Amidst other Atlas work (such as packing some orders to distributors), I've been working on the gift boxes. Yesterday I printed out all of orders we received, and sorted them into two piles — those that will probably go UPS (for some destinations, that will be the cheaper way to send the contents that will fit in a flat-rate box), and those that will definitely go US Mail.
I'm waiting for delivery of a bunch of flat-rate boxes from the Post Office, since I only had a few on hand, but in the meantime I'm able to work on the boxes that will go UPS, using packing materials we already have in the warehouse. We do a lot of reusing and recycling here at Atlas; most of these boxes I'm using are from our friends at The Source Comics and Games, who give us the boxes, packing peanuts, etc., from shipments they receive at their store. We put them to good use. Boxes in good shape are reused for our outgoing shipments, and those that are not in good shape either are cut up to use as packing material, or (when we just have more than we need) taken to the local recycling center. It's good for the environment to reuse these materials, but it's also good for the Atlas bottom line, to avoid spending money on brand-new shipping cartons. (Avoiding needless expense is one of the ways for game companies to survive 20 years!)
I've further sorted the orders into those that provided some instructions, and those that didn't. I filled a few flat-rate boxes that I had in the office, and I've started work on packing some boxes for the "no instructions/via UPS" group. As of when I had to leave the office earlier today (I'm working less than full time these days; I am in the office in the morning to early afternoon, and then I go home to take care of our twins while Michelle comes in to work in the afternoon), I so far have 39 boxes packed up and sealed.
At this point I'm thinking that we'll pack up all the gift boxes before we ship any. Bobbi said she wants to take a picture of them all, and she's away all week, and I have to admit that will make a cool picture. (My guess is that we'll have about three pallets of gift boxes.) After all the boxes are packed, the labeling itself will be no small task, and I'll need to be careful to keep track of the contents for all the ones going overseas so that I can process all the necessary export/customs documentation. And that reminds me, I need to count how many gift boxes are going outside the USA, and make sure I have enough of Customs Form Envelope 2976E...
FREE Deep Ones PDF Coloring Book
As an extra bonus for you Cthulhu aficionados out there, we've put together the Deep Ones PDF Coloring Book. Download it now for FREE, then print it out for hours of monstrously good fun!
Free Birthday Gift Box!
My birthday isn't in August, but a lot of my family birthdays are – including my wife's, my mother's, and my twin daughters'.
And then there's what you might call my first baby, Atlas Games. It was born 20 years ago, when I brought copies of Tales of the Dark Ages, a licensed Ars Magica adventure collection, to Milwaukee to sell at the Lion Rampant booth at Gen Con. At the beginning, this company was a supplement to my career as a freelance writer and editor (and student), but within a few years it was my main gig and freelancing was the occasional sideline.
It's amazing that we're still here, still making games, and actually making a living at it — especially if you know much of the history of the adventure/hobby game industry. I've been doing some office cleaning lately, and as I tossed shipping logs and catalogs from the mid-90s in the recycling, I skimmed through them and observed that only a handful of the distributors that were our customers twenty years ago are even in business any longer. Among fellow manufacturers, there has been no shortage of turnover. Only a handful of the leading companies from the era when I started are still around; the number is even smaller if you consider the companies that were, like industry titans Avalon Hill, TSR, and Wizards of the Coast, absorbed or acquired.
Why are we still around? Of course I'd like to take some credit for myself, my business partners (the good folks of the Source Comics & Games, most notably Bob and Jerry, who believed in me and a wacky CCG idea back in 1994), and the talented employees and freelancers we've had the fortune to work with over the years.
But the biggest reason is simple — YOU, our customers. Whether you picked up one of those copies of Tales of the Dark Ages back in 1990, or maybe tried out our latest newest card game, Ren Faire, just this month, you've made it possible. You've let us build a business and a livelihood out of creativity and fun. Thank you!
To celebrate the 20th birthday of Atlas Games as this summer comes to an end, we'd like to give you a present — literally! If you're willing to pay for shipping, and are one of the first 250 people to act, we'll send you a gift box of Atlas Games products (most of which are, of course, games). Fans who have been around here a while may remember that I did something similar about five years ago with d20 RPG books. We really enjoyed that, and figure our company's 20th anniversary is a wonderful occasion to do it again.
Shipping Cost
I've figured out a simple cost based on US Postal Service flat-rate shipping boxes. Medium flat-rate boxes come in two shapes: 11" x 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" and 13-5/8" x 11-7/8" x 3-3/8". The box we use depends on what we send you. (For example, the covers of our hardback RPG books are just a little too big to fit inside the first box shape.)
You pay $12 if you are anywhere in the USA; $29 if you are in Canada or Mexico; or $46 if you are anywhere else that the USPS will deliver these boxes to. (And if you're somewhere else, you probably don't have internet access to read this.) This is a little more than the postage itself; I factored in the PayPal transaction fees and rounded up to the nearest dollar. I hope you'll agree that's fair.
Important Note: You are responsible for any customs duties, fees, or taxes that may apply to your gift box, if you are outside the USA. We won't be able to refund your money — after all, we will not get a refund on the postage we bought — if you learn that your local post office won't deliver unless and until you've paid various taxes and fees.
What You Might Get
You can expect three categories of things, entirely at our discretion or whim:
So with all that prologue...if you'd like your Atlas Games birthday gift box, here's the button to order it up!
Update, 6:30 AM, 8/30: Well, that was fast. I have an e-mail from PayPal timestamped 3:03 AM informing me that the 250 gift boxes are spoken for, so I've removed the "Buy" button. Now we have some boxes to pack!
And then there's what you might call my first baby, Atlas Games. It was born 20 years ago, when I brought copies of Tales of the Dark Ages, a licensed Ars Magica adventure collection, to Milwaukee to sell at the Lion Rampant booth at Gen Con. At the beginning, this company was a supplement to my career as a freelance writer and editor (and student), but within a few years it was my main gig and freelancing was the occasional sideline.
It's amazing that we're still here, still making games, and actually making a living at it — especially if you know much of the history of the adventure/hobby game industry. I've been doing some office cleaning lately, and as I tossed shipping logs and catalogs from the mid-90s in the recycling, I skimmed through them and observed that only a handful of the distributors that were our customers twenty years ago are even in business any longer. Among fellow manufacturers, there has been no shortage of turnover. Only a handful of the leading companies from the era when I started are still around; the number is even smaller if you consider the companies that were, like industry titans Avalon Hill, TSR, and Wizards of the Coast, absorbed or acquired.
Why are we still around? Of course I'd like to take some credit for myself, my business partners (the good folks of the Source Comics & Games, most notably Bob and Jerry, who believed in me and a wacky CCG idea back in 1994), and the talented employees and freelancers we've had the fortune to work with over the years.
But the biggest reason is simple — YOU, our customers. Whether you picked up one of those copies of Tales of the Dark Ages back in 1990, or maybe tried out our latest newest card game, Ren Faire, just this month, you've made it possible. You've let us build a business and a livelihood out of creativity and fun. Thank you!
To celebrate the 20th birthday of Atlas Games as this summer comes to an end, we'd like to give you a present — literally! If you're willing to pay for shipping, and are one of the first 250 people to act, we'll send you a gift box of Atlas Games products (most of which are, of course, games). Fans who have been around here a while may remember that I did something similar about five years ago with d20 RPG books. We really enjoyed that, and figure our company's 20th anniversary is a wonderful occasion to do it again.
Shipping Cost
I've figured out a simple cost based on US Postal Service flat-rate shipping boxes. Medium flat-rate boxes come in two shapes: 11" x 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" and 13-5/8" x 11-7/8" x 3-3/8". The box we use depends on what we send you. (For example, the covers of our hardback RPG books are just a little too big to fit inside the first box shape.)
You pay $12 if you are anywhere in the USA; $29 if you are in Canada or Mexico; or $46 if you are anywhere else that the USPS will deliver these boxes to. (And if you're somewhere else, you probably don't have internet access to read this.) This is a little more than the postage itself; I factored in the PayPal transaction fees and rounded up to the nearest dollar. I hope you'll agree that's fair.
Important Note: You are responsible for any customs duties, fees, or taxes that may apply to your gift box, if you are outside the USA. We won't be able to refund your money — after all, we will not get a refund on the postage we bought — if you learn that your local post office won't deliver unless and until you've paid various taxes and fees.
What You Might Get
You can expect three categories of things, entirely at our discretion or whim:
- Brand New Items: We will mostly be giving away games and books that we'd like to expose to more gamers. Try them with your friends — we hope you like them (and that your friends rush out to buy their own copies!).
- Scratch and Dent Items: Imperfections keep us from sending them to distributors, but they are still perfectly usable.
- Promotional and Unique Items: We may include promotional items of various types in the package (sample cards, promo coins, posters, t-shirts). It's also possible that that some truly unique items, such as a printer's proof or a game prototype, may find their way into the boxes.
- To keep things simple, we will only accept payment via PayPal, using the link below.
- We are limiting this to one gift box per name or address, and 250 gift boxes total. (If we're past this number, you'll get a “Sold Out” message from PayPal if you try to send us money with this link.)
- We make no promises about what exactly we'll send you, but we want to maximize the odds of it being something you'll enjoy. So please do tell us which Atlas Games products you already own, and any general likes/dislikes (e.g., do you play RPGs? CCGs? Do you dislike Cthulhu spoofs?). If we wind up sending you a duplicate of something you already have, or something that's just not your cup of tea, please accept our sincere apology and pass it along to a friend.
- We reserve the right to reject requests that we deem, in our sole judgement, to be abusive of our generosity, or if we suspect fraud.
- We might ship your box via UPS Ground, while using a shipping carton equal to or larger than the medium flat-rate USPS boxes.
- Please be patient. Filling these requests has a lower priority than other tasks on our to-do list (such as shipping out September's new releases and reprints).
So with all that prologue...if you'd like your Atlas Games birthday gift box, here's the button to order it up!
Update, 6:30 AM, 8/30: Well, that was fast. I have an e-mail from PayPal timestamped 3:03 AM informing me that the 250 gift boxes are spoken for, so I've removed the "Buy" button. Now we have some boxes to pack!
Grand Tribunal US 2010
Convention organizer Erik Dahl just posted his write-up on the US side of the two-part Grand Tribunal convention. Read all about it here!
Attendees are chiming in on our forums with their own stories and praise for the con, as well. Marko Markoko had this to say: "IMO, this has been the *best* GT thus far. The games were magnificent, my sodales were wonderful, the dicussions were intriguing and the whole experience was simply wonderful. There are several people whom I have been freinds with for many years that I never get to visit with outside of Grand Tribunal, and people I met at GT that have become best of friends whom I would have neverhave met or get to visit with otherwise."
Attendees are chiming in on our forums with their own stories and praise for the con, as well. Marko Markoko had this to say: "IMO, this has been the *best* GT thus far. The games were magnificent, my sodales were wonderful, the dicussions were intriguing and the whole experience was simply wonderful. There are several people whom I have been freinds with for many years that I never get to visit with outside of Grand Tribunal, and people I met at GT that have become best of friends whom I would have neverhave met or get to visit with otherwise."
Thebes to Press!
I just sent The Sundered Eagle: The Theban Tribunal to press. Huzzah! It should be back from the printer in late September.
Grand Tribunal Reports ...
Grand Tribunal UK and US were held over last weekend, and the reports coming in all point to them being fantastically successful. Read the full write-up by the UK con's coordinator. In it CJ Romer says, "So how did it go? Really well I think. I was shattered for my birthday on Monday – but we had fun, and what was noticeable this year was how much the emphasis was on grogs and non-magi characters. Puck’s Dell has Grogs, Nobles, Magi, Apprentices, Magical People/Faeries and Covenfolk as the five types of character – I hope all were equally fun to play. Twilight Fades, The Archmage is Busy and The Unquiet Grave all emphasized grogs. It just goes to show what you can do with the Ars Magica setting, even without your magus in the limelight, and how much potential troupe play has."
Sneak Peak at The Theban Tribunal
It's coming soon! So while you wait, get a sneak peak at The Theban Tribunal's Table of Contents!
Spring Break Card List in Japanese
The Mad Scientist University: Spring Break card list is now available in Japanese, our thanks to Atsushi Moriike.
Ars Magica Rarities at Warehouse23
Reviewing the July inventory report from our friends at Warehouse 23, who handle mail orders from our website, I noted that they do have stock of a bunch of old Ars Magica titles that are currently out of print. If you're looking to complete your collection, grab 'em while you can -- we will not be able to restock them when they sell out. Here are the titles, with links to the W23 page for each:
Return of the Stormrider
Triamore
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Winter's Tale
Twelfth Night
Tribunals of Hermes: Rome
Mistridge
Mythic Places
More Mythic Places
Trial by Fire
Return of the Stormrider
Triamore
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Winter's Tale
Twelfth Night
Tribunals of Hermes: Rome
Mistridge
Mythic Places
More Mythic Places
Trial by Fire
Reprints in Softcover
As many Ars Magica fans realize, several key titles in the 5th Edition product line have been out of print for a while. We've been wrestling with the cost of doing short reprint runs of hardcover books, and ultimately we've decided that the best solution is to start doing softcover rather than hardcover reprints. This allows us to use digital printing to produce much shorter runs, making it easier to keep books available when there is demand for them.
This month we will be releasing softcover editions of three Ars Magica 5th Edition sourcebooks. While the content is the same (albeit with an updated legal page and corrections in the text), they have new stock numbers (adding the -SC suffix) and ISBNs to distinguish them from the original hardcovers, and a slightly lower retail price. The three books are:
This month we will be releasing softcover editions of three Ars Magica 5th Edition sourcebooks. While the content is the same (albeit with an updated legal page and corrections in the text), they have new stock numbers (adding the -SC suffix) and ISBNs to distinguish them from the original hardcovers, and a slightly lower retail price. The three books are:
- Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults. The new stock number is AG0281SC, ISBN 1-58978-117-1, MSRP $27.95.
- City & Guild. The new stock number is AG0283SC, ISBN 1-58978-118-X, MSRP $27.95.
- Houses of Hermes: Societates. The new stock number is AG0285SC, ISBN 1-58978-119-8, MSRP $27.95.
The Thin Black Line
Unknown Armies fans have had a long time to wait for publication of new material for the game -- but that wait will soon be over, as we will be releasing some original direct-to-PDF source material under the editorial guidance of Jeff Tidball. The first such e-book will be The Thin Black Line, an Order of St Cecil mini-splat by Chad Underkoffler. Here's the cover illustration, from artist Christian N. St. Pierre.
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