General availability Options

[Nikoli]

Can someone tell me when Georgia stores will have the book?

Not one can seem to get into it's stock a copy of the standard edition.
All of them seem to spout a similair story fed to them by the distributors, that no one can get the book at the moment and that it was under run at the printer and 80% of what was printed was sold at conventions, what was left over was sold to 1 or 2 distributors to avoid shipping back.

At least one store owner has decided to never carry Shadowrun products ever again as a result of this situation.

I cannot believe that Fanpro or Wizkids would do this intentionally as it shoots them in the foot, I personally believe the distributors are the ones feeding lies as the stores are their lifeblood as much as it is for the publishers and they don't want to admit they dropped the ball. However I don't really care who is at fault, I just want the book.

[Aku]

Honestly, i think it's the store's fault not WANTING to carry it. I live in NC, greensboro actually, and both of our gaming stores have recently shut down, and Barnes and Nobles didnt carry it either. It was then that i remembered i had moved into the Bible Belt, and it was possible RPG books would be next to immpossible to get, but i tried Borders anyways, and Lo and Behold they had A copy of it (exactly as many copies as they had of SR3 btw) and considering the book is now in it's second printing, there is not major convention to ship too (like it was at GENcon, not to say that there arent conventions going on)

[Nikoli]

Well, the stores I've checked with have had standing orders since a month before the release date with thier distributors and in some cases secondary distributors to boot. They want to carry it, it's in their interest to carry it, the owners/managers play the friggin game and cannot get a copy for themselves let alone for their store.
Something is wrong.

[Aku]

well, i HATE to suggest this (because, like any hobby, i think it's important to patronize the specialty store before the mass market stores, I plat video games as well, and you'll almost NEVER see me buying from a walmart/kmart/sears over an EB or Gamestop) but try a Borders or Barnes and Noble.

There could be reasons why the distributers aren't getting the books. It's possible that have an over due account with fanpro/wizkids, and won't get anything shipped to them until thats taken care of, maybe see if your stores are getting any of their products, or if it's just SR.

[Solstice]

Yes they are horribly, unjustifiably slow, but the book can be had. Though John Q. Consumer shouldn't need to scour the country searching for one.

go here:
http://stores.ebay.com/Discount-Games-Inc_...sQ3amesstQQtZkm

Jay can get it for you. He is cheap and has fast shipping.

[Solstice]

or more specifically:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shadowrun-4th-Ed-Fourt...7QQcmdZViewItem

[Nikoli]

The problem is, I'm not paying for another copy. I pre-ordered one back in October, a special edition. Supposedly the distributor for the store in question has not canceled any orders, and the owner has offered me a refund. I'm seriously considering legal action at this point. I do not want a standard copy, I want the special edition I paid for, if that means the owner must resort to ebay and purchasing it for more than I paid for to fulfill his end of the contract, I think that's fair. But that's me and I'm told I have strange ideas on what's fair. Silly me, I think retailers should be held accountable for the orders they take in when they aren't certain of availability.

[Aku]

Hmm, well, as a consumer, i agree with you, however, having worked in retail, i can tell you that it's a long shot, as almost any pre-order system will state very un-clearly, that quanties maybe limited, and there is no garuntee of deliverly, and a refund will be given if the order can't be filled blah blah blah.

[Nikoli]

Actually, I was told that it would be in, but delayed. 4 months is a long delay when all copies have supposedly sold.

[Solstice]

unless you wany a copy by next christmas you'd be advised to get where you can find it and damn the rest.

[Halabis]

I was in Dr No's today. They have a copy sitting on thier shelves.

[Brahm]

I checked while I was in yesterday, the local store apparently sold out all of their initial stock as the single SR4 book they on the shelf is a second printing. I used the Availability for the Fake ID to determine that it was second printing.


That single book might not be their entire stock. It is my understanding that they sometimes have duplicates in back, though they have 2 of most other things on the Shadowrun shelf so I'm not why they wouldn't have two SR4 BBBs out if they had them in.

[Adam]

Okay, let's clear up a few things.

1. The Limited Edition issue: One major distributor did not follow FanPro's instructions and solicited the Limited Edition as if it were a normal book, allowing retailers to pre-order it as they would any other title. The Limited Edition book was supposed to be available to stores only if they pre-ordered a certain number of the regular edition.

2. 80% of the first printing of Shadowrun, Fourth Edition was not sold at conventions. I don't have exact figures, but the number sold at GenCon and GenCon SoCal was less than 10% of the first print run. The rest of the first print run went to normal game distributors.

3. The first printing sold out almost immediately -- sooner than FanPro expected -- and it did take longer than expected to get the second printing finished and off to game distributors. The second printing arrived in game stores in late January, and by the time it shipped, virtually the entire print run was already sold. A third printing is in progress.

[Rob Boyle]

Adam covered the major points, I just wanted to add a few other things:

* We have in fact, sold less than 3% of our first printing at conventions. I just did the math. We did, however, have it at GenCon first, about a month before it was available in stores. We aim to have releases in stores at the same time, but it doesn't always work out.

* The first two printings of SR4 were the largest print runs we've ever done for a book here at FanPro, and both sold out on the pre-orders. It's selling great, and we've printed as many as we can, but the demand has been greater, which is a good thing.

* Both print runs have unfortunately taken longer than we like to get out, due to issues with the printer, bindery, and shipping. These issues were out of our direct control, but we've been doing our best to get the books out fast.

* Third printing will in fact be done soon, so by late March the book shouldn't be hard to find.

* If you can't find the book anywhere, order it online at Studio 2 Publishing: http://www.studio2publishing.com/shop/prod...b18a3b5209e2e27
It's the closest you can get to ordering direct from Fanpro. They have each book we publish as soon as it is available.

[Nikoli]

These are the types of responses I wanted to see.
However, the distributors are contradicting every point both Adam and Rob just made.
The fact I'm still wanting the book should tell you whom I believe in this situation.
It's simply too easy for stores and distributors to blame the publishers, simply put, most folks don't even have a company phone number let alone access to those in the know through something so open as this forum.
Thanks again you two.

Part of me wants to name the companies involved with my particular issue, but I won't. I simply will never purchase from them in the future. Normally I prefer local stores to online ones simply because I despise the costs of shipping and very much enjoy instant gratification of having it when I pay for it.
Rob, Adam, if you are interst in the distributor involved PM me and I'll send them your way.

[fsux]

The game shop here in my area has 3 copies of the second printing on the shelf, and they have been there since I bought mine...about 3 weeks. This area is a SR deadzone, so if you need one let me know. I am sure they will be there for another 3 weeks.

[Zolhex]

My local store has 2 copies still in as of 2/22/06 so although you hate shipping costs you send me the money for the book and shipping and i'll get one to you if you want.

[Oracle]

The thing that annoyed me most was, that a large number of american LIMITED EDITION SR4 BBBs made it over the large pond to Germany. The owner of my friendly-local-gaming-store, which happens to be one of the larger gaming-stores here in Germany, with very good connections to Fanpro told me that he talked to Werner Fuchs who told him that there would be no copies of the book available to Germany. Because of this I ordered a copy at Studio 2. It cost me something over 130€ (that's about 150$) including shipping. 2 weeks later, in October, I saw the book in Essen at the SPIEL for under 50€, directly sold by Fanpro. And they had more than enough supply.

[Thanee]

[Darkness]

No, it won't.

Check here:
http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/wordpress/?p=99

[Bullet Raven]

I managed to get a copy of the first printing totally by accident, I was looking on an online store I use often and they had it on the front page so I went mad and bought it not realising that it had only been released that week.

Pure luck, nothing more.

Since then I've seen one second printing copy locally and that was bought by someone in my group anyway :)

Shadowrun Monopoly! :D