Good News from PPP and Noble Knight • Page 2 • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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Good News from PPP and Noble Knight
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Invincible Overlord
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:40 am

It's a win-win for both of them:

Rob gets exposed to a larger distribution network through NKG, and NKG gets a quality name like Rob Kuntz.

But I agree with Blackmoor, because we could be the only ones losing out. We'll just have to watch the prices on the modules and S&H.

RPGâ€™s, D&D in particular has had a major influence in my life. Itâ€™s bonded me together with life long friends...itâ€™s that bond in life not just as friends, but in our jokes, our mannerisms, and what we find funny. Invincible Overlord

grodog
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:54 am

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:I can't agree with you on it being a bad move for PPP, though. It was a single source before (PPP). Plus, Rob (if I can call him that) has a very, very bad history when it comes to shipping on time.

PPP has had shipping problems in the past, certainly, but the last several releases have gone by without delays, in my experience: there's little point in tarring PPP with a brush for issues that have been fixed.

Kingofpain89 wrote:By the way....does anyone know why Noble Knight doesnt have a booth at Gen Con? Have they ever? I know booths arent cheap but it just seems like a no-brainer to me.

When I've asked Aaron about that before, he's said that it's too expensive, and takes up too much time, so he basically would lose money from his regular business: it's more profitable for him to be open as-is than to be at GC.

Kingofpain89 wrote:I thought that Rob could sell a ton of product if PPP would have had a booth the last couple of years. And if he decided to do it next year he could share a booth with another company which would reduce costs. Eh...just my two cents.

He and I have talked about attending GC the past several years, but until Rob had sufficient product on-hand and available (with reprints for CotSK, ToB, etc.), then he wouldn't really have sufficient product to make a GC booth viable. And while the booths themselves are definitely pricey, the overall expense of the show comes with the hotel, airfare, shipping of product to and from the site (with drayage fees from union labor for loading and unloading, in some cases), meals out three times a day, and such.

When Tadashi, Rob, Ryan Smalley, and I attended GC 2004 at Tadashi's Different Worlds booth, we had a horrible location, and Tadashi lost at least $5K on the show, perhaps twice that

Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
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Badmike
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:30 am

Blackmoor wrote:
Rob is wearing a NTRPGcon Golf shirt

Yeh loved that part!!!

Mike B.

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Kingofpain89
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:39 am

grodog wrote:When Tadashi, Rob, Ryan Smalley, and I attended GC 2004 at Tadashi's Different Worlds booth, we had a horrible location, and Tadashi lost at least $5K on the show, perhaps twice that

Wow...that is just mindbogglingly awful.

There were a lot of disappointed people when Crazy Egor made his announcement to close up shop for good at Gen Con. Now it doesnt surprise me all that much when you consider just how much it can cost a large reseller for a good sized booth and all of the additional expenses that go along with it.

Makes me wonder if Malcolm's last couple of Gen Con's have been worthwhile monetarily?

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

ScketreWhisp®
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:46 pm

Not to release any "secrets" about anything, but here is an excerpt from an email exchange between Rob and myself a few months back. Just because I have rpgmarketplace.com didn't mean I wanted to distribute PPP products, but I was honored Rob was considering me for the job.

I won't list all the details, but you can see how the "money" side was pitched, and it should not cause the PPP products to go up in price if the same deal was struck with NKG:

---------------------------

From:    Robert Kuntz <rjk@pied-piper-publishing.com>
To:    Doug Rhea <DougRhea@ntrpgcon.com>
Date:    2009/06/11 20:11

...Now, to the offer here. Doug, I need to move this company forward...

...If you and I were to partner on this through your online concern, I would be in position to drop our direct ordering method and give you the exclusive right to resell our entire product line...

...I imagine the split at 50/50 on each, after costs...

... PPP would still foot all printing costs and drop ship directly from the printer to you....

----------------------------

So based on that, the prices could remain the same as long as 50% of the profit is good for NKG.... again, this was pitched to me back in June, I have no clue what NKG agreed to.

I am glad to see NKG involved, while I would have been honored to be the "sole" distributor for PPP games, it's not what I do for a living and things like rpgmarketplace.com and ntrpgcon.com are just "hobbies", not how I make a living...

Had I taken Rob up on his offer, I am afraid I'd have enlisted BadMike to handle it all

Johnson
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:29 am

Hi.

we break even, but thats cos we fly business class with ba from the uk, and stay in the downtown marriott which is not a cheap hotel.
But this is a holiday for us, not just a business trip.

You can do stuff to bring down cost:
book an concierge room in the hotel - extra $30 per night but free bfast snacks, soft drinks and small evening buffet
book flights during airline sales - saved several thousand dollars this way
bring stock in siutcases - no need to use the loading bays etc
share a booth - me and the BBs will be looking for a 3rd to share again in 2010

If I could magically get my entire stock over to GC, then I would make an absolute killing!

Cheers,
Malc

I have a plan so cunning, you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.

benjoshua
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:14 am

ScketreWhisp® wrote:Had I taken Rob up on his offer, I am afraid I'd have enlisted BadMike to handle it all

Mike's good at dishing it out....I mean shipping it out.

Truth is worth finding and life is too short to work for money.

Badmike
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:36 pm

benjoshua wrote:
Mike's good at dishing it out....I mean shipping it out.

It would have buried me....have enough trouble with keeping up as is. But I think it's cool Rob trutsted Doug enough to consider it. Doug and I talked last night and I'm getting excited about NTRPG Con again next year.....looks like it's on the way (with Garycon) to be at the forefront of the old school movement for the coming years.

Mike B.

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"I had a collecting emergency" Nogrod
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FormCritic
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:19 am

Just a suggestion: Instead of "North Texas," how about NorTexCon?

Same way Gencon became a single brandname word unassociated with Lake Geneva.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Kingofpain89
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:28 am

FormCritic wrote:Just a suggestion: Instead of "North Texas," how about NorTexCon?

Same way Gencon became a single brandname word unassociated with Lake Geneva.

NorTexCon sounds like the name of a petroleum company. :wink:

You don't like your job, you don't strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way. - Homer Simpson

ScketreWhisp®
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:42 am

Both Frank & Tim have suggested "NorTex Con" since NTRPG Con or North Texas RPG Con seems to be a mouthful for most people not from Texas.

If you type in http://NorTexCon.com you get to our site

benjoshua
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:46 pm

ScketreWhisp® wrote:Both Frank & Tim have suggested "NorTex Con" since NTRPG Con or North Texas RPG Con seems to be a mouthful for most people not from Texas.

If you type in http://NorTexCon.com you get to our site

Even NorTex Con is a mouthful even though the letter quantity is economical. It would be nice if it had two syllables instead of three.

Somehow, TexCon, ConTex, or D-Con don't quite have what it takes in my opinion even though they are short. Maybe MikeCon! :wink:

I'm sure we'll get used to NTRPGCON or find something better eventually. If Mike & Doug don't keep the name the same, then the new title will forever require the dreaded asterisk to explain the first MikeCon, oooops!, was originally called North Texas RPG Con.

Truth is worth finding and life is too short to work for money.

Badmike
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 12:23 am

benjoshua wrote:
Even NorTex Con is a mouthful even though the letter quantity is economical. It would be nice if it had two syllables instead of three.

Somehow, TexCon, ConTex, or D-Con don't quite have what it takes in my opinion even though they are short. Maybe MikeCon! I'm sure we'll get used to NTRPGCON or find something better eventually. If Mike & Doug don't keep the name the same, then the new title will forever require the dreaded asterisk to explain the first MikeCon, oooops!, was originally called North Texas RPG Con.

Actually I believe Tim (Kask) likes the NorTexCon name. I'm partial to the initial version (NTRPG Con) but it is a mouthful....NT Con maybe? Imagine if we still called GenCon "LGRPG Con" or something similar....

Mike B

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JasonZavoda
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 1:49 am

Badmike wrote:
Actually I believe Tim (Kask) likes the NorTexCon name. I'm partial to the initial version (NTRPG Con) but it is a mouthful....NT Con maybe? Imagine if we still called GenCon "LGRPG Con" or something similar....

Mike B

I like calling it North Texas. Sounds kick ass to me.

grodog
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:00 pm

Name-wise, I like North TX RPG Con, but that is a lot to type up (though it's easy to say). Abbreviation-wise, I use NTXRPGCon but it would be nice to be able to shorten it somehow (is that possible, in Texas?

Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
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Deadlord
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 5:20 pm

Why not just TexCon?

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