{ANNOUCEMENT} LBB PDFs!

[hunter]

We will short be introducing a line of LBB (Little Black Books) in PDF format. Some of the types of books planned are:

<LI>Short Adventures
<LI>Vehicle and Equipment Catalogues
<LI>World Writeups
<LI>Ship Writeups (w/Deckplans!)

These will have stats for both T20 and Classic Traveller.

We plan to release 1-2 of these per month, in between standard print releases, and they will be priced around $3.50 each.

Under consideration is a plan to make these available by subscription, say 6 issues for $21.00. The payoff for the subscription is not a lower price, but a printed '6 Volume Best Of' edition at the end of each year.

Is such a subscription of interest to anyone?

Also if anyone is interested in writing for us, these will be a great way to get your foot in the door! See the Submission Guidelines on the main website for more information.


Hunter




[This message has been edited by hunter (edited 07 March 2002).]

 

[IronCzar]

Yes, absolutely. While I am not a big fan in general of electronically published products, I'd sign up just to get a printed book at the end, if nothing else.

 

[daryen]

Hunter,

I have to say that doing 2 per month may be *too* ambitious. Personally, I have to say that doing a subscription 3 months at a time is a bit too frequent for me. I would hope that a subscription would cover at least half a year.

Or, you could try subscription by catagories. I don't know how many adventures I would buy, but I would be guaranteed to buy just about every ship LBB you do (particularly if they are as detailed as the guideline document indicates).

 

[hunter]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by daryen:
I have to say that doing 2 per month may be *too* ambitious.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No doubt, hence the '1 or 2' part

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
Or, you could try subscription by catagories. I don't know how many adventures I would buy, but I would be guaranteed to buy just about every ship LBB you do (particularly if they are as detailed as the guideline document indicates).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What I want to try and arrange is to allow you to pick which issues you with to take for your subscription. If you didn't like the current month's edition, you could chose not to take it. Can't promise it will happen this way, but it's what I'd like to see if we can do it without too much hassle.

Hunter




[This message has been edited by hunter (edited 08 March 2002).]

 

[Ben W Bell]

Would it not be better to release these properly rather than PDF's that are charged for? In my experience people are not willing enough to pay for PDFs then the downloads, then the cost of printing them themselves.
I would much rather see them in print and in the shops, even if it is in a magazine style format. I doubt I'd pay for electronic copies of things.

 

[Gallowglass]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hunter:
We will short be introducing a line of LBB (Little Black Books) in PDF format. Some of the types of books planned are:

<LI>Short Adventures
<LI>Vehicle and Equipment Catalogues
<LI>World Writeups
<LI>Ship Writeups (w/Deckplans!)

These will have stats for both T20 and Classic Traveller.

We plan to release 1-2 of these per month, in between standard print releases, and they will be priced around $3.50 each.

Under consideration is a plan to make these available by subscription, say 6 issues for $21.00. The payoff for the subscription is not a lower price, but a printed '6 Volume Best Of' edition at the end of each year.

Is such a subscription of interest to anyone?

<Snip>
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Short answer YES, but...

PDF publications seem to be winning a significant following, especially in the d20 market, and some publishers at least seem to have found ways to find a beneficial synergy between print and electronic formats. However, I am curious to see how you are going to cater for non-US customers (in light of all the problems WotC have had with their ESD releases) and luddites who don't trust credit card details to the internet; or even don't have cards!

I'm also wondering how it will look to be charging for something like an adventure when WotC, for example, post the Cliffhangers once a week and a free adventure a month. I'm not saying you shouldn't charge; just that you may run into a public perception issue...

Can I also recommended thinking of things you CAN release as free pdf's? the WotC web-enhancements have been frankly variable, but some are really rather nice add-ons, and from an informal poll of the D&D players I know, are one of the major factors in the rise in WotC standing in players eyes...

 

[hunter]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gallowglass:

However, I am curious to see how you are going to cater for non-US customers (in light of all the problems WotC have had with their ESD releases) and luddites who don't trust credit card details to the internet; or even don't have cards!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hmm, good question. One I don't have an immediate answer for other than we are planning to print a 'best of' once per year.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
I'm also wondering how it will look to be charging for something like an adventure when WotC, for example, post the Cliffhangers once a week and a free adventure a month. I'm not saying you shouldn't charge; just that you may run into a public perception issue...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The WoTC adventures I have downloaded are all uniformly short. About 4-6 pages.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
Can I also recommended thinking of things you CAN release as free pdf's? the WotC web-enhancements have been frankly variable, but some are really rather nice add-ons, and from an informal poll of the D&D players I know, are one of the major factors in the rise in WotC standing in players eyes...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Free PDFs are also not out of the question, but would be smaller and thus not as meaty as the regular PDFs.

Hunter


[This message has been edited by hunter (edited 08 March 2002).]

 

[hunter]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BenBell:
Would it not be better to release these properly rather than PDF's that are charged for? In my experience people are not willing enough to pay for PDFs then the downloads, then the cost of printing them themselves.
I would much rather see them in print and in the shops, even if it is in a magazine style format. I doubt I'd pay for electronic copies of things.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

PDFs offer a lot of benefit to both publisher and consumer.

<LI>They are low cost for both parties
<LI>They can be quickly 'produced' once written.
<LI>They can be obtained by a customer 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

As I mentioned in the original post however, we are planning to do a 'best of' once per year for folks who don't subscribe or who don't like PDFs.

We still plan to release other 'print' publications. This just lets us fill in the gaps so to speak between the printed products.

Hunter

 

[Gallowglass]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Hmm, good question. One I don't have an immediate answer for other than we are planning to print a 'best of' once per year.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was afraid that might be the answer. On the other hand, the compilations will be well worth a read and I do appreciate the "diminshing returns" problem that you have to find a way of catering to as many customers as possible whilst still making a reasonable return.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> I'm also wondering how it will look to be charging for something like an adventure when WotC, for example, post the Cliffhangers once a week and a free adventure a month. I'm not saying you shouldn't charge; just that you may run into a public perception issue...


The WoTC adventures I have downloaded are all uniformly short. About 4-6 pages.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


True, but you do get two of these _free_ per month (roughly) - you are talking about adventues that are how much bigger, at least 1 per month? That sounds increasingly ambitious. Very cool if you can do it, but ambtious

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
Can I also recommended thinking of things you CAN release as free pdf's? the WotC web-enhancements have been frankly variable, but some are really rather nice add-ons, and from an informal poll of the D&D players I know, are one of the major factors in the rise in WotC standing in players eyes...


Free PDFs are also not out of the question, but would be smaller and thus not as meaty as the regular PDFs.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is perhaps the ideal fromat for mini-adventures and encounters, a la the WotC stuff I mentioned. As you rightly point out, they tend to be a few pages long and thus would be easier to produce, one would hope!

Not to be critical about the original plan, but would it be more workable to model your subscription material (adventures, world guides, ship guides etc) on a bi-monthly magazine model, and then have smaller nuggets (like single encounters, mini-adventures etc) as free monthly "Web enhancements". The yearly compilations could then include the best of both.

 

[Vargas]

OK I'm dense, is there a specific rules set these would be used with?

Also, why I love scarfing up free game material, I am very leery of electronic payment via Internet. Would there be alternative methods of payment?

 

[Solo]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
These will have stats for both T20 and Classic Traveller.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The PDF's are an excellent idea!

Perhaps the cost could be reduced to around $2.00 each (yeah, I know pocket change, but...)

 

[Vargas]

These will have stats for both T20 and Classic Traveller.


Duh!

 

[T. Foster]

This idea, including the value-added print edition and the ability to pick and choose which 6 issues to use your subscription on, sounds great. I'd be a lot happier paying $3.50 for a PDF than $9 for a printed GT Planetary Survey of equivalent size, especially with the annual best-of thrown in.

My biggest concern is not to let quantity outstrip quality -- I'd much rather see one good product a month (or even one every six weeks) than mediocre releases twice a month.

Occasional free 'teaser' PDFs roughly the size of the old Marischal folio adventures also sounds like a good idea -- get people hooked with a taste of what their subscription $$ will buy.

 

[kafka47]

Well...if there is a printed product at the end of the process. I will sign up for the printed copy, as someone with chronic computer problems...I would hate too lose all these files.

It is funny that Traveller has not had a printed magazine since the death of the Traveller Chronicle. Is it that the SFRPG market is too small to support a fanzine?

 

[Takei]

The pdf's interest me as does the subscription idea. I notice that I've bought and downloaded a fair number of pdf's over the last 12 months and find it a quite acceptable format.

My first thought on reading this thread title was "Pdf's of the LBB's? Great!" Something I would definately buy.

------------------
Paul

 

[hunter]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vargas:
OK I'm dense, is there a specific rules set these would be used with?

Also, why I love scarfing up free game material, I am very leery of electronic payment via Internet. Would there be alternative methods of payment?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You know, this goes along with the Non-US payment problem. We could probably arrange to take in standard mail payments from folks overseas or who don't want to do a credit card transaction over the net.

Hunter

 

[aramis]

I'm in, pdf's will do until the best of volume makes it; one caveat: to keep it, I'd be expecting 15-20 page PDF's, not counting "Cover" pages.

------------------
-aramis
=============================================
Smith & Wesson: The Original Point and Click interface!

 

[Ben W Bell]

How about the Magazine format. Collect them up and release then every few months as a magazine.
These "Best Of"'s. Would they litreally be the Best of what had been done or would they include everything? If they are the best of them those of us who may not pay for electronic versions (especially us who pay for our internet connections, only have 56K modems and live outside the US) will end up missing out on some stuff.

 

[William]

Hunter,

I find this concept very interesting and could see signing up for the subscription - IF you make the delivery mechanism Operating System agnostic. For example, I would like to purcase some of the pdfs that Wizards of the Coast sells, but you _must_ be running some form of Win32 to be able to download them. Please do not make it equally impossible for some of us.

William

 

[WendellM]

While I really like the spirit, I do have some reservations about this.

First, fans write for each other now; it's free for all, and what gets used is up to each individual. The current situation is cool by me, with everyone putting out their own, unofficial Traveller expansion material as they like, and everyone else accepting or rejecting it as they like. But, with this new arrangement, FFE will seem to be putting an "official" seal on some of this material - only the material they charge for. Will this lead to some brand-new material being made "official" simply because it's now submitted for publication, rather than older, fan-created "public-domain" material that's been around for years? This leads to:

To me, CT sorta "ended" (at least as far as official material) back around 1986 before MT. But, this new, officially sactioned, "canon" stuff will be produced with both CT and the new D20 stats, implying it's for use with both. While I do appreciate the inclusion of CT in this effort, it rather clearly feels like a new, D20, 2002 effort, with CT tacked on as an afterthought. That is, it's great for D20, a new, expanding game system, but what if there are contradictions with the "real" CT from 15+ years ago?

I hope I'm making myself clear. I truly appreciate FFE's revivial of CT. It surprised me greatly when I learned of the reprints several months ago, and since then I've bought every book (gratefully, to replace my long-lost and incomplete LBB collection). CT is something special for me. A new, stand-alone, Marc Miller-designed, T5 has similar potential. But, I'm deliberately passing on GURPS Traveller and D20 Traveller because they are other game systems that happen to use Traveller as a setting. Now, if T5 is a ground-up Traveller environment - with Marc Miller's full involvement (and not just name-stamp) - I'll fully support that, every book and module! But until then, I remain loyal to CT, and cautious of "dilutions" with D20 or anything like that. I recently bought the five core MT books purely to expand on my knowledge of CT, and not for MT itself. That is, if CT doesn't go into a given detail, and MT does, then that detail is correct (but if MT disagrees with CT, then the CT rules win

).

Really, I understand that I'm probably just "being geeky" in the extreme. But, y'know, a certain amount of "geekiness" (i.e. 'belief' and acceptance of an imaginary fictional universe) seems essential for Traveller. Since mine is grounded in CT, I'm a bit protective of it.

All that said, I do plan to sign up for a year's subscription to see what you've got. If it meshes well with established CT, while expanding on it, I'll be thrilled and will gladly resubscribe. But, if it clashes with CT, I won't (yeah, I could just ignore the clashing material, but to me the whole point of this is new, "official" stuff - if I'm to decide what's canon and what isn't, I'll stick to the free CT stuff on the Web).

My best hopes go with this effort, Hunter. The CT reprints (in spite of their slight production flaws) have brought me back to the universe of Classic Traveller. I'd love to continue exploring it if the new PDF material is true to the original!

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Wendell (IMTU tc++ tm !tn !t4 !tg ru+ ge+ 3i+ c+ jt- au ls+ he)