Just a little over a week after opening pre-orders for a boxed edition of Swords & Wizardry: White Box, John Adams of Brave Halfling Publishing has announced that the product is sold out for the foreseeable future. This is both terrific and disappointing news -- terrific because it means that BHP has obviously created something for which there was much demand and disappointing because many gamers, myself included, won't get their hands on copies of this game anytime soon.
John has said there will be a second run of boxed sets "later in 2010," though no specific date has been given. He has also indicated that a single-volume version of the White Box rules will be released "as soon as possible." The latter is good news for those who don't already own copies of White Box, but, speaking only for myself, it was the boxed, small booklet format that really appealed to me and made me consider buying a copy not only for myself but for my friends as well. Without the box, the appeal of the new release is minimal.
I certainly look forward to seeing what BHP produces to support the White Box rules. I do hope, though, that the company finds some way to keep a boxed version of the game in regular print rather than its being an occasional grab-it-before-it's-gone product. I think a boxed set of simple fantasy roleplaying rules could do extremely well, particularly if they were readily available through game stores. That White Box won't be such a game, at least not in the near future, is a disappointment, although it does leave an opening for Jim Raggi's own offering, which he plans to release as a boxed set, though I have no idea if his game will be put into distribution or not.
Still, congratulations to Brave Halfling for producing an instant winner. I guess I'll just wait until the next print run before I snag my copies.
Dammit! I was seriously considering getting two: one for me, and one for my son. Oh well -- it will have to wait until April, I suppose. I do have a question (really for John, I suppose) -- what will the outside of the box look like? Does it use the White Box cover by Pete Mullen?
ReplyDeleteViktor, the BHP site says that the cover won't be revealed until Feb. 1. They wanted it to be a surprise so they offered it at a discounted pre-order price.
ReplyDeleteThanks to John and co. for providing this great game in a much anticipated format! :D
I was going to pick a set up on payday on the 15th, but it looks like that won't happen. It seems odd that it sold out before it was even officially released. I would have preferred that anyone that pre-ordered before the deadline would have received a copy. I mean if it sold out that fast, it is a miscalculation on the publishing end as to what demand was for the product since it was only in pre-order status not full release.
ReplyDeleteI missed out, as well. If it would have been available this coming Friday, I'd have ordered a copy. Guess I'll get a later copy.
ReplyDeletehttp://sordnbord.blogspot.com/
Well, the fact is that anyone who pre-ordered a copy is going to get a copy. Once there were none left, you couldn't pre-order (let alone order) anymore.
ReplyDeleteMiscalculation? John does this in his spare time, and I don't begrudge him for possibly being conservative on the production end. Considering he's assembling the boxed set himself, and that the markup probably isn't that great, it hurts more to have a lot of unsold stock than it does to sell out.
@Jay -- thanks; I missed that. Looks to me like waiting for a reprint has hidden benefits, although I'm not sure that the extra five bucks is worth knowing what the box art looks like... 8)
ReplyDelete@Patrick: pre-ordering often works this way: (a) get quote from all suppliers for a particular number of units so you know what you're going to have to pay, (b) solicit pre-orders to help defray that cost, (c) reach ceiling for numbers calculated in first step and decide to proceed.
ReplyDeleteSure, John could go back and get quotes on orders for more, but I have sympathy for the task of hand-assembling parts. That's no easy task.
My understanding is that pre-ordering for a publisher doesn't usually mean "let me see how many I can sell", it means, "I know I need precisely this much money to start with publication of this many units, so when I get a confirmed number of pre-orders, I will close down offering and start production".
Good to know that the white box sets may get reprinted later this year. I'm no expert, but I think there would be a strong market for those through the FLGS as well (i'm seeing a lot of nostalgic 40-somethings with their kids in tow at my FLGS).
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to receiving my set, but I can't help but feel a little guilty about my good fortune. Sorry about your back luck, JM.
I'm a little overwhelmed by this as well. I mean, I had fun writing the thing but had no idea that it would sell so quickly.
ReplyDeleteI guess in my opinion it would have been better to say something like: Hey guys, I'm doing a limited first run of 100 copies (or however many) to kick things off. Once those are sold then I'll post the free pdf and later in the year will be another print run that will be a wider release for everyone else. That wouldn't leave anyone with the impression that come February 1st you could order it at the regular price instead of the early adopter price. That is certainly how I read:
ReplyDeleteHey guys, I'm ready to start taking orders for the Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox Boxed Set. This is not the fancy official announcement - that will happen on the 20th of January. This is my way of offering my buddies in the OSR a chance to get their WB Boxed Sets first at a discounted price. The official release/shipping date is February 1, but I will ship all pre-orders as soon as the dice and boxes arrive.
@Patrick: Yep, I agree that the messaging around this could have been better, but I can also understand that John might not have had much of any idea on how much interest there was in the physical product.
ReplyDelete