From: Shannon Appel (appel@chaosium.com)
Date: Mon 04 Aug 1997 - 20:55:56 EEST
Here's the official Issaries, Inc. press release. I posted it to the
R'lyeh Report last Friday. If you'd like to make sure you're getting
all the newest Chaosium news you should sign up for the chaos-info
mailing list. Send email to majordomo@chaosium.com with the command
"subscribe chaos-info" in the body of the message (not the subject).
That'll get you the R'lyeh Report every month, plus occasional
other important tidbits.
Shannon
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** ISSARIES, INC. PRESS RELEASE **
We have great news! Glorantha is coming back!
You are invited to join ISSARIES, INC. We need your help!
Chaosium has begun the process of creating a new Glorantha-based
corporation, tentatively called Issaries, Inc. Glorantha is the
popular fantasy world developed for the past three decades by Greg
Stafford. This corporation shall hold the Glorantha trademark, create
books and games for sale, and actively license the trademark to create
other income sources.
We want to have a new Glorantha roleplaying game on the market 18
months after the company begins operations. All stockholders will
receive a free copy of the first edition, first printing of this new
game.
This new corporation will be separate from Chaosium, Inc., primarily
to isolate its funding so that the investors know that the money is
going to Gloranthan products, rather than to Chaosium
projects. Nonetheless, Chaosium will be the majority shareholder, and
will also be commissioned to handle many of the more mundane business
aspects (administration, warehousing, sales, etc.), for a reasonable
fee. Thus, Issaries, Inc. shall be a design house whose paper game
products will be licensed to Chaosium.
Our publication plans begin with a trio of reference books, followed
by a roleplaying game and a regular schedule of supplements. We have
many new and exciting ideas for this. With our first release,
_Introduction to Glorantha_, you will at last be able just to say,
"Here, read this first." As a stockholder, you will get a copy of this
book before we send it to our paying customers.
Issaries, Inc. shall also actively seek licensors for its trademark. A
computer game is already well into development. We will also seek
licensees in the traditional realms of t-shirts, posters, and
miniature figures. All other potential licensed products will be
aggressively pursued as well, including movies, comic books, board
games, action toys, and food products.
We had previously discussed working with Stratelibri, our Italian
allies, to be our major financial investor. That plan has fallen
through because of rapidly changing financial conditions in
Italy. Although we sincerely hope that Stratelibri will be an
investor, and that they may still benefit from sublicensing from us,
their previously discussed involvement has not materialized. Thus this
letter to you.
A new business can ordinarily anticipate two types of investors: the
fan and the financial investor. We're asking you, our fans, for help
first. We ask that you help us complete an Issaries Feat and create
something new. You can share in the process of taking immaterial ideas
and transforming them into a solid, successful, publishing company.
We at Chaosium have always tried to please our fans, and we gratefully
acknowledge your loyal support. Many of you have asked how to
help. Here is one concrete way:
A single share of Issaries, Inc. is only $100.
This is how you can join us, knowing that you have contributed to the
welfare and growth of Glorantha. You'll also reap further benefits
thereby. Normal stockholder benefits include an invitation to the
annual board meeting, the right to vote for the Board of Directors and
on decisive money issues, and receipt of an annual budget and report
on sales activities. Share ownership in Issaries, Inc. will also get
you one or more free books or games per year, depending upon your
total investment.
We can't realistically rely upon professional financial investors to
help us here. They want a large return on their investment, which our
conservative numbers do not show. Our business plan will succeed
because the expectations of our stockholders are not to collect huge
dividends, but to focus on publishing Gloranthan products.
We know this plan can succeed because Chaosium has done this
before. Our financial estimates are realistic rather than ballooned up
for special effects. We want to err on the side of caution here.
We can not honestly begin anything until we have $50,000 on hand. We
are absolutely committed to having that amount of money on hand since
we can not be sure of success without it. We hope we can find either
500 of you who will buy one share each, one person who will purchase
500 shares, or some combination thereof. We have prepared a full
business prospectus for those who are interested.
Are You Interested?
If you are, send a request to glorantha-prospectus@chaosium.com for a
copy of the Issaries, Inc. Prospectus.
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