Thanks Anemone!

That's exactly what I was looking for!

-clash

Quote from: AnemoneI may not be the best person to answer, since I do in fact buy way more RPGs than I have time to run or chances to play.     But I know that for me, "a firm commitment to play" does not mean I already have players -- only that I intend to run a game and recruit or lobby players for it as needed.  In other words, you don't have to market and sell to my entire group -- just to me.  

I'm easily hooked by games that (A) look "cool" and get me excited about running a game, and (B) will make my life easier as GM.  Unfortunately, (A) and (B) don't always go hand in hand.

[LIST=A]

• Getting me excited about the game usually entails an interesting premise, setting, or period, or a particularly well written version of an other wise well-worn one.  This is what got me to buy Cold Space and FTL Now.
  
• Making my life easier as GM means a system and a premise that are easy to teach and to remember; a system that moves the story along without bogging down frequently to look up special rules or argue about how they work; quick and easy statting of NPCs; and a toolbox approach that allows me to handle special cases without needing a whole new sourcebook or set of houserules.  The hope of (B) is what drives me to buy a lot of self-contained, small-press games.
  

Hey Clash, this is me, too.  I don't have any of your games, but I am intrigued more every day.  

I agree with Anemone almost word for word.

Quote from: joewolzHey Clash, this is me, too.  I don't have any of your games, but I am intrigued more every day.  

I agree with Anemone almost word for word.

Thanks, Joe!

Believe it or not, this is all very helpful. I thought my situation was rather different than most. All my players started with me as newbies, and they trust me completely. If I want to run - say - Roma Imperious, all I have to say is "I want to run Roma Imperious!" and they say "Cool! Let's make characters!" before I can get the game description out of my mouth. They're just totally awesome that way. Problem is, I never actually have to 'sell' anything to them. Looks like at least you two are the same.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceThis thread kinda got sidetracked at the start. What I actually was looking for was not tips on marketing my games, but more "how do GMs 'sell' these games to their players." Eliot mentioned "with a few exceptions I try not to buy something unless I have a firm commitment to play," which means he has to sell the game to his players before he will buy it.

This has been more a case of me not buying a game unless a GM is available who's committed to run it, and it seems advisable to own a copy of the rules myself. This is why I bought:

• Dogs in the Vineyard
• Burning Wheel
• 2300 AD (CD from FFE)
• Polaris (well, no GM since it's GMless, but I had a group)

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the idea that every person in a group needs to own a copy of the game. Probably a topic for another thread. But here I just want to set the record straight. Although I would like to GM more, I haven't done much since getting back into the hobby. (There's another thread, or I could piggyback off of JimBob's game tease thread.)

QuoteWith games like D&D, D20, and WW, there are enough gamers around who know the game already, but how would you pitch a Small Press game that you don't really know to people who most likely never heard of it?

In spite of what I wrote above, I agree with other comments that the primary target of any marketing effort needs to be GMs. Or potential GMs, if you can convince someone who doesn't GM often that you have a fun game that's easy for them to run.

However as I recently alluded in another thread, I think it's important to be aware of how different publishing motivations impact your relationship with the market. The easiest to handle, psychologically, is probably the hobbyist approach: you're not going to get rich off your games, you make them because you yourself enjoy playing them with your friends, and if other people like them enough to give you some money for them, great! With this perspective I think the best approach is to just keep participating in the hobby, with your games as part of the hobby, which means running the game for other people, talking about them, and encouraging others to share their enthusiasm by running actual games at cons & such.

Quote from: flyingmice... but how would you pitch a Small Press game that you don't really know to people who most likely never heard of it?

Which is why I'm convinced that the best thing for Small Press publishers is new blood in the hobby. Half my current group does not know anything about the rpg scene so a game is a game, Small Press or otherwise. The other half wants to try new things, so it works out well.

Regards,
David R