OBAM Press Release

[Jake Norwood]

Of Beasts and Men, our first supplement, was officially announced today in a press release that can be found in a way-too-big download (5M MB, for resolution) here. The release date will be early this summer, in June or July. A PDF pre-release is still being planned.

Jake

[Jake Norwood]

We've tacked on an official date as well for the print ed.

June 3.

Jake

[Brian Leybourne]

Crap, but I've got a big stupid grin on my face.

One thing thing though - in the breakdown it says 144 pages, but in the blurb it says 128. Given the volume of stuff in there, I'm guessing 144 is right, but...

Happy Brian.

[Mike Holmes]

When's the PDF going to be available?

Mike

[Jake Norwood]

We've been tweaking the blurb. It was 128, now it's 144 (by publishing it might be 160...). And the price dropped to 19.95...but we'll see.

The PDF...as soon as it's done. I think late april/early may.

Jake

[Lance D. Allen]

The PDF...as soon as it's done. I think late april/early may.

Jake

So it really is going to be a birthday gift for me...

I'm getting excited now. The first official hard-copy TRoS supplement..

[arxhon]

Hurrah!

I can wait, but i don't want to....and i know it's going to kick ass.

[Mainboard]

Huzzah!!!!!

I am so glad to hear it will be comming out soon! :)
Kudos to Driftwood and Jake!

[Jürgen Mayer]

Good to hear it's finally getting released!

Is the cover shown in the PR intended for release? I must say that I'm not pleased with the font and placement of the "Of Beasts and Men" title (great title, btw ;) - it just looks awkward to me. Re-using the same font as in the TROS logo would be easier on the eye. Using two so much different fonts on one page doesn't make it look good most of the time. If you don't want to use the TROS logo font, at least go with a more plain and simple font for the title.
Wasn't there a plan once to use a cover design similar to the core rule book?

[Jake Norwood]

We could play around with the title font, if you think it's an issue. I like it as is, but I'm not too particular. There was never any plan to do the crystal-ball thing for this cover, although the SATF cover had planned one.

Jake

[Brian Leybourne]

There's certainly something to be said for "line unity", as in making all the books look similar, which would mean using the crystal-ball look and the font from the main book.

On the other hand, the crystal-ball look would obscure a lot of the picture (and it's a nice one), so it's a toss-up I guess.

Brian.

[Jake Norwood]

I'm not that interested in "line unity" where the crystal ball is concerned. I do like the crystaline background, though, which will probably go on the back of the book.

Jake

[Lance D. Allen]

Cut out the houses in the background, get the Hef, the wolf behind him, and a bit of the face of the one below, and you'll have enough. I'm really for the Crystal Ball look for all of the products.

Line unity, to me, makes a project look professional and well-thought out.. A problem I had with many of the AD&D supplements, and part of why I never allowed my curiosity to get the better of me. If it doesn't share the same theme as the main books, it looks like an afterthought, rather than one of the core-books. I can see adventures having a different cover format, but for any of the cover books, I think a uniform look is best.

One way or the other, people who already love the game will probably buy OBaM. I know I will (though I may way wait for hardcopy, considering what it would take to print a PDF version, and how often I get a chance to play) but it's effect on marketing shouldn't be understated.

[Jake Norwood]

Okay...see...

I never liked the crystal ball. It's not that I disliked it, but it's never been what I wanted. The crystal ball is gone from the "line." I like the crystaline mesh, though. That stays. As for product unity...we're not TSR here...we only have the one product, and variety is the spice of life. We'll continue using the TROS logo (albeit with different colors) and perhaps the interior knotwork (which I really like), but as for "cover unity..." I like Jeremy's painting a lot (and I paid a lot for it) and I'm not going to cover it up with some cheesy graphic.

The font for the title is a matter I'll take into real consideration, though.

End of story on the Crystal ball.

Jake

[Jürgen Mayer]

No crystal ball. Re-consideration of font. Fair enough.

Can you tell us what finally made it into OBaM? Or was this already posted somewhere?