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Inactive Forums => The Riddle of Steel => Topic started by: hkdharmon on June 24, 2004, 01:24:25 AM

Title: GenCon
Post by: hkdharmon on June 24, 2004, 01:24:25 AM
So, The chances that I will actually get to go to GenCon are about as good as a snowball's in Iraq.
Will TFOB be available also at that time over the internet or in stores?

Jake?
Title: GenCon
Post by: toli on June 24, 2004, 12:14:26 PM
As always, I can't wait for TFOB.  If $$ is an issue, I'll pre-order...NT
Title: GenCon
Post by: deltadave on June 24, 2004, 12:43:48 PM
yeah, when do pre orders start?

Preorder!
Preorder!
Title: GenCon
Post by: Jake Norwood on June 24, 2004, 03:18:26 PM
Preorders for TFOB will begin as soon as the book is ready for the printers, usually about 2 weeks before it's actually available. TFOB will be available in PDF and hard-copy some time before Gen Con, but probably only a few days (either way it won't ship until right after).

I'll have more exact figures in the next few weeks.

How far in advance would many of you be willing to preorder the book, out of curiosity?

Jake
Title: GenCon
Post by: Sir Mathodius Black on June 24, 2004, 04:08:50 PM
I'd order it now if it was ready...
Title: GenCon
Post by: watermine999 on June 24, 2004, 04:56:12 PM
I'd buy the PDF if it was available now.  I'd preorder the book if I knew the price.
Title: GenCon
Post by: toli on June 24, 2004, 06:22:00 PM
Quote from: Jake Norwood

How far in advance would many of you be willing to preorder the book, out of curiosity?

Jake

Yesterday.
Title: GenCon
Post by: MonkeyWrench on June 24, 2004, 06:57:07 PM
Quote from: toli
Yesterday.

Ditto

I'm not so sure about wanting a PDF (didn't do it with OBAM), but I'd commit money to TFOB right now if it was available.
Title: GenCon
Post by: hkdharmon on June 24, 2004, 07:34:38 PM
two weeks ago.
Title: GenCon
Post by: deltadave on June 24, 2004, 07:42:17 PM
Right now would be excellent!
Title: GenCon
Post by: Valamir on June 24, 2004, 09:59:02 PM
Gee Jake...lots of folks drooling over the opportunity to send you cash...

Best figure out a way to collect it pronto...

...

Hmmm....

Here's one...

Make your check payable to Ralph A. Mazza...
I'll make sure it gets to Jake...

Heh Heh...
Title: Now?
Post by: Bloodstryke on June 24, 2004, 09:59:13 PM
I can't wait for it, and just like OBAM, I'll get it in both hard and soft copy as soon as it's available.
Title: GenCon
Post by: Durgil on June 24, 2004, 10:05:40 PM
Now or sooner, and yes, I'll take a copy of each please (hard & soft copies that is).
Title: GenCon
Post by: Jake Norwood on June 25, 2004, 03:07:59 PM
Dang. Well, I better get movin' then...

Jake
Title: GenCon
Post by: Vagabond Elf on June 30, 2004, 04:14:48 PM
But please, please, please proof-read it for apostrophe errors.  I love the writing in the core book and OBAM, but for every apostophe used correctly it seems like there's one used wrong and another missing.
Title: GenCon
Post by: Jake Norwood on July 01, 2004, 11:54:33 AM
Man, I really, really hate to tell you this, but there are going to be lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of typos. Yes, we'll proofread our own work and each others and we'll have at least 3 other people--at least two of them with degrees in english and one of them with an actual job as an editor read over it, but there WILL BE ERRORS, both with apostrophes and otherwise. Sorry.

Jake
Title: GenCon
Post by: shoplifter on July 02, 2004, 12:26:16 AM
I can deal with a few typos. I've been waiting for this for what seems like forever. :)
Title: GenCon
Post by: Jake Norwood on July 02, 2004, 12:53:52 PM
It has been a long time, hasn't it. Well, that speaks well for the longevity of TROS (and poorly for it's makers!).

Jake
Title: GenCon
Post by: Vagabond Elf on July 05, 2004, 05:55:23 PM
Jake, I'm not trying to get on your case, I know there will be mistakes.  But when I compare the main book, with a handful of errors, to Of Beast and Men, I can only conclude that no-one actually proof-read it.

Forgetting an apostrophe or two on a page is a typo.  Failing to include any of them means the writer actually thinks the possessive of "one" is "ones".  (It's not; like any other nough except "it", the possessive is "one's".)  Not to mention the chronic misuse of "effect," though I've stopped expecting the gaming industry to get that one right.  (I actually began to wonder if that was a case of American vs. Canadian English, but the American magazines I read use it the same way I do...)

I don't think it's asking too much to hold the gaming industry to the same standards as a monthly video-game magazine, and OBAM fails miserably.  I'm just asking that you put the same effort into the grammar that you put into the content and appearance.

I'll stop harrasing you now, and end this with a compliment:  Your game actually got me to break my vow that I wasn't going to learn a new rules set because everything I wanted to play could be done with something I knew already.  You proved me wrong.
Title: GenCon
Post by: Jake Norwood on July 06, 2004, 12:07:59 PM
Quote from: Vagabond ElfJake, I'm not trying to get on your case, I know there will be mistakes.  But when I compare the main book, with a handful of errors, to Of Beast and Men, I can only conclude that no-one actually proof-read it.

*snip*

You're wrong. Just no one very good at it.

QuoteI don't think it's asking too much to hold the gaming industry to the same standards as a monthly video-game magazine, and OBAM fails miserably.  I'm just asking that you put the same effort into the grammar that you put into the content and appearance.

Again wrong. In fact, the comparison is sooo far off It's hard to describe. The video-game industry is a multi-billion dollar *professional* industry, featuring people that actually get paid for their work and who use advanced educations to provide a product. The RPG industry, in contrast, is primarily composed of people with unrelated educations (if any) who lose money to get their version of their hobby to you in an underpriced product. The RPG industry is a hobby industry for everyone except the employees of just a few companies. This is my hobby. What I charge for my books doesn't really cover the costs of what I'm doing (though its getting better). I do it 'cause I like it, and when it stops being fun my wife will celebrate the end of me spending so much time and any money at all on a business that really isn't one. That's not to say that RPG companies can't be profitable--they can be--but never by much withought losing their edge as a product of a hobbyist for a hobbyist.

QuoteI'll stop harrasing you now, and end this with a compliment:  Your game actually got me to break my vow that I wasn't going to learn a new rules set because everything I wanted to play could be done with something I knew already.  You proved me wrong.

I appreciate that. *That,* as I see it, is my responsibility, my oath, to you guys. I do my best to get everything proofread and checked up on. I do my best to purchase or otherwise provide good art and decent writing. But when it comes down to it, the only true responsibility of a company my size ("one" plus the help I get from Brian) is to provide a good, fun, innovative game--the rest is stuff that I "try" very hard to do, but which I know is secondary. It's the whole form/function thing.

TROS is just my hobby--and it's my third-hobby-in-line at that.

Jake