New printing

[quozl]

From the thread on Civilization RolePlaying, you know I've been looking at Universalis and heard there was only one copy left of the old printing and there will be no PDF version.  

So, before I buy, I was just wondering if you could tell me the differences between the new and old printings and when the new printing will be ready.

Thanks!

[Valamir]

new printing will be identical with the exception of cleaning up some typos...mostly of the mispelling, tense, and misplaced comma variety.

It will be being printed by a different printer than the first so I hope that the print quality comes back as good as the first one did.

I'll be selecting a printer by the end of this week out of the 8 or so that have proferred bids.  After that figure 1-2 weeks for them to get a proof to me, however much time it takes to review the proof and confirm it (hopefully not very long), and 2-3 weeks after that to finish the print job.  Factoring in the inevitable delay time, I'm figuring 4-8 weeks before I'm stocked back up again.

[Tony Irwin]

The options we are considering are as
1) Do another print run, same format as currently.
2) Sell Uni going forward as a PDF only(for probably $10)
3) Sell Uni going forward as a PDF, but (sales permitting) do a Revised Printing for next year's GenCon where we take alot of the Add-ons and essays that are currently on the site, clean them up and include them in an expanded game book.

Obviously the least expensive way for us is to go the PDF route, but what I'd like to hear from you is how much of a benefit that cool little perfect bound book is to your enjoyment of the game and how much of an enticement was it when you made your purchase to have an actual book.

Also, do you see any value added in an expanded Revised Printing as suggested in option 3? If so, what would you want included to make it worthwhile?

May not be in my best interests to tell you guys this but (probably due to exchange rates) Universalis is very cheap over here. Including postage to the UK it only cost me about £13. To give you some idea of what that means, it costs about £4.50 to see a movie over here, and you could spend the best part of another £5 just on food to munch during it. So its actually cheaper for me to buy Universalis and get it shipped to this country to play with a friend on a Saturday night, than it is to treat the same friend and myself to the latest Bond flick.

Hence the reason I was hoping to buy a few copies this week - they'd make fantastic xmas presents for friends I roleplay with. (never mind I'll wait till the next batch comes out)

Similarily I was able to download Donjon for the price of two Big Mac meals. Is it just that the exchange rates are working my way, or are Indie games very good value for money? (or is it the uk market which is just valuing big macs and movies differently from other parts of the world).

Anyway onto my main question...

You mentioned the possibilty of a revised/expanded edition - is that completely separate from what you're doing now yeah? This printing will still be exactly what I have but with some typos corrected?

Tony

[Valamir]

May not be in my best interests to tell you guys this but (probably due to exchange rates) Universalis is very cheap over here. Including postage to the UK it only cost me about £13. To give you some idea of what that means, it costs about £4.50 to see a movie over here, and you could spend the best part of another £5 just on food to munch during it. So its actually cheaper for me to buy Universalis and get it shipped to this country to play with a friend on a Saturday night, than it is to treat the same friend and myself to the latest Bond flick.

Well now...in that case I would happy to double the price for you.  How much more would you like to pay ;-)

Hence the reason I was hoping to buy a few copies this week - they'd make fantastic xmas presents for friends I roleplay with. (never mind I'll wait till the next batch comes out)

Love to hear it.

Similarily I was able to download Donjon for the price of two Big Mac meals. Is it just that the exchange rates are working my way, or are Indie games very good value for money? (or is it the uk market which is just valuing big macs and movies differently from other parts of the world).

I think part of it is that indie games can get made with less overhead than a "non-indie" game.  But I think a perhaps bigger part of it is that indie games are less "accepted" and thus there is an upper limit on what an indie publisher can charge which is substantially lower than a comparable "non-indie" game.  I've actually heard people say "why would I spend $25 on an indie game when I can get a 'real game' for that price".

Eventually games like Donjon et.al. will establish the reputation of indie as being "real games" but for now I think that sentiment shaves a sizeable chunk off of the cover price.

You mentioned the possibilty of a revised/expanded edition - is that completely separate from what you're doing now yeah? This printing will still be exactly what I have but with some typos corrected?

Tony

Answering question #2 first:  Correct.

As for the expanded version.  Barring some explosion of "oh my god this is the greatest game since Magic: the Blathering" this print run will be sizeable enough to maintain an inventory for sometime, so I likely won't be issueing an expanded version at GenCon as was a possibility.  Depending on whether I've broken even on sales for this run, I MAY put together a seperate booklet collection of essays and stuff special for the con.