Thanks to the Origins Crew

This is Steven Petrick Posting.

The after Origins cleanup is almost done, although several things remain to be done (much of it paperwork).

Still, it is important that we acknowledge those to whom we cannot give enough thanks to.

Mike Filsinger, Paul Franz, and Roger Rardain kept the tournaments running. Without them it would be impossible to conduct Origins. We are eternally blessed by their commitment and support.

Charles Strong, Mike Curtis, and Tony L. Thomas keep the Federation & Empire event running continuously, and have made it an event to join year after year.

We need to also recognize Daniel Knipfer and Grant Strong who ably support the Federation & Empire events.

We also have to extend our thanks to Colleen Knipfer, Jean Sexton, and Celestia Getgen who assist SVC in running our booth in the dealer area, and who also assist in running messages.

I also want to extend a thanks to Garth Getgen (and Celestia Getgen) who ably assisted in getting our booth set up this year. I am, regretably, not as spry as I was and while I think I might have managed to make all of the trips back and forth to the vehicle to bring in our booth materials, it would have taken far longer without their assitance. Particularly given how far from the exhibit hall we were pretty much forced to park and haul our goods in.

Without the contributions of the above named individuals, Origins would be nearly impossible for us to run by ourselves. They are all eminently deservering of the thanks of the Star Fleet Universe as a whole.

In Praise of Our Volunteers

The adventure game (wargame+roleplaying game) industry is a small one, and there isn't the kind of money inside of it that other industries have. The industry consists of creative game designers willing to work 60 hours a week for half the pay they could command outside the game industry, all because they get to BE game designers.

Even at that, the only way the game industry survives is by the hard labor of unpaid volunteers who (for honor, glory, and rarely some free games) provide no end of valuable services to game publishers.

Mike West answers rules questions on FEDERATION COMMANDER. Mike Curtis does the same thing for Federation & Empire, Andy Palmer for Prime Directive d20, Gary Plana for GURPS Prime Directive, Richard Sherman for Star Fleet Battle Force, and Mike Filsinger for STAR FLEET BATTLES.

Frank Brooks runs the Play-by-Email system as a volunteer. Paul Franz charges barely enough for the On-Line game system (for SFB and FC) to pay the server costs. Mark Tutton does made-to-order decals for our Starline miniatures at a cost that barely covers his costs.

Federation & Empire would not exist without Chuck Strong (a real-world colonel from Space Command) in charge of the overall game system. He keeps his staff (Mike Curtis, Ryan Opel, Scott Tenhoff, and Stew Frazier) busy moving projects forward.

Very little would get done on any of our games except for the Playtest Battle Labs run by Scott Moellmer in Colorado and by Mike Curtis and Tony Thomas in Tennessee. And all of the other playtesters are invaluable to us.

We have other staffers who do specific things (and sometimes a wide variety of things) for us including Jean Sexton (Vice President of Proofreading and Product Professionalization); John Berg and Mike Incavo (Galactic Conquest Campaign); and John Sickels, Matthew Francois, Jonathan Thompson, and Loren Knight (Prime Directive). Some vital part of the product line would grind to a halt without each one of them.

Added to this list are hundreds of others who, during any given month, by Email or BBS or Forum, contribute in some way to the company and its product line. They may report a glitch in an existing product, playtest a product in development, suggest a new product, point out something another company is doing what we may want to take a look at emulating, look up a rules reference for another player, report on somebody who using our property improperly, comment on a posted draft of a new rule, or simply ask a question nobody else ever dared to ask.

Homeward Bound from Origins, 2009

Jean Sexton reports:

I am home, safe and sound. I lost a few plants that were apparently missed by the person supposed to do the watering, but my furkids are fine.

Steve Cole and Steven Petrick report they are about 230 miles from the office. They ate lunch (BBQ, of course) at Sweetwater. Knowing it would be another year before they got it again, they got more "to go" and are having it for supper.

Overall, attendance was down at Origins; no doubt the low attendance was in part due to the economy. However, ADB, Inc. had a better year than last year, due to our very loyal customers. For example, over 500 ships were saved from "A Fate Worse than Death" (melting down for scrap as they were factory seconds). We sold completely out of Booster #91. Star Fleet Battles boxed sets sold as did Federation Commander; I had requests for the sold-out Federation & Empire. We thank you for being at Origins, for stopping in to chat and play, and for telling us what you want us to produce for you.

Tomorrow I'm sure one of the Steves will have more information about the convention.

The Last Day of Origins, 2009

Jean Sexton reports:

Origins 2009 came to an official end at 4:00 pm EDT. It was sort of an odd day all around. We come together once a year to say hello to our friends and on this day, we must say goodbye and wend our various ways home. I already miss my "Origins friends". Special thanks for Battlegroup Murfreesboro for getting me to and from the convention and for making sure I had enough fluids to wet my whistle (also arranged in part by the courtesy of SVC).

Steve Cole and Steven Petrick had an early morning meeting, so Colleen Knipfer, Celestia Getgen, and I opened the sales boothe with Mike Curtis acting as our security. We had a steady stream of visitors throughout the day.

At 4:00 though, we are not focused on our customers, though.  We are working to pack everything quickly, but without damaging anything. All the boxed games, modules, expansions, minis, and card games were packed. No tee-shirts remained to be packed/ All of the stands and display units had to be packed. Luckily, some things (such as tournament supplies, were already packed and gave Steven Petrick something to take out to the van while Steve Cole and I packed fast!

When everything was either loaded or included in the last trip out, we parted company. But then next year, our community will gather again for Origins 2010.

Got Any Marketing Ideas?

ADB, Inc., is always interested in great marketing ideas, ways and places to sell our products, as well as new products to sell. We are developing a line of non-game products (calendars, paperback books, ship books, plus Cafe Press). We have an Amazon store (not to make money so much as to put our products in front of other groups of potential customers), and the MySpace page exists for that reason as well. We tried a lot of things that didn't work (Google Pay per Click, full-color ads in trade journals) and a lot of things that did work (banners on gamer websites, Star Fleet Alerts) and are always looking for new ideas. If you have any, send them to us at Marketing@StarFleetGames.com and we'll think them over.

Third Day of Origins, Second Day in the Booth

Steve Cole reports:

Everything is going well due to our expert, veteran staff.

Sales are always slow on Friday because the people there for the entire weekend have already bought their stuff and the people coming for only one day come on Saturday, not Friday. This year however we were pleasantly surprised by sales 50% higher than normal. We began the day within $100 of breaking even and ended the day within $100 of our overall sales goal.

Tournament attendance for all events within the convention is lower than normal due to the economy, but the level of competition is higher than ever due to the number of players with multiple ace cards.

I took Steve Petrick on the TerrorWerks live-action, machine-gun combat simulator. I arranged with the gamemasters for Petrick (who is a US Army infantry captain) to be the mission commander. I served as his trusty sergeant. The mission was a success. The team said they had a very good time seeing what an expert leader could do with the simulation. The GMs were flabbergasted to see what happened to their game when real soldiers showed how it is really done.

We had the annual miniatures conference where people were able to see and comment on several new ships as well as the new fighters, drones, and plasma torpedoes. We took suggestions from the attendees about what ships they would like to see in the future.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow  when the tournament finals will be held and crowds of new people will come to the dealer room. If you live within driving distance, it isn't too late to come and see us!

Second Day of Origins, 2009

Steve Cole reports:

Today was the first day the booth was open. We reported just before 10am and closed at 6p,. The crowd was a little light, but sales and spirits were high.