ah the old Internet Piracy Debate .....
best said, from Eric Flint Author
http://www.baen.com/library/prime_palaver1.asp
http://www.baen.com/library/prime_palaver6.asp
when Baen started the Free Library
Illegal Traveller CD Copies
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ah the old Internet Piracy Debate .....
best said, from Eric Flint Author
http://www.baen.com/library/prime_palaver1.asp
http://www.baen.com/library/prime_palaver6.asp
when Baen started the Free Library
Necrothread revival.
I've got a massive load of CT stuff in storage; but being paper, it's highly perishable if things go wrong in so many ways. I've therefore pulled the trigger on the FFE CT CD-ROM. 30 quid including airmail postage is a small price to pay for a backup, in my opinion.
In addition, when I attend a con in the future (and there WILL be more of those, now things are getting a tad more organdised (note the spelling, there,
) in my life), it means that I won't have to be carting around a backpack's worth of books, supplements, referee screens, and so on (Claim to fame: UK Gen Con many years back, and a 100 litre bergan FULL of gaming materials!), instead, all I'll need to cart around the con will be my Linux notebook, and a certain CD-ROM
It also funds the original publisher, thus contributing to the ongoing progression of the game.
Job done.
I've got a massive load of CT stuff in storage; but being paper, it's highly perishable if things go wrong in so many ways. I've therefore pulled the trigger on the FFE CT CD-ROM. 30 quid including airmail postage is a small price to pay for a backup, in my opinion.
In addition, when I attend a con in the future (and there WILL be more of those, now things are getting a tad more organdised (note the spelling, there,
) in my life), it means that I won't have to be carting around a backpack's worth of books, supplements, referee screens, and so on (Claim to fame: UK Gen Con many years back, and a 100 litre bergan FULL of gaming materials!), instead, all I'll need to cart around the con will be my Linux notebook, and a certain CD-ROM It also funds the original publisher, thus contributing to the ongoing progression of the game.
Job done.
... and you can copy the CD to a Jump Drive for greater portability (and the ability to lock the CD in a safe).Necrothread revival.
I've got a massive load of CT stuff in storage; but being paper, it's highly perishable if things go wrong in so many ways. I've therefore pulled the trigger on the FFE CT CD-ROM. 30 quid including airmail postage is a small price to pay for a backup, in my opinion.
In addition, when I attend a con in the future (and there WILL be more of those, now things are getting a tad more organdised (note the spelling, there,
It also funds the original publisher, thus contributing to the ongoing progression of the game.
Job done.
Except my company gave me a laptop w/o a CD drive.
It's a POS in many ways - i hate it. Lenovo T-440 - worthless.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
USB sticks are tech level eight; no moving parts and can be stuck in practically everywhere, including air gapped nuclear enrichment control systems.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Super glue exists for a reason.
wettrout
SOC-6
Bringing a dead thread back to life, maybe...
Caveat: I've not read every single post in this thread and I am not even certain my question falls in this category.
Setup: I own a copy of nearly all of the books in hardcopy of several versions of Traveller and have paid for a few of FFE CDs with the entire line of either Traveller or Twilight 2000, despite having the hardcopies. But not all versions of Traveller have a disk from Marc with the reasonable prices. It's not like I paid full price for both versions. But the remaining versions (GURPS Traveller and Mongoose Traveller in particular) charge the same amount I have already paid for an electronic version of the hardback I purchased.
Now, technically, IIRC, Copyright Law in the US states that I can make a single backup copy of a purchased item (book, song, movie, etc) in one of each format (such as hardcopy to PDF). So since I already own a hardcopy of say, Mongoose Traveller Core Rule Book, would it still be piracy if I also downloaded a PDF that I didn't have to pay for? It seems ridiculous to have to pay twice just because I want to be able to access the books on my laptop instead of carrying a bunch of books to a gaming session.
I don't mind paying a reasonable fee like Marc charges for his CD-ROMs, but when I have to pay 45 bucks for the hardcopy and another 45 bucks for the PDF... Well, its no longer what I call a reasonable price.
Caveat: I've not read every single post in this thread and I am not even certain my question falls in this category.
Setup: I own a copy of nearly all of the books in hardcopy of several versions of Traveller and have paid for a few of FFE CDs with the entire line of either Traveller or Twilight 2000, despite having the hardcopies. But not all versions of Traveller have a disk from Marc with the reasonable prices. It's not like I paid full price for both versions. But the remaining versions (GURPS Traveller and Mongoose Traveller in particular) charge the same amount I have already paid for an electronic version of the hardback I purchased.
Now, technically, IIRC, Copyright Law in the US states that I can make a single backup copy of a purchased item (book, song, movie, etc) in one of each format (such as hardcopy to PDF). So since I already own a hardcopy of say, Mongoose Traveller Core Rule Book, would it still be piracy if I also downloaded a PDF that I didn't have to pay for? It seems ridiculous to have to pay twice just because I want to be able to access the books on my laptop instead of carrying a bunch of books to a gaming session.
I don't mind paying a reasonable fee like Marc charges for his CD-ROMs, but when I have to pay 45 bucks for the hardcopy and another 45 bucks for the PDF... Well, its no longer what I call a reasonable price.
ShawnDriscoll
SOC-14 1K
One pays for the media format they want their game rules in. If they want various formats, they pay for each one of them. Simple.
Officially, the GT "CD" is soon forthcoming, as is the GT JTAS one. I've got the inventories and previews of both. Assuming that the preview content is all approved, the value for money for GURPS Fans is going to be pretty good.
Those will most likely be at the usual prices...
The only editions that will not be available in CD/Thumbdrive are MGT 1, MGT 2, and the various homebrew adaptations to other engines.
The DGP CD is up in the air. I don't know the details, but I know Marc has scans of most of the DGP materials.
The shortest and fastest answer is Ask Matt from Mongoose. For Mongoose specifically.
There are already 2 GT CDs available from FFE, which have been available for about the past year:
http://www.farfuture.net/ (See main page on right-hand side).
Or is there another forthcoming CD of GURPS content to which you are referring?
We are still waiting on the GT:JTAS CD, however.
AFAIK Mongoose is still officially part of the Brick and Mortar initiative, which means, you should get a PDF copy for every their books you buy in a brick and mortar store. Unfortunately this is not always the case, but after contacting Matthew Sprange about this, he sent me a free PDF copy of the core rules via DriveThruRPG. So asking nicely helps.
Yes, that's still piracy and still illegal. Whether or not it is ethical, I will leave to you.
You should check with Mongoose on their forum. I have heard of folks getting PDFs upon informing Matt that they have purchased the hardcover. Not 100% sure you will get one but it's certainly worth asking.
As for it being ridiculous, I agree with you. That's why all of our hard copies come with the option to get the PDF for free. IMHO, that's just good business. Other companies don't necessarily feel that way.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I pay a copyright attorney $125 an hour to keep me out of trouble with copyright violations. As Gypsy Knight Games has said, what you are proposing is pirating and an illegal copyright violation. As for ridiculous, out of that $45 for a hard copy, the publisher might get $18 to $20. If you download the item directly from him, he gets all of it. I do not know how much of a fee DriveThru charges. If you want published material, the publishers have to earn sufficient money to stay in business. If they do not, they disappear.
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