages, and looked generally like a typical detailed Harn product); C&C Quickstart and adventure (nice presentation and typically old school looking adventure in the back); Pathfinder adventure (very much up to their regular standards of adventures); and Song of Ice and Fire (possibly the best looking item in the bunch). Also high marks to the Exalted, Traveller, and Hunter games, which look pretty nice, the Traveller had the classic look of old supplements.

I was most disappointed with the Cthulhu items (very cheaply printed, the Cthulhu live was 12 pages and didn't look that interesting; the Trail of Cthulhu item was the absolute cheapest printed item on any table with no cover and appearance that looked like cheap photocopies); The Tunnels and Trolls (all the trouble to give you quick start rules and then a two page adventure, very short); Heirs to Olympia (looks like this year's version of Blackarrow Run from 2007); and some of the "specialty" items like the D&D tiles, which I only took because I wanted one of everything.

Special notice goes to the DCC module Punjar....congratulations, they now look, from front to back cover to everything inbetween, like every other single 3E publisher in history. They have entirely lost the originality, look and tone that lead them to become beloved outside the 3E community. To top it off, this was obviously written BEFORE the rules for 4E were finalized, as the info inside is generic without any stats (actually, that could be seen as a plus I guess if you just wanted to use the info for any edition). Make no mistake, there is no more "Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level?" credo on the cover, or in the interior, as this style has obviously been jetisonned in favor of the "new and cool" from the artwork to the subject matter...for example, instead of stand alone adventures, the first three (and apparantly others) are set in and around Punjar, obviously the Goodman Games' attempt at putting together a sellable "campaign world", so very 3E in execution (sell the world, not the adventure). Personally I won't be picking any of the "new" DCC items up....they look like every other generic product on the rack. Also, the most popular item of the day, the 4E module Treasure of Talon Pass (and the only item to come Shrinked, btw), continues the trend of most published materials after 2000, blowing me, hard. The artwork is still crap, like most of 3e; the maps suck, there is no real adventure only a linked group of room "setups" where you place miniatures and then run battles instead of an actual adventure. Every room description....well, there is no "description" like in classic adventures of days of yore, only a listing of which monsters are in the room, and which tactics they will use, and how they will rush your characters, and what weapons they will use, etc. The only good thing? The interminable stat blocks look manageable, much shorter and less of an eyesore. But make no mistake, this is as akin to D&D as Runequest, Rolemaster, or MERP....in other words, it's not D&D but a game that should have been renamed "Mini Wars" and marketed as such, rather than the greatest RPG ever published. Nuff said.

Anyway hope this helps in trying to order stuff from Noble Knight for those who want to participate who were unable to this weekend.....

Mike B.

Posts: 1001 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:32 am

Long day, so I'll just chime in with a quick summary. After 9PM my brain seems to shut down, and it's 11PM, so here goes:

Dallas-Fort Worth had two stores and one chain participating. The stores were definitely more on-the-ball than last year --- customer interest, demos with players. Free stuff was displayed, and employees had a clue this year. A significant minority of the items were banged up with spine-corner dents, which was odd. Distribution among stores was wonky, but that added to the thrill of the hunt.

Comics Asylum had a limit of one per customer and had demos going. Looked like at least one 4E game, though a Hunter: The Vigil game may have been running as well. The had some leftover minis from last year.

Generation X had a limit of one per customer, as well as some of last year's stuff.

The Lone Star chain had games of 4E and Hunter: The Vigil running, depending upon location. Kudos to the Hulen store for having someone conversant in 4E and to the recently-moved Green Oaks store for getting into the spirit of the day with aptly-renamed cookies and juice.

Plaag wrote:

And the stuff has now started appearing on Ebay.

*sighs* C'mon, this is free stuff for fun. It doesn't have to be for profit.

Your mileage may vary, but I observed the following:

The obvious rarities this year were the dice (one set per store?), the Exalted book, and the "Terrain on the Spot" demo sheet. I got one of the "Terrain on the Spot" sheets and neither of the other two.

Uncommons were
- the "Hollow Earth Expedition"
- Castlemourn Adventure/Quickstart
- HarnWorld Adventure/Quickstart
- "Trail of Cthulhu"
- Castles & Crusades Quickstart
- Iron Heroes "Bloodwood"
- Starseige
- Tunnels & Trolls
- "A Song of Fire and Ice" (George R.R. Martin)
- Cthulhu Live chapbook

Common were
- Heirs to Olympia
- Hunter: the Vigil
- Traveller Book 0
- the DCC whatever
- Paizo D1.5

4E was popular --- the minis, the minis board, and the module were gone in a number of locations. I think they were usually the prizes/gifts for participating in demos, which is in keeping with the purpose of Free RPG Day. I'm guessing the 4E stuff is on eBay already and getting bids. Rare? No. Popular? Yes.

Some items look interesting, some look so-so, and some hold no interest for me. If anyone outside of the US has a desperate and disparate desire for some of these items, then he can pay the outrageous overseas postage + the !@#%$ PayPal surcharge, and I can send them out.

[edit: Just saw BadMike's post. His rarity differs slightly from mine, but I think they are more-or-less the same.]
[edit: Crap, I can't speel ver wel late at nit.]

Posts: 3151 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:37 am

Hum..thanks for that guys, and yeah the guy selling the stuff is a store I know it.
I'll have to see how Noble Knight does, but if things don't pan out, I do know Paizo will have there release for sale come Monday and Goodman probably will have their gazetteer as a cheap release like they did DCC 51.5 last year.

Still am interested in getting somethings Smile

ShaneG.

Posts: 1001 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:43 am

Here are some pictures of the booty for this year. Not pictured are the dice (I have no idea what the dice looked like) and the Exalted book (which looks, uh, like every other Exalted book):

Top row: 4E board, 4E mini, 4E module, DCC module
Bottom row: Pathfinder, Hunter: the Vigil, Traveller Book 0
. . . http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q90/cougar-innards/Free%20RPG%20Day %202008/FreeRPG2008-001.png

Top Row: C&C Quickstart, Heirs to Olympia, Iron Heroes
Bottom Row: A Song of Fire and Ice, Starsiege, T&T Quickstart
. . . http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q90/cougar-innards/Free%20RPG%20Day %202008/FreeRPG2008-002.png

Top Row: Hollow Earth Expedition, Terrain on the Spot sheet, Trail of Cthulhu
Bottom Row: Castlemourn, HarnWorld, Cthulhu Live chapbook
. . . http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q90/cougar-innards/Free%20RPG%20Day %202008/FreeRPG2008-003.png

[Edit: Dice pictures are in a following post. And the Exalted book is from 2006, unrelated to Free RPG Day.]

Posts: 1179 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:16 am

Thanks for the info guys. It has helped me make up my mind which items I want to try to snag from NK.

Posts: 939 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:46 am

Yes, I note that both the Castles & Crusades and Tunnels & Trolls Quickstarts are different versions than last year's.

Posts: 1001 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:11 pm

OK, the last of the pictures:

Picture of the Exalted module (not Free RPG Day material):

. . . http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q90/cougar-innards/Free%20RPG%20Day %202008/FreeRPG2008-004.jpg

Picture of the free dice (12 dice) and store dice (2 of 3 dice):

. . . http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q90/cougar-innards/Free%20RPG%20Day %202008/FreeRPG2008-005.gif

Posts: 1104 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:21 pm

My notes:

The Mongoose Traveller book was certainly a step up from their RuneQuest item last year. (Seriously: what the hell was with that one? Yeesh!)

I was honestly fairly impressed with the production values on Paizo's module -- to me it's clear that they're definitely make a push at getting noticed; likely to give their Pathfinder RPG release some traction. (I also note that the item is given a code from their "Gamemastery" line, but labeled "Pathfinder" instead.)

The Harn book was good and chunky. Definitely something to attract notice, but the included adventure just left me blah. Can't say I've ever really cared for the HarnMaster rules either.

The Cthulhu Live scenario I can understand the low production values: it's designed to be chopped up and handed out to the various LARPers. However, it's still meh -- fairly uninspiring "Host a Murder"-style scenario.

More notes when I've had time to flip through other things.

Posts: 3151 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:13 pm

g026r wrote:

I was honestly fairly impressed with the production values on Paizo's module -- to me it's clear that they're definitely make a push at getting noticed; likely to give their Pathfinder RPG release some traction. (I also note that the item is given a code from their "Gamemastery" line, but labeled "Pathfinder" instead.)

They are using the Pathfinder name on their modules now, Gamemastery is being used for their map tiles, and other accessories iirc.
Also you can download last years free giveaway. Also this year's come Monday around 2pm EST or so.

ShaneG.

Posts: 2893 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:38 pm

None of the stores in Wichita participated, alas, even though one did last year.

Posts: 1277 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:47 pm

I grabbed up a couple things I wanted, and then bought some stuff from the guy doing the Free RPG Day - it is not free to them, you know. Smile

Oh, and, I felt that it should go both ways, so I gave him some copies of extra stuff I had laying around the house - just hope it was good enough.

Anyway, I got the TLG stuff, the Murder at Miskatonic and the T&T thing.

Posts: 107 · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:45 am

Plaag wrote:

And the stuff has now started appearing on Ebay.

ShaneG.

The 4E WotC adventure is getting snapped up for between 9.99 and 16.99 BINs, and there are a couple auctions going priced higher than that.

Posts: 1104 · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:21 am

Grug Greyskin wrote:

The 4E WotC adventure is getting snapped up for between 9.99 and 16.99 BINs, and there are a couple auctions going priced higher than that.

Is that with or without the battle-mat and mini?

Posts: 3151 · Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:01 am

g026r wrote:

Is that with or without the battle-mat and mini?

Without..each alone is going for around $10 with the module around $20

It's the same with the gameday stuff, seems to sell pretty good, just not sure about how well they do years later.

ShaneG.