Demo monkeys?

[feralucce]

Sj games has the MIB, a corps of gamers that go out and demo their product in exchange for points they can cash in for product...

Have you guys considered something similar? If there is a thread on this, I could not find it, but I am still learning how to use this damnable iPad. Lol

[mudpyr8]

There is the Legion of Heroes GM group but nothing "official" official.

[feralucce]

There should be... It's an effective marketing technique and model

[mudpyr8]

Maybe - I don't know as SJG would necessarily agree with you. I frequent a number of game stores in my area and none of them know of the MiBs. I have seen a handful of MiB events at cons, but that's it. I don't think that GURPS 4E sales have been impacted significantly by their efforts, but that's only the anecdotal experience I have.

I have put a lot of my effort into this, personally, and the Legion of Heroes puts a lot of effort into events at regional and national cons. I'm speculating - maybe DoJ staff have more data on the subject of organized demo teams.

[feralucce]

Interesting... Before Katrina hit, had four MIBs servicing new Orleans. When I was in Columbia Missouri, there were two of us...

I believe it hass a lot to do with the monkeys themselves...

I know when I was doing it, (this was back before munchkin came out... And I quit after the retooling of car wars)... The store kept track of what was sold as a result of demos... SJG sales were almost exclusively demo driven... And this was with me serving three stores.

I will admit, it might have been me... They ran a contest for the most demos run for car wars, and it was a three way tie between me and two others...

As with yours, my evidence is purely anecdotal

[Steve Long]

First, I've moved this to "Company Questions" because it's not related to Products at all.

We tried a program like that, the Legion Of Heroes, when we first got started nearly ten years ago. It didn't work. It may or may not be an "effective marketing technique and model," as you put it, but assuming for the sake of argument that it is, it requires (a) a lot of people all over the country, and (b) a not-insignificant amount of managerial time, to do it properly and thus take advantage of it. We never had anywhere close to the number of people we needed to make it work; even if we had, I'm not sure how much staff time we could've afford to devote to it in the long term.

[Mr. Negative]

Also, in defense of both the MIBs and Hero Games, the MIBs typically demo the shorter board/card games that SJ Games produces. These range from 5 minute games like Cthulhu Dice up to more complicated games like Revolution which still can be resolved in an hour or two.

I've never seen any of my local MIBs demo GURPS, for example (of course, I may well have missed it). Demoing a full fledged RPG from Character Creation through an actual gaming session is a lot different from demonstrating a pick-up game, even one as awesome as Munchkin.

I think the whole demonstration system works much better with smaller, individual games than a large, modular system like HERO (or GURPS). If you like Zombie dice when you play it for a half hour, you buy the box. Demo over, sale enabled. Teaching and evangelizing for something as flexible as HERO (or GURPS) is a lot more time consuming, and much less likely to result in an instant sale. Heck, the retailer might not even have the particular genre book you want in stock, even if you fall in love with the game at first sight. They can't stock everything.

[feralucce]

SOrry about the misplacement. In my brain... Demoing product... Related... But i am on odd little bird...

When I was MIBin, I ran GURPs all the time... But hey...*grins* look where I'm at now...lol...

Hey, if it's been tried, then who am I to argue...

Was just curious, and have a desire to see a large hero community in Nola...

Guess I'll just keep converting them one player at a time...lol

[mudpyr8]

One thing I have had success with is to use settings/ideas that are popular, well known, or familiar. For example, when I run a game at a local store I don't market it as a Hero game per se. I focus on the story and setting to get people jazzed about playing. So, if I want to play Champions, I run an Avengers or X-Men game. If I want to play post-apocalyptic (one of my fav genres), I run a Fallout game or a STALKER game. Yesterday, at Origins I both my Marvel Zombies and Fallout games were sold out and I still had 4 players show up for Marvel and 5 for Fallout hoping to get in with generics. Those aren't Hero players, but I can assure you they are talking about the game when it's over, about what books to buy and hot to get started.

Those of us who have been playing for a while remember the novelty of a new game - new mechanics, new rules, all of it. I think players interested in the hobby today are less interested in the novelty of a new game's mechanics than they are the simple adventure and story. So give them that.

What other game out there will let you play a super mutant with a 25 STR and allow you to grab a raider and toss him 9m into another raider, thus making a Presence attack and routing the ambush? When players see that you can resolve a conflict like that they are hooting and shouting an high-fiving.

Surbrook has his entire Left 4 Dead adaptation. How awesome is that? All the characters, all the infected ready to run. Not only could you run a session of that, which will definitely get people in the store for the demo (L4D RPG - awesome, I'm so playing), but you can use it in other games. I used these zombies in my Marvel Zombies game. A tank plus 4-5 specials all at once, especially when the party isn't expecting it is still a challenge for 400 point characters. If you are playing a Champions campaign, one story arc could be about containing the z-poc and stopping it, but still having to deal with some of the outbreak. Good stuff!

Anyway, there are about two dozen Legion of Heroes GMs that are active on this board, and we all run at local cons as well as Origins and GenCon. If anyone is looking for ideas, materials, and what not for running demoes just post here.

I try to keep my Marvel Archive up to date - need to do a little tweaking after Origins, but here's Beast, Cyclops, Colossus, Jean Grey, Wolvering, Luke Cage, Iron Man, Captain America, Dr. Druid, Thor, Spiderman, and Black Widow. http://www.legendsmiths.com/adventur...ons/characters

[feralucce]

Yeah, covered that long ago... Name a system and we have it translated...

Makes the transition easier...

[teh bunneh]

Mudpyr's right. I've run Teen Titans Go! Hero since the show was still on the air, and I've never had empty seats at my table (I ran it with 11 PCs one year! Never again). People love playing in settings they know and enjoy.

[Barton]

I have GM'ed local conventions in the Chicago area, and go to Indianapolis for Who'sYerCon.
As a Legion of Hero member we cover the larger conventions (more players and Hero Games has a booth at them).
Could I demo monkey more, sure, but I have to know the store and/or be invited.

[feralucce]

Well that point, I disagree with... Most stores welcome demos of product they have in stock as long as it costs them nothing...

When I was an MIB I actually would run a demo when ever we travelled... We'd call before we went on the trip, make arrangements and then do it,.. And these were stores out of state and on two occasions, on different continents...

But as I said before, if it was tried with hero stuff, then I bow to superior experience.