Lessons learned at MEPACON
Ratsail, dungeon geomorphs, BLACKFLOWER fulfillment, MEPACON lessons, and MLEM
Welcome to Exeunt Omnes, the official newsletter for loyal fans and sworn enemies of Exeunt Press, creator of games such as Exclusion Zone Botanist and Eleventh Beast. You can find digital games at games.exeunt.press and physical products at shop.exeunt.press.
TL;DR Summary
🐀 Ratsail is coming soon
🧩 Dungeon geomorphs
🐝 Blackflower fulfillment
📝 Lessons learned at MEPACON
🎲 Recently played: MLEM
🐀 Ratsail is coming soon
Ratsail is a GM-less roleplaying game where you are rats from across the realm venturing into the unknown in search of legends.
Some key features:
Rats have four stats: Navigation, Survival, Warfare, and Ratlore
Dice pool system based on ability scores
Randomized signs and omens
Events at sea that work a bit like a depth crawl
Weapons, Legends, Bestiary, and Treasures
Hex crawl map of the western sea
It’s a departure from the limited, structured actions of games like Eleventh Beast and Exclusion Zone Botanist. Ratsail feels more like a traditional TTRPG with less restrictions, and more reliance on player input and creativity. It’s new territory for Exeunt Press, and I’m really excited to share it with you!
The game was inspired by a little drawing of rats in a boat from the Pontifical de Guillaume Durand by Guillaume Durand (ca. 1230-1296). It’s a manuscript most likely from 14th century France, providing the setting for the game.
Writing and layout are basically done. Currently stands at about 50 pages. Just doing some additional testing and minor edits, and then it should be ready to launch. Continue to watch this newsletter for updates!
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🧩 Dungeon geomorphs
A geomorph tile is a modular piece of a terrain or map that is used to create larger random or procedurally generated maps. The tiles are usually square, and might feature roads, tunnels, buildings, forests, or rivers.
This week at Skeleton Code Machine we looked at the classic TSR Dungeon Geomorphs from 1981, and some tips if you’d like to make your own!
READ: Dungeon Geomorphs at Skeleton Code Machine
Skeleton Code Machine is a weekly publication that explores tabletop game mechanisms in board games and roleplaying games. It’s been called a “Seemingly endless source of gaming ponderings” and a “Goldmine.” Check it out at www.skeletoncodemachine.com.
🐝 Blackflower fulfillment
All Blackflower pre-orders have been fulfilled. All printed copies have been mailed out, including international and domestic orders. If you pre-ordered, you should have received an additional email from Exeunt Press with the download key for the PDF edition.
If you have any issues, please send an email to games@exeunt.press!
SHOP: BLACKFLOWER a CY_BORG heist at the Exeunt Press
📝 Lessons learned at MEPACON
Another successful convention! This time it was MEPACON in Bethlehem, PA.
Previously I wrote a list of lessons learned at Save Against Fear, so I thought it might be helpful to do the same for this convention. All of the previous learnings still apply, so be sure to check those out first.
Some convention booth post-mortem notes:
Combo deals are popular: I’ve read this before, but can now confirm it’s true. Giving away something free above a certain purchase amount, or “buy two get one free” deals seem to be very effective.
Have some core rulebooks: At Save Against Fear, I had a number of people ask about the MÖRK BORG and CY_BORG rulebooks. This time I had some available and they were really popular.
Look at your booth from the customer side: When tidying the booth, I found it was a different perspective from the customer side. It’s worth talking a walk around to the front and checking it out.
Mark demo copies: I should have marked the demo copies with stickers. Even though I felt they were clearly positioned, people still asked if it was OK to touch them and check them out.
Declutter the table: I think my table setup was OK, but there is room for improvement. Adding additional products vs. Save Against Fear made it feel cluttered. What happens when I have 2 - 5 more products at the next convention?
Storage containers: I invested in some BCW comic book boxes for some items, and they are great. I’d like to get everything into standard sized boxes vs. randomly sized cardboard boxes.
Better transport: Related to containers, because everything was an odd size, it was hard to pack a cart to haul everything in and out of the building. This meant a lot of tips an unnecessary work. A better way to haul everything would be nice.
Bags for purchases: I’m not sure about this one, but I had a considerable number of people ask if I had a bag for their purchase. I didn’t bring any bags, and need to think about how to handle this in the future.
Have a snacks and food plan: I ended up running the booth solo for the weekend, which made breaks and meals a little more challenging. Wish I had thought about that ahead of time and maybe brought better snack and food options.
Skeleton Code Machine business cards: Met quite a few people who make TTRPG things and/or games, and would be interested in Skeleton Code Machine. I wish I had a little card that I could hand them with a description and QR code.
MÖRK BORG was in demand: The Rotblack Sludge intro sessions seemed to be sold out, and I saw a lot of interest in MÖRK BORG at the booth. Wish I had done a print run of the Exeunt Press MÖRK BORG adventures.
So much cash: About 37% of transactions were cash at MEPACON, vs. about 18% at Save Against Fear. No idea why that is, but I’m really glad I set up cash tracking in Square so it was all in the end of day reports.
One important note is that these were both very small conventions. I think MEPACON had about 390 total people registered, so less than that attending at any one time. I’m sure I’d have different thoughts and learnings if I had attended a large con like PAX Unplugged, PAX East, or Gen Con.
See you at the next convention!
🎲 Recently played: MLEM
When Reiner Knizia releases a game, I’m immediately interested. Even if it turns out that it’s not one of my favorites, they are always mechanically interesting. MLEM: Space Agency (Knizia, 2024) is no exception.
The theme is… space cats. Here is the description from the publisher’s page:
Let me take you on a journey to the year 2075. Just as soon as they took control of the world, cats set their sights on a new frontier - space! The crème de la crème of feline specialists now compete for cosmic dominance, with their determination unmatched even by the lack of opposable thumbs. It's a fierce race, filled with catnip-fueled shenanigans and rockets that go boom! Who will emerge victorious in this epic race, claim their paws on the infinite treasures of the Milky Way, and become the true cosmic conquerors?
Each round you choose which of your specialized space cats get on the rocket, and when they leave the rocket to land on moons or planets. It has a nice push your luck element as the rocket will explode if you don’t have the right dice each turn.
PLAY: MLEM: Space Agency on BoardGameArena
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- E.P. 💀
Great info :)
I've worked the RRD stall a chunk of times at UK conventions and I'd go one step further than point 3 ─ walk *up* to your stall from a number of different places before setting out your stock, and especially if you need to reshuffle layout when you've sold out of some lines. Goal one is literally just to get people to stop and look (or to find the thing they're actively searching for if they've been told you have it)