At 02:14 PM 12/18/97 -0800, you wrote:
>Ed,
>
>Things sound great for next year! I have only a few observations:
>
>1.) You (as in WotC/TSR) need to let the suppliers know that BR is not
dead yet and will be around for a little longer (at least). I was talking
to one supplier today, and he was pretty pessimistic about the whole thing
and was absolutely clueless about the new release of the rules and so forth.

That should change when he sees the catalog.

>2.) 256 Page hard cover giant. I am quivering with Anticipation.

Antici .............. pation?

>3.) I really hate to mention this, but... Christmas is a huge time of the
year for retail sales. The Tribes expansion could have and would have sold
like hot cakes IF it could have been in the store a week ago. I know that
you personally have very little (i.e. no) control over the printing
schedule, but could you suggest to marketing that it may be a good idea to
try to get stuff out ON TIME, (i.e. beginning of the month of release
rather than the month after the scheduled release date)? Basically it is a
scheduling problem. The powers-that-be fear getting stuff to the printer
too early, because it increases cost of storage, but getting stuff to the
printer too late frustrates your customers, which is far worse.

Well, see, we had this whole thing about being acquired by this other
company and trying to run GenCon, move out here, and get our production arm
up and running again ... the best laid plans. ;-)
Seriously, though, what you say is good advice, and we intend to take it.
Up until 1997, you could have laid serious money down on TSR making its
schedule to the month, week, or sometimes day--and you wouldn't have gotten
a lot of takers willing to be against you. But 1997 was a tough year. We
survived, and now we're bigger than ever with facillities, personnel, and
contacts we never had before. We've been trying to get used to our new
surroundings, new capabilities, and new limitations (yes, there are always
limitations) over the past few months, but I think we'll be entering 1998
on-track.
If things had gone "as planned," TRIBES would've been released earlier to
take advantage of the Christmas wave. Other things, in other product lines,
would've come out on time for the same reason. They didn't. Even putting in
12, 14, and sometimes 16 or 18-hour days didn't do it (I'm not exaggerating
here), but they did help us claw our way back toward a schedule.
Our new upper management appreciates this. They've been supportive,
helpful, and understanding. They've been working right alongside us, trying
to get everything up and running as smoothly as possible. We have a very
healthy work environment (if somewhat noisy ;-) and we've all got pretty
positive attitudes.
As a result, next year's gonna be good. I'd recommending pulling our your
wallets--not only to buy our products, but to start laying money down on
that schedule again. It won't be long, IMO, before you won't get any takers
to bet against us anymore ...


>Well, there is my 2GB's! I am really looking forward to next years
release schedule. Being backloaded isn't fun, but at least it gives me a
few months to save!
>
>Jonathan
>Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\RE [BIRTHRIGHT] -
THE CATALOG "
>
-- ->-- ->-- ->--@
Ed Stark
Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
Asst. Brand Manager, BIRTHRIGHT/GREYHAWK/MARVEL Group
TSR Website: http://www.tsrinc.com
(soon to be http://www.tsr.com)