Do you have a gaming or geek related question? Do you need help with a situation? How about a recommendation? If so, submit your questions to “The Boxcars” and let us weigh in with our collective wisdom. Questions can be submitted on the Ask The Boxcars page.
Dear Rolling Boxcars
How does one submit a game to be reviewed or featured on the Boxcars? Is there a process? A waitlist?
David Schirduan (Technical Grimore)
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Dear David,
First, let me say this is a fantastic question and it would seem we have done a poor job of making the following information readily available. For that, we’re sorry.
Submitting games for review is easy. A creator or company simply needs to email us or shoot us a DM on Twitter to get the ball rolling. Once we know someone has an interest in us reviewing one of their products, we canvas our team to see who’s interested in reviewing said product. We all have our special interest areas and if a product fits into one of those interest areas, chances are good we’ll end up reviewing the product in question.
Once we accept the review request we typically ask that both a physical and digital book be sent to the assigned reviewer. This allows the reviewer to really assess not only the content but also the quality of all available forms. If a physical book is not available or not financially feasible, a digital product will also work. Just keep in mind that we can’t speak to the quality and layout of the physical product.
Regarding a wait list, we do not currently nor do we normally have a big backlog so most reviews should be pretty timely. Several other factors affect the timeliness of our review. First, the length of the product plays a part. Second, If it is something we really want to get to the table and can feasibly make it happen, that will delay a review. Third, our personal schedules and personal review queues will obviously play into the equation. Lastly, we have a publication schedule and depending on when the review is written and ready for publication, we will schedule it for the first available “review” slot we have open. In the end, most reviews are posted within 60 days of receiving a product, many are done and scheduled within 30 days.
Dear Rolling Boxcars
About four years ago I was introduced to my first roleplaying session at my FLGS. It was D&D fifth edition. I’ve really enjoyed playing with our group at the store but I’m wanting to try something new. My FLGS has several other roleplaying games on their shelves but there are no other games being run other than D&D. I’ve watched on twitch and youtube of some games of Call of Cthulhu 7th edition and would like to give that a try. Before I purchase the rulebook and learn the rules of the game how do I get my group who seems really set on playing D&D to switch?
Farryn Birona – Elven Warlock
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Dear Farryn Birona,
This is a great question and the answer will be multi-part so please bear with us until the end. D&D is very popular, there’s no denying that, but it is not the only kid on the block. If you’ve been hanging around Rolling Boxcars for any length of time you will undoubtedly have picked up on the fact that we love Call of Cthulhu.
Call of Cthulhu is a fantastic game and one that we feel every group should try at least once. Getting your group to try something new is going to be a challenge, but fear not, this too shall pass. The following recommendations may or may not work for your specific group, but they’re worth trying.
- Simply tell the group that when the current game comes to its natural conclusion, you have a game you’d really like to try running and you’d like to run it for them. This straight forward approach may just work.
- Find a Call of Cthulhu scenario you’d like to run and give your group an elevator pitch highlighting the themes the scenario will have. Chances are at least one of the themes will appeal to someone in your group.
- Ask the players to give you suggestions of what they might like to see in a Call of Cthulhu game. If you can get them to give you some feedback up front, they’re more likely to feel like they have buy-in.
If the above doesn’t work or your group will not try anything other than D&D, we recommend that you look at branching out to find a new group with which to play Call of Chtulhu. There is no need to overly force the issue with your current group or to strain your relationship with your friends. It’s okay to want to play other games and your friends should respect that. If you elect to find or form a new group for the purposes of playing Call of Cthulhu, we recommend that you do your best to continue gaming with your existing group even if it’s to play D&D.
~ The Boxcars
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