The industry suffers from many problems currently, but one most often complained about is unsatisfactory distribution. We all have recognized that there is most definitely a problem. A variety of problems amongst US distributors has left the state of US games distribution a mess. These include mergers, bankruptcies, buy outs, you name it. The result is a two fold problem. Many publishers are not getting paid on any kind of regular schedule if at all and can't get the exposure they need for their products. Retailers can't get accurate information on what exactly is available, who is still in business, or even the product they need to stay in business. No retailer will last long if they continually encounter 16% fill rates.

We all know that a properly functioning three tier system is ideal for our business needs, but at present considerable sections of our second tier is broken. The situation has become bad enough that retailers are going directly to publishers for product they can't get for one reason or another through distribution. This is not a practical business model for much of our industry for no retailer wants to regularly call 100-200 publishers, nor do publishers want to ship small orders to 1000-2000 retail shops.

This is why the Guild of Blades is initializing the Small Press Order Fulfillment House. We hope retailers continue to order through their distributors, for sooner or later the current crisis will end and our distributors will become the healthy business partners we all need them to be. Until then, retailers must continue to get product in a fairly timely manner in order to stay in business. So Retailers, order from your distributors, then come to the Guild to pick up the those titles that didn't get filled. Our terms are intentionally a little worse than those offered by our distributors as we do not want to replace them or their function, only fill a gap in games distribution that seems to be getting wider.

Retailer Terms are as follows:

40% flat rate discount., Minimum order quantity of 25 units, mixed, Guild of Blades pays all shipping charges. UPS to be official shipping carrier. Payment to be C.O.D. (hopefully credit cards very shortly)

All product will ship out of our Lansing-based warehouse here in Michigan and will be sent standard UPS freight. Yes, we realize this makes service a bit slow if you are 2 or more shipping zones away from us, but the assumption is you couldn't get the wanted product anywhere else, so we are still you best option. Faster shipments can be arranged for emergency situations. Also, any retailer order will be honored regardless of credit history, shop type, location, or current suppliers. Just be prepared to be asked which distributors you tried to get the desired product from so we may use that knowledge to hopefully network with those distributors to work out the supply problem.

All product represented through the Small Press Fulfillment House will have support pages on the Internet including, cover pictures, product codes, product descriptions, cover price, and any information on forthcoming expansions and/or support material. The bulk of these pages will be up and running within one weeks time. To browse these pages once up, retailers may visit our web site at www.guildofblades. com and follow the link off the front page or go directly to: www.guild ofblades.com/fulfillment/. We will also accept and process orders submitted via e-mail from the fulfillment pages of our web site. Any e-mail orders should be accompanied with complete shipping location and phone numbers so we can verify the order.

It is our pledge now that we will have a 100% fill rate on those titles we offer or if we are temporally out of stock on an item, we will notify you prior to shipment about the missing titles so you can make other arrangements to get the needed stock.

To place an order, contact: (Accepting orders beginning August 20th.) Guild of Blades Publishing Group, phone: 1 (517) 323-7648, e-mail: stinger@guildofblades.com, Web: www.guildofblades.com.

Objectives of the Fulfillment House

The Small Press Fulfillment House is what we hope to be a temporary service initiated for the sole purpose of getting retailers product they are currently having difficulty acquiring through normal channels. Once current distribution is functioning properly again this service will be canceled. Until then, we will continue to fulfill group orders for all products by participating publishers and suppliers to retailers who can't get the product elsewhere. In the process of running this fulfillment house we also intend to strive for the following objectives:

1) Get retailers needed product without competing against or harming distributors.
2) Communicate with distributors about reported problems.
3) Maintain up to date product and company listings to provide a stable source of information retailers can trust.
4) Prevent the further expansion and need for retailers to have to approach companies individually to order product.
5) Provide retailers their accumulated previous purchase records through the warehouse to enable them to track product availability, or lack thereof, through other sources.
6) Keep product flow and information at peak performance so no gamer is left unable to get the games they want and be left with a distaste for adventure gaming.

How Publishers Can Participate

First and foremost, if as a publisher you are sure that your games are consistently reaching the retailers that are trying to or willing to stock you products, then you don't need this service. The Small Press Order Fulfillment House is only a backup sale venue available for those publishers who feel that through discontinuation of distribution, Just-in-Time order practices, failure to restock, or misinformation that your games are not reaching those retailers that have local demand for them. If you have recently been approached by retailers asking if you would sell to them directly, then this service is for you. Yes, you can go ahead and sell direct to you retailers, but consider that participation in this program is in fact a service your are helping to provide your retailers. In a healthy market a retailer orders from one or two distributors and gets what they need. These days they have to go to three or four and are still coming up short on product they know would sell if it was on their shelf. Their next option is either pick up one more supplier, that being this Fulfillment House, or to pick up 200 more suppliers by calling publishers directly. Additionally, you are making it more likely that a retailer can restock your titles by allowing them to order more diversified quantities to meet minimum shipping requirements than any one smaller supplier could offer them. If they are forced to restock 6 copies of each of your 4 products to meet minimum shipping order size, what will they do if they think they can only sell 2-3 copies? Probably not order at all.

How it works

1) Participating publishers supply an initial stock base to the Guild on consignment. You can make us legally bound to the welfare of your stock while in our care by giving us a 365 day invoice with a "return in sellable condition" option. Initial stock quantities sent to us should reflect the realistic sales expectations for each title. Only provide 18-24 u-nits for a decent selling item and half that for slower selling items. Yes, we are intentionally starting slow with this service to guarantee its smooth initial launch.

Product should be shipped to:

Guild of Blades Publishing Group
5332 West Michigan Ave. #201.
Lansing, MI 48219, USA

2) Once your product arrives it will be placed on the available product list that gets distributed via e-mail, in every order sent out, and eventually--if needed--monthly mailers to the retailers. Product listings will be updated to the internet promptly.

3) At the end of each calendar month the Guild sends each participating publisher a check for those items that sold during that month, paying each their normal distributors discounted price. Once our stock on your item gets low we will send a suggested restock order size and that shipment gets sent to us on the same terms as the first.

4) Online support. All products available through the fulfillment house will be supported on the internet. For each title you send us we would appreciate a small jpeg cover image 2" by 3" or there abouts, product descriptions, product codes, ISBN and UPC is applicable, and any available information you have on forthcoming supplements and other support material. Preferred format is plain text files and Jpeg images on 3.5 floppy or Iomega Zip.

5) All products within the fulfillment house will also be available to the consumer via the internet. There will be no discounting of titles for direct to consumer sales unless that percentage discount is also available to retailers through the program. Just like the fulfillment house is not meant to compete against the distributors, nor is it to compete against retail based sales. As such, all direct internet sales transactions will be at full retail plus a shipping and handling charge.

Thus far the show of support for the Small Press Order Fulfillment House has been great. As it is now 5.53am August the 20th, beginning today we have the following game companies' game lines in stock: Crunchy Frog Enterprises, Guild of Blades Publishing Group, Inner City Games Designs, Fat Messiah Games, Fractal Dimensions, and Guardians Of Order.

Additionally, the following companies have voiced their support for this program and their games should be arriving within a week and be available for order: BTRC, XID Creative, Avalanche Press, Biohazard Games, Event Horizon Productions, and Tyrant Games.

All participating companies are encouraged to let as many retailers know about this service as possible. Those that are having trouble acquiring products from these manufacturers should be encouraged to contact us. Anyone with questions may call: 1 (517) 323-7648