From: [p--l] at [philm.demon.co.uk] (Phil Masters) Subject: [uk.games.roleplay] Frequently Asked Questions Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 13:15:45 +0000 Summary: This posting describes the purpose and usage of the Newsgroups: uk.games.roleplay,rec.games.frp.announce,news.answers Archive-name: games/roleplay/uk-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 1997/02/07 Maintainer: Phil Masters <[p--l] at [philm.demon.co.uk]> UK.GAMES.ROLEPLAY Frequently Asked Questions Introduction This file has now received formal approval, and thus should henceforward appear in the "answers" newsgroups. Further comment is still very welcome - feel free to e-mail me at <[p--l] at [philm.demon.co.uk]>, or post to the newsgroup. The file was originally drafted by James Wallis; once again, many thanks to him for kicking it all off and doing most of the work. A couple of sections - specifically those concerning magazines, publishers and fanzines - are still a bit cumbersome for a FAQ, but people seem to want them here. If any altruistic soul feels like maintaining this information on a WWW page, that would be terrific. In the meantime, this file is now appearing in HTML-ised form on the WWW, at . Many thanks to Sheila Thomas for her work on this, and for the hospitality of her 'Web space. Phil Masters CONTENTS 1. What is uk.games.roleplay? 2. What is the group's charter? 3. Are there any common courtesies I should follow? 4. Is it okay to sell things via this newsgroup? 5. How do I learn to play these games? 6. Where can I find out about local games shops? 7. Where can I find out about local games clubs? 8. Where can I find local LRP groups? 9. How do I run a play-by-e-mail game? 10. Where can I find out about conventions? 11. Where can I find out about UK and Irish RPG magazines? 12. Where can I find out about UK and Irish RPG publishers? 13. Where can I find out about UK and Irish RPG distributors? 14. Are there any other good sources of RPG information I should know about? 15. What about Net resources? 16. What's a fanzine? 17 People in my area are attacking RPGs as dangerous/corrupting/satanic. What can I do about it? 18. What are my chances of getting a job in the adventure games industry? 19. How do I publish my own game? 20. Is role-playing in decline? What is the future of roleplaying? 21. How do I get a new section added to this FAQ, or correct any mistakes in it? Q1. What is uk.games.roleplay? A1. uk.games.roleplay is a newsgroup for the discussion and dissemination of information about "table-top" (and possibly some "freeform" or "live action") role-playing activity in the UK and Ireland, or matters concerning gaming in those places. It is not a venue for discussion of computer games, card games (collectible or otherwise), board, miniature or wargames, or family games. There are better groups in the uk.games.* hierarchy for these subjects. NOTE: This is NOT a binaries newsgroup. Posting encoded binary files of any type (graphics, programs, word processor files, etc.) is against basic netiquette, and will earn you a hostile response from many people. Merely flagging such postings as "long" is not a defence; some users don't employ header-based filtering, and others, knowing this to be a small, specialised discussion group, assume that they can download everything that appears here with minimal trouble and expense. Please respect others' time and budget, and familiarise yourself with the conventions of Usenet. ALSO NOTE: As this is a discussion newsgroup, debate here may occasionally become a little heated. Usenet is like that, and most people put up with it. However, a lot of people do think that arguments over personal taste in RPG systems and styles are a little futile, and in any case, there is already a newsgroup rec.games.frp.advocacy, which may be a more appropriate place for this sort of thing. Q2. What is the group's charter? A2. 'The newsgroup will be used for UK (and visiting) role-playing addicts to meet and arrange games throughout the UK. Also it can be used for (but not limited to) the discussions of new and old games, rules, large game meetings (i.e. GenCon). 'It will be used for all types of role-playing, including (but not limited to) Live Action (i.e. Amber, V:TM), Play By Mail, Dice (i.e. AD&D, Shadowrun). 'Lengthy and/or off-topic advertising posts will not be welcome. Short announcements of RELEVANT products, services and events, inviting e-mail inquiries or suggesting URLs for further information, will be allowed.' Q3. Are there any common courtesies I should follow? A3. When posting to this newsgroup please try to state what the post is about. It helps if you place a short code (no more than 5 letters) at the beginning of the subject line. Sample codes are: AD&D Advanced Dungeons and Dragons AMBER Amber CP Cyberpunk DISC General discussions. EVENT Use this for any events you know about, which anyone is welcome to attend. FAQ: This will be used for the FAQ, and for any discussion about it. FFORM: Freeform; a semi-live-action game, usually indoors and without costumes or rules. FS: For Sale (see Q4) L(A)RP: Live (action) role-play PBM: Play-by-mail PBeM: Play-by-e-mail SR Shadowrun WOD White Wolf's 'World of Darkness': Vampire/Mage/Werewolf/etc. Q4. Is it okay to buy and sell games via this newsgroup? A4. Despite the charter above, the general opinion seems to say yes; but you shouldn't make a habit of it. However, frequent, repetitive or irrelevant commercial postings are frowned upon. Treat the newsgroup as a notice-board rather than a billboard, and people won't complain. Q5. How do I learn to play these games? A5. The best way is still to learn by doing, and for that you need to know someone who already plays. Good games shops will have a notice-board where clubs and groups post information about their meetings. Crap games shops won't. Although most games contain some information directed at newcomers to the hobby, distressingly few are designed with the beginner in mind. TSR's 'Firstquest' does the job reasonably well. The 'Dungeoneer' RPG published by Puffin as part of the 'Advanced Fighting Fantasy' series is surprisingly good - and British as well. 'Feng Shui' (Daedalus Games) is also aimed at new gamers. Q6. Where can I find out about local games shops? A6. The only major chain of RPG stockists worthy of the name is the Virgin Megastore chain; most branches have some kind of games section, and even the ones that don't stock RPGs can order stuff for you. If that's no good, try looking in Yellow Pages, under 'Toys' or 'Hobbies'. Anything that describes itself as a 'specialist' or 'hobby' games store is probably a good bet. If that doesn't bring any joy to your heart, you may get some pleasure out of the following URL: If none of those yield any fruit, you can always ask on the newsgroup if anyone knows of a shop in your area. Or, as a last resort, find a shop that deals in mail-order: there are several that advertise in gaming magazines, and I believe one or two of them have made it onto the Net as well. Q7. Where can I find out about local games clubs? A7. If a local club exists, any half-way decent local games shop should be able to point you in the right direction. In fact, any half-way decent local games shop should be running a discount scheme for club members. Local universities and colleges also often have games societies, and many welcome outsiders. If that's no good, try a copy of 'Valkyrie' or 'Games Games Games', both of which print excellent directories of games clubs in the UK and Ireland, and all over Europe. It's not complete or exhaustive, but it's the best there is at the moment. Or, of course, you can ask in the newsgroup. Elenor Maclaren maintains a WWW page with a listing of clubs in the UK and Ireland: Q8. Where can I find local LRP groups and events? A8. Set your browsers to the heart of the sun: - which should give you all the information you need about groups in the UK. For the UK there is an Events Guide on The Net, at: This list only covers the UK. If you would like your event listed please mail the information to <[M D Horrill] at [loughborough.ac.uk]>. You might also want to look at the FAQ for rec.games.frp.live-action: (This is maintained by Marcus Hill <[m--rc--s] at [ma.man.ac.uk]>; ask him to e- mail you a copy if you can't get through to the WWW site.) One of the longest running lists of LRP events on the 'net is Shade's LARP list, available on: . - You can add your group to the list by e-mailing Joe Santocildes at <[z--go--s] at [coil.com]>. Q9. How do I run a play-by-e-mail game? A9. The Irony Games WWW site has some info on running PBeM games: This also lists new PBeM games starting and needing players as well as links to already up-and-running games on the Web. The 'How to run a play-by-e-mail game' section can be found at: (This has lots of useful links.) 'Intro to PBeMs'/'What's a PBeM' is at: Q10. Where can I find out about conventions? A10. Magazines like 'Valkyrie', 'Arcane' and 'Games, Games, Games' all maintain lists of forthcoming conventions. Don't bother with the one in 'Dragon'; it has a notable bias against anything that's not in the USA or Canada. I (Phil Masters) maintain a WWW page with listings of forthcoming British conventions: Convention organisers should e-mail all relevant information to <[p--l] at [philm.demon.co.uk]>. Mark Baker's WWW Convention Diary used to be updated regularly, but it has now become moribund, mostly because Mark lost his Internet access, and it is now long out of date. However, it may be revived at some time. The URL is: . Q11. Where can I find out about UK and Irish RPG magazines? A11. We seem to be in the middle of a resurgence of British games magazines at the moment. The following are the ones which qualify as professional or semi-professional. For information on fanzines, see later. THE ADVENTURER Dedicated to LRP. No other details known. Address: The Adventurer's Guild, 11 Foxhall Road, Nottingham, NG7 6NA AFTER REALITY A start-up magazine. They seem to know what they're doing. Address: 87 New Road, Woodston, Peterborough PE2 9HD ARCANE A very '90s gaming magazine. Very glossy and generally well-written; 'hardware-lite'. Monthly, and far better distributed than most (i.e. probably available in most branches of W.H.Smiths). Address: Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BA E-mail: [a--ca--e] at [futurenet.co.uk] WWW: http://www.futurenet.co.uk/ ELSEWHERE PBM and RPG magazine, heavy on the enthusiasm. Bi-monthly. Address: 47 Leopold Street, Southsea, Portsmouth, Hants, PO4 0JZ E-mail: [c--t] at [amorte.com] WWW: http://www.amorte.com/elsewhere/elsewhere.html FUTURE ROLEPLAYER A somewhat irregular magazine, oriented towards computers, SF, and the technophile end of the hobby generally. Declared to be on hold as of January 1997, but the editors hope to have it going again "within two to four months". Address: 8 Woodsetts Road, North Anston, Sheffield, S31 7EQ E-mail: John Baker <[j--n] at [aubaine.win-uk.net]> GAMES GAMES GAMES Stalwart of the UK games scene, and useful information resource for gamers of all colours. Monthly. Address: 42 Wynndale Road, London E18 1DX E-mail: [g 3] at [sfcp.co.uk] INTERACTIVE FANTASY A serious magazine about all aspects of role-playing and storytelling games, in the mould of an academic journal. Officially thrice-yearly, but currently on hold. Address: Andrew Rilstone, 22 Avonmead House, 40-48 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QD E-mail: [REDACTED] at [aslan.demon.co.uk] WWW: http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk/if.htm MILLENNIUM A start-up magazine with high aspirations. Address: ? E-mail: [101733 2620] at [compuserve.com] TALES OF THE REACHING MOON Runequest fanzine, with production values putting most pro-mags to shame. Schedule unknown. Address: 21 Stephenson Court, Osborne Street, Slough, SL1 1TN E-mail: [100116 2616] at [compuserve.com] TOMB: MIDNIGHT FEAST From what I've seen and heard, this newcomer (dedicated to White Wolf's Vampire games, RPG and CCG) is another fanzine with seriously impressive production values - and also professional distribution. Quarterly. Address: ? (Try games shops or distributors.) VALKYRIE Traditional-style games magazine in the WD/GM mould, heavy on the hardware. Nominally bi-monthly, but extremely irregular; fairly widely available when it does appear. Address: Partizan Press, 816-818 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Southend, Essex, SS9 3NH WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/d_renton/homepage.htm e-mail: [100626 2365] at [compuserve.com] WHITE DWARF Games Workshop's house magazine. Included here for Warhammer Quest players. Monthly, and found in every W.H.Smiths. Address: Games Workshop Design Studio, 16 Castle Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 1FL WWW: http://www.games-workshop.co.uk And those we remember: Adventurer; Black Sun; Concepts; Diceman; Fantasy Chronicles; Games International; Games Review Monthly; GM; GMI; Imagine; Last Province; Red Giant; Reviewer; Role-Player Independent, Warlock; and many more. Some sadly missed. Others not missed at all. A couple barely remembered. Q12. Where can I find out about UK and Irish RPG publishers? A12. There aren't many. Those we know about are listed below, with contact information: CAWS Products: Animouch! Address: 38 Carshalton Road, Camberley, Surrey, GU14 4AQ E-mail: ? CRUCIBLE DESIGN Products: The 23rd Letter RPG ; QABAL RPG Address: 13 Prospect Park, Lisburn, N. Ireland, BT27 3HR. WWW: http://members.tripod.com/~CrucibleDesign/index.html E-mail: [c--le--n] at [hotmail.com] Tel: (9-5 + answering machine) (01232) 363905 DISENCHANTED GAMES Products: Casalana (generic fantasy sourcebooks) Address: 115 Curly Hill, Ilkley, W. Yorkshire, LS29 0DT EQUILIBRIUM GAMES Products: West Point - Extra Planetary Academy Address: 31 Lysons Road, Aldershot, Hants, GU11 1NH E-mail: [oscar clark] at [bandw.co.uk] GAMES WORKSHOP Products: Warhammer Fantasy Battle; Warhammer 40,000; Talisman; Warhammer Quest; Necromunda; Space Hulk Address: Chewton Street, Hilltop, Eastwood, Nottingham, NG16 3HY WWW: http://www.games-workshop.co.uk HERESY Products: Victoriana RPG (forthcoming) Address: 3 Peel Close, Hampton in Arden, Solihull, B92 0AL WWW: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/heresy E-mail: [h--re--y] at [dial.pipex.com] HOGSHEAD PUBLISHING LTD Products: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, FRUP Address: 29a Abbeville Road, London, SW4 9LA E-mail: [e--u--y] at [hogshead.demon.co.uk] PROFANTASY SOFTWARE Products: Campaign Cartographer Address: Enterprise House, Cathles Road, London SW12 9LD WWW: http://www.profantasy.com/profant/ E-mail: [m--k] at [profantasy.com] TSR LTD Products: TSR Ltd doesn't actually produce anything; it acts as the distribution arm of its US parent. Address: 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge CB1 3LB VENTURE PRESS Products: Frenzy RPG Address: The A.I.C., Muirfield C.E.C., Brown Road, Cumbernauld, G67 1AA WASTELAND GAMES Products: Killing Ground; Point Blank; MAJI; Heretics; El Paso; Ad Astra; STOCS Lite Address: 67 Eglinton St, Portrush, N. Ireland, BT56 8DZ WWW: http://indigo.ie/~waste E-mail: [w--s--e] at [indigo.ie] WIZARDS OF THE COAST UK Products: Like TSR Ltd, WotC UK doesn't produce anything, it just distributes and publicises. Address: P.O. Box 1562, Glasgow, G2 8BW This is probably also the appropriate place to mention MARCUS ROWLAND, who publishes his own roleplaying game, 'Forgotten Futures', as 'shareware' in the form of plain text files on computer diskette. Marcus does NOT operate as a commercial publisher, and he is NOT in the business of publishing other people's work, but he is British, and he is really selling a real (and interesting) RPG. Address: 22, Westbourne Park Villas, London, W2 5EA WWW: Marcus doesn't have his own 'Web page yet, but there is at least one site that holds copies of his games: E-mail: [REDACTED] at [ffutures.demon.co.uk] (or [m--wl--d] at [ffutures.demon.co.uk] or [m--wl--d] at [cix.compulink.co.uk] for general mail). Sanctuary Games, producers of 'Tales of Gargentihr', sadly ceased trading in 1995. Nightfall Games was absorbed into Wizards of the Coast UK in 1994, and its game 'SLA Industries' seems to be in limbo at the moment. Information on the fates of these and other UK-based RPG companies would be welcome. Q13. Where can I find out about UK and Irish RPG distributors? A13. Distributors are the people who supply games shops with games: they order from the manufacturers, import the goods into the country, and ship stuff to the shops. Their names and addresses are commercially sensitive, and you're unlikely to be given a complete list of distributors just for the asking. Try asking games retailers which specialist distributor they use, or ask a games publisher if they can help. And some of them do actually advertise in magazines like 'Arcane' and 'Valkyrie'. Q14. Are there any other good sources of RPG information I should know about? A14. Yes; there's the British Roleplaying Society (BRS). This operates via a mailing list, which you can join by sending a message with the word 'Subscribe' in the subject line to: <[B R S members request] at [monosys.com]>. Messages to the list itself are sent to <[B R S members] at [monosys.com]> Q15. What about Net resources? A15. I'm hoping that the friendly readers of this newsgroup will forward me their suggestions. FTP or WWW sites don't have to be in the UK or Ireland - the nature of the Net makes physical location mostly irrelevant - but anything of direct relevance or interest to UK or Irish role-players would be greatly appreciated. That can include club and shop homepages, details of forthcoming events, indexes of UK-produced gaming magazines, the CAMRA homepage ... whatever. 'My D&D page' is not UK-specific enough to this FAQ for inclusion. Future Publishing, the people behind 'Arcane', have a fine WWW site with its own discussion area and items of UK and Irish interest. Go to: and follow the signs from there. The UK Masquerade is a newly formed society, mainly based in the south of England, that deals with White Wolf's 'Vampire: The Masquerade' game. They have a WWW site at: This hold both IC & OOC information, including who's who, status list, newsletters, contact points, and a WoD Time Line, listing lots of important events in the WoD, currently 25 pages long. There's also an admirable library of material at monosys.com, accessible by e-mail. For information, send an e-mail to <[games request] at [monosys.com]> with a Subject line containing just the word "info" (no quotes). See also many of the company and magazine home pages mentioned above; they are interesting both for themselves and for the links they may include. Q16. What's a fanzine? A16. A fanzine is an amateur-produced magazine, typically with low production values and more enthusiasm than technical proficiency. Nevertheless, fanzines are a traditional seed-bed of gaming, teaching people publishing skills and the dynamics of the game industry, and many of today's professional games creators and publishers emerged out of the fanzine hobby, including Marc Gascoigne, Ian Marsh, Andrew Rilstone, Jake Thornton and James Wallis. For the moment, this FAQ will contain a listing and contact details for all the UK or Irish role-playing fanzines it knows of. If you know of any, or if you edit one yourself, then please send details. I'm hoping that someone will spin this section off into a separate FAQ or WWW page, and thus save me the trouble of having to collate all the information. Beaumains Dedicated to 'Pendragon' and Arthurian stuff generally. Gareth Jones, 69 Atherley Road, Shirley, Southampton, SO1 5DT Borkelby's Folly Dedicated to the off-beat RPG 'Skyrealms of Jorune'; 40 to 45 A4 pages, with card covers. 2 pounds for a single issue or 5 pounds for three. Ray Gillham, 22 Mirador Crescent, Uplands, Swansea, SA2 0QX E-Mail: [S--IL--A] at [swansea.ac.uk] Carnel General RPG fanzine. RHJ Rees, ? Delusions of Grandeur General, intelligent games fanzine. Paul Duncanson, 446a Garrett Lane, Earlsfield, London, SW18 4HL Eye of All-Seeing Wonder Dedicated to the Tekumel background, as found in 'Empire of the Petal Throne' and 'Gardasiyal'. Steve Foster, 26 Western Lane, Balham, London, SW12 8JS Fnordly World News General games fanzine; newsletter of the Irish Games Association. Sally Beth Roche, P.O. Box 4345, Dublin 1, Ireland Games Gazette General magazine of games previews and reviews. Chris Baylis, 67 Mynchens, Basildon, Essex, SS15 5EG Imazine Very influential thinking-person's zine, edited by Paul Mason, and highly recommended. Now primarily available on the WWW: Ivory, Peacocks and Apes A very well-produced and enjoyable zine, with high editing standards. Gavin Greig, 4 North Carr View, Kingsbarns, by St Andrews, Fife, KY16 8SX E-Mail: [c--el--n] at [asgard.compulink.co.uk] Nightflyer Fanzine produced by the Oxford University RPG Society. Doesn't have an address on it. Hmm. PBMzine A totally indicative title. But it's all part of the RPG hobby, isn't it? Jamie Lang, 53 Scott Road, Sheffield, S4 7BG E-Mail: [j--m--e] at [globalnet.co.uk] Visions A newcomer, primarily covering RPGs, but also dealing with other games and media (I'm told). David and John House, 8 Eythrope Road, Stone, Aylesbury, HP17 8PG Warpstone Dedicated to 'Warhammer FRP'. John Foody, 10 Colenso Road, Clapton, London E5 Q.17 People in my area are attacking RPGs as dangerous/corrupting/satanic. What can I do about it? A.17 First of all, stay calm. Flying off the handle never helps. Secondly, check out the following WWW page: It's probably the best anti-anti-RPG page out there, bar none. It's Canadian, but we'll just have to live with that. (There are others; do browse around the WWW, if you've got time.) Thirdly, write a calm and considered letter to the local paper, simply stating that RPGs are just games. Use some of the evidence gleaned from the WWW pages above to support your case; or send a print-out of the page, explaining that it comes from the WWW site of a Canadian Christian group. Invite anyone interested - including reporters from the paper - along to a club night or convention, so they can see the truth about RPGs for themselves. Fourthly, contact the company whose games are being attacked. Usually this will be TSR, but more recently Steve Jackson Games, Chaosium and Metropolis have all come under fire. Most companies have e-mail addresses these days, and they will almost certainly be just as worried as you about the attacks on their products. And finally, if the attacks persist, drop an e-mail to the following people, letting them know that there's a problem. They all have experience in dealing with the media, and because they're involved in the games industry in this country their voices will carry some weight with the press. They are: Andy Butcher, Arcane Magazine <[a--tc--r] at [futurenet.co.uk]> Andy Jones, Games Workshop <[a--on--s] at [games-workshop.co.uk]> James Wallis, Hogshead Publishing <[j--m--s] at [hogshead.demon.co.uk]> (If anyone has an e-mail address for TSR (UK) Ltd, it would be very welcome) Q18. What are my chances of getting a job in the RPG industry in the UK? A18. Pathetically tiny, frankly, unless you're prepared to move to the USA or start your own company. It is possible to make some money from working as a freelance writer and designer in the RPG business, and a handful of hardy souls around the world earn a living from it. You might do better to regard RPGs as just a part of a career in writing or journalism. Contact as many games publishers and magazines as you can think of, and ask for their submission guidelines. We have been asked to point out that some RPG publishers aren't as on the ball professionally as you might hope, and you should prepare yourself for disappointments and delays - although this applies to every other field of publishing too. Q19. How do I publish my own game? A19. The answer's far too big for a FAQ - James Wallis says that he could write a book about what he's learned in the last two years, and probably another book about his previous five years as a freelancer. But this will cover the major points. The fact is that it's very hard to make a go of a UK- or Ireland-based games company. The total UK and Irish market for RPGs is tiny compared to, say, the European or American market; and while you might be able to sell a few hundred copies of SMITHQUEST, by John Smith, published by Smith Games, your chances of becoming the next TSR, FASA, GW or WotC are severely limited by geography. However, it is possible to be British and challenge the world, as GW has proved. It's just a hell of a lot of work. The most important thing you need to think about is the scale of your operation. If you're only planning to print 300 copies of a 40-page booklet and sell them via local shops and conventions, then you'll probably do okay whoever you are. If you're planning a 200-page book and a print run of 3000 copies, then be aware that you're putting your product up against AD&D, Vampire, Rifts and Shadowrun, and you're going to have to be frighteningly businesslike and together to survive. It may not look it, but in crucial areas, the RPG industry is just as slick and professional as any other industry. It eats amateurs alive. One model that you may wish to consider is the self-publishing/computer file shareware route taken by Marcus Rowland (see Question 12). This will not make you rich - it isn't a full-time job for Marcus - but it will get your game published, relatively cheaply, and on your own terms, which may be what you actually want. Prospective serious games publishers need to bear the following major points in mind: 1. Games design, writing and editing Who's going to write your games for you? Are you sure you/they can write games material to a commercial standard? Do you have time to run the company and write the games as well? Do you have any experience of editing and proof-reading, or do you know someone who does? 2. Layout The days of typed RPGs are long gone: these days you need at least a high- end word processor and probably a slick DTP program to make a game look commercial. If you can't operate one, learn. If you don't have a computer that can run such a program, get access to one. 3. Artwork If you're going for the big market, your game will need professional-quality b/w art inside, and a colour cover on the outside. (Well, can you name a single successful RPG with a two-colour cover? No, neither can I.) If you really can't afford full-colour, go for black, red and white - take a look at the STOCs books produced by Wasteland Games for an example of this done well. A lot of distributors won't even look at a publication that doesn't have a full-colour cover. 4. Printers Get as many printing quotes as you can, and always ask to see examples of the company's previous work. Be aware that printing prices in the UK are high; if you're ambitious, check out printers in Spain and Italy. Or do what Hogshead does: use a printer in America, to be closer to the biggest RPG market in the world. It's cheaper, and means you can write off trips to the USA as a business expense. 5. Warehousing and shipping Don't leave these out of your calculations - and if you're doing a large print run and are planning to store the books at home, you'd better have a huge garage. Books are bulky and heavy. And remember that you may be shipping them all over the world, so make plans for that. A hint: American distributors hate importing material from Europe, but European distributors don't mind importing stuff from the USA. 6. Distribution Get in touch with games distributors at least four months before your game is due to come out. Talk to them about discounts and delivery dates, who pays shipping costs, promotional budgets, how you can help them and they can help you. Distributors will typically expect to pay about 40% of the cover price of the game. 7. Europe and America The UK games market is piddly in comparison with the two big markets: Europe and the USA - so piddly that if your business plan is based only on sales in the UK, you will go bust. We say that with total certainly. You should be thinking about how you're going to sell your game in Europe and America from Day One of planning. 8. Publicity and Support How are you going to let people know about your products? Advertisements? Press releases? WWW pages? Publicity leaflets or posters sent out to retailers? Attending conventions? Attending trade shows? Catalogues? The RPG market depends a lot on impulse purchases, but people like to be aware of a product's existence before they buy it. Have you got your release schedule mapped out? Can you be sure you can keep to it? Distributors, retailers and fans like to know that a game will be properly supported before they plonk down their cash for it. There are a gazillion other tiny fiddly little points, such as acquiring ISBN numbers, getting listed in Books In Print and so on. To find out more about them, buy copies of 'The Small Press Yearbook' (published by the Small Press Group) and 'Writers and Artists Yearbook' (published by A.C.Black), which will fill a lot of the gaps in your knowledge. Also: contact James Wallis <[j--m--s] at [hogshead.demon.co.uk]>, or any of the other British games companies. Almost everyone in the biz will be happy to give support and advice to new publishers. They all started out somewhere, and if they can help you avoid making the same mistakes they did, so much the better. Another young games company going bankrupt doesn't help anybody. Q20. Is role-playing in decline? What is the future of roleplaying? A20. At any given time, by whatever measure you consider important, role- playing may be in decline. Even if it is, this does not necessarily mean that people are not still enjoying it. Define your terms before asking this question on the group, and do not expect a useful answer from anybody. Well, okay - to be honest, there are some serious signs that the RPG industry is currently in a down-swing. How serious this is, how long it will last, and what solutions may be possible, are matters that can be discussed on the group. But don't expect general agreement. As for the future; no-one on the group is psychic. Probably, some people will continue to play, and (we may hope) to enjoy these games. Many people also think that a high degree of diversity in the games that people play (and enjoy) is a good thing. All of this, however, is a matter of opinion. Q20a: Don't be stupid; the future of role-playing is... A20a: ...Don't tell us - it's your favourite game or approach. The chances are that you have just discovered this game or approach, and you are feeling very happy with it. Good for you. However, the chances are also that it will remain just one part of a complex (if not massively popular or fashionable) hobby. Some people will even tell you that this is a good thing. But please phrase these "questions" as questions in future. (And do remember that rec.games.frp.advocacy may be a better place to express your personal preferences in RPGs.) Q21. How do I get a new section added to this FAQ, or correct any mistakes in it? A21. You e-mail me at the address below, with your ideas. All contributions gratefully received: I know a fair amount about bits of the hobby, but I don't know it all. The current intention is for this FAQ for uk.games.roleplay to be re-posted monthly. It was originally drafted by James Wallis, and is currently compiled and maintained by Phil Masters <[p--l] at [philm.demon.co.uk]>. Additional information and assistance supplied by Stephen Bates, Jonathan Burt, Brian Duguid, J.H.T.Fattorini, Marcus Hill, M.D.Horrill, Elenor Maclaren, and Sheila Thomas. Last update: 3rd February 1997 Turnpike evaluation. For Turnpike information, mailto:[i--o] at [turnpike.com]