Well I'm have an extremely hard time getting any Atlas Ars Magica 5 books at my local game shop. I can go and buy it online for the same price (including the postage) that it is distributed locally. But I want to support my local Gaming Shop.

The current problem is I ordered True Lineages in April (locally). The shop (Tactics, Perth, Western Australia) stays that the disributor Alliance (is that right) didn't have item as available stock until July. Since then they have received biweekly stock drops from the US. Each time Nothing turns up. Its on Backorder. They have been told several times its out of stock, even that its been reprinted. Now its reappeared on the stock list with Realms of Power - Divine.

Are all these delays true!
Or is Alliance just not completing the requested ordered as the number of items is tow low (2-3 copies)?

I'm really beginning think its not worth supporting the local gaming shop because they just can't get stock! Are they being screwed by the distributors (in Australia at least).

Anyone else had the same problem.

Gary

We had a mix-up with Alliance in the listing for True Lineages -- it didn't make it into their regular catalog for pre-orders, I think. The result was that they ordered too few when it was brand new, and they've been re-ordering it with pretty much every purchase order they've placed since April, trying to keep up with demand. When the mistake was discovered they relisted the title in a newer catalog -- that's probably why it reappeared on the stock list with Realms of Power: The Divine.

I suspect sales of True Lineages have been better than expected for just about all of our distributors. In fact, we're down to less than 100 copies in the warehouse right now, so before too long the first printing will be sold out. (I guess that means it's selling better than I expected, too, if I didn't print enough to last a year or more.)

Early this year was really rough in the RPG business, so I don't blame stores and distributors for ordering carefully. (After all, we saw two of our distributors go out of business in the first half of 2005!) But the reality is that Ars Magica is not d20 (and nowadays that's a good thing) -- there's a healthy audience looking for it, and it will have sales over an extended period of time, unlike the typical d20 "flash in the pan." As retailers and distributors re-learn this by experience, they'll have the confidence to order more copies up front, meaning fewer problems with availability.

Already we can see the effect; initial sales of The Divine are about 20% higher than those for Guardians of the Forests. (GOTF is a better comparison than TL, because of TL's catalog error.)

I appreciate you supporting your local game store, and I hope this gets sorted out quickly! Please update us when you have more news.

-John Nephew
President, Atlas Games