State of the Corp - February 1998

by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes

Many exciting developments have taken place since the TRC went public last fall. The number of cells continues to grow at an amazing pace, with new countries coming on board in Europe and Asia. Our second series of Gridlock Weekend worldwide tournaments already has more events than the first, and promises to be very big indeed. Shortly we'll have crowned the first Netrunner World Champion.

But is all of this having any effect where it counts? What is Wizards of the Coast doing about the long-awaited Silent Impact expansion? Will the line become active once more? The outlook is very positive. Since the Five Rings Publishing Group took over responsibility for all the non-Magic trading card games, I have been working with Ryan Dancey to explore low-cost options that will help to promote Netrunner more effectively, including innovative use of the Web pages. (Full details will have to wait until we've hammered out the plan.)

More exciting is the very real possibility of publishing Silent Impact. We are putting a survey form into Retailer Direct, Wizards' retailer newsletter, to gauge interest in another Netrunner expansion. Retailers will be able to call a toll-free number to register their responses.

Simultaneously, we are conducting a retailer survey to gather needed information on potential sales numbers. I am also reporting individual members' commitment to purchase. And just possibly, we can print the expansion profitably with a much smaller number of cards than originally thought.

The mailing list discussions concerning the "Identities" supplement have also been favorably received by Ryan Dancey. While there are still a lot of questions to be answered, I believe we will see this released in some form - perhaps sample cards in The Duelist, perhaps online. And Ryan is also fighting to get Netrunner a regular (if small) column in The Duelist itself.

Thanks to all of you, Netrunner is coming alive again. I believe that the spring of 1998 will see a rebirth of this fine game.