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#1
07-06-2015, 08:21 PM
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Modern Military Kickstarter project
Hi all,
I am currently preparing a long-time project for a KickStarter launch, probably in late September or early October which may be of interest to anyone who likes Twilight: 2000. The project is Road to Armageddon and a short form version has been available for some years on RPGNow (see Phalanx Games Design as a Campaign Background for Greg Porter's EABA (BTRC) game system ... and some of you may have come across it (or not). The basic premise is one of one-way time travel 25000 years into the future, dropping a quite substantial military and civilian force from the 20th and 21st centuries into a Science Fiction/Fantasy world and seeing how they cope with the situation, develop local technology etc. The current KS project, however, doesn't include the SF/F components - it is entirely about a WW3 in the near future and is intended to provide a long introductory background and campaign leading up to the PCs involved being caught up in the transference into the future ... so it's basically as 'real world' as TW2000 is/was. The KS will launch at least seven books ... D10 System Core Rules (~180 pages, character creation and game system, based on a D10 pool mechanic), Equipment Book (~180 pages. Guns, Gear and Vehicles), Modern Encounters (~200 pages. Encounter Tables. Encounter Descriptions. Special Encounters etc. Detailed enough to allow for the creation of a complete post-nuclear exchange campaign pretty much anywhere), In the Beginning/False Dawn (~48-64 pages. Introductory adventure to get the PCs connected, set in the USA somewhat before WW3), Jungle Traveller (~180 pages. Campaign Book #1 - slightly pre-WW3 mercenary campaign in West Africa ... Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Nigeria-Biafra), Short Days Ago (~180 pages. Campaign Book #2. West Africa - Nigerian Civil War. Federal Nigeria vs Islamic Republic of Nigeria (Boko Haram) vs Biafran Republic), Let them Laugh at Fate (~180 pages. West and West Central Africa. The war expands - into Cameroon and Chad). Depending on how successful the KS is, there may be other books as well and a second KS (in 2016) will cover (tentatively) post nuclear exchange operations, possibly in Cuba, the US and (certainly) Europe leading, eventually, to the PCs being 'transferred' into the far future, but certainly usable as a standalone TW2000 style campaign up to that point! This is the first KickStarter that I have ever done, but I do have something of a track record in the gaming industry, a pretty good one (at least I think so) ... co-author, Space Opera, author of supplements for SO and Chivalry & Sorcery (FGU); author Rigger Black Book (1st Edition. FASA); author Road to Armageddon: EABA, Farm, Forge and Steam (Ideas on how to design a coherent and believable campaign world), Displaced (Generic sideways/dimensional and one way time travel campaign guidelines), Orbis Mundi (real medieval society and economics ca. late 13th-14th centuries) and Audace ad Gloriam (Survival and Exploration equipment for a well known SF game with Black Covers) (Phalanx Games Design. Me.) The writing for all except the Getting Involved/False Dawn and third Campaign Book are all complete as I write this and work on those two books continues. Cover artwork has been commissioned and finished for the first three books and two of the Campaign books and more is being commissioned for the remaining books as I type this ... and the completed books are all laid out and ready to go. The ones still being written will be laid out and ready to go either before, during, or soon after the KS is launched. The KS will offer all these goodies at a considerably reduced price compared to what they will cost to purchase after it is complete (successful or not, they will be published). Tentative pricing for the KS is US$75 for PDF only and US $100 for PDF + PoD voucher (that is, you'll get a voucher that will enable you to pay for the actual printing cost component of the PoD, which will be substantially less than what will be charged on RPGNow for all the books. To buy the books after the KS will cost ~US$20 for the 180 page ones in PDF only (proportionally more or less if the page count is more or less) or ~US$35 (not including the actual PoD printing cost or postage) for PDF + PoD. If the KS is minimally successful, then the PDFs will be available as soon after it ends as possible (depending on time delay - I'm in Australia) and I envisage a 60-90 day window for backers to read and pick up any problems that may still exist, allow for me to address/correct them, and then send off for proof copies (B&W Soft and Hardcover, Colour Soft & Hardcover and, possibly, Premium Colour Soft and Hardcover) from RPGNow's print partner. As soon as they are printed and checked (remember, I am in Australia - even fast shipping from the US takes time) the final version will be made available. If, however, the KS is more than minimally successful, then, paradoxically, this may lead to delays ... a lot of the stretch goals involved buying more colour or b&w art for the books, Chapter Headers, mostly, and, commissioning the art and then getting the finished pieces from the artists is subject to all sorts of possible problems ... so a very successful KS would mean a delay of longer than the 90 days + print proof delay minimum. If people are interested, if anyone is interested, feel free to ask questions about anything - the rules, the background, the project - and I will post replies here, privately, or on my web page (http://phalanxgamesdesign.com ... though there's not much there as I type this, I'm in the process of setting it up) Happy hunting ... Phil McGregor 
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#2
07-06-2015, 11:15 PM
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Welcome to the forum Phil, whereabouts in Australia are you? From the website I'd hazard a guess that you're still in NSW?
I'm in Perth, (the west coast one, not the Tassie one!)
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#4
07-07-2015, 12:47 AM
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Quote:
I presume Perth's weather is somewhat less brrrr at present? Phil
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#5
07-07-2015, 02:09 AM
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I lived in Sydney some decades ago, specifically Condell Park and then later in Parramatta - nowhere close to you but yeah I was sorta nearby!
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#6
07-07-2015, 09:11 PM
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Welcome!
And I have to say: The Rigger Black Book has to be one of my top three supplements ever. Easily the best in the Shadowrun Line. Best of luck with this, and I just might pony up to boot.
__________________
Member of the Bofors fan club! The M1911 of automatic cannon. Proud fan(atic) of the CV90 Series.
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#7
07-08-2015, 11:59 PM
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I've attached a thumbnail of the cover of the Players Handbook (by Ricky Hunter ... www.misledtomisery.com) ... an Aussie soldier, Slouch Hat and all, just to be different (I plan to offer people the change to, individually or jointly, purchase alternate covers for the PHB showing a soldier of the nationality of their choice ... as long as he/she is US, Canadian, British, French (Foreign Legion) or German ... and, possibly, some others ... PoD and you can do that!). Phil
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#8
07-12-2015, 06:46 PM
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Character Creation
Character creation in RtA consists of several steps – determine Background (Unemployed, Working Poor, Rural, Blue Collar, White Collar, Professional or Entrepreneurial), which has some impact on how costly it is for characters to purchase some skills; Age (Teenager, Young Adult, Adult, Experienced, Veteran), which determines Ability and Skill points available … then choose five of the six Abilities (Health, Cunning, Aptitude, Deduction and Command) and roll for the sixth (Luck), on a 1-7+ scale (normal human maximum is 6, and the normal characteristic level is 3-4); choose Quirks (Positive or Negative, costing Ability Points), which are character defining … well, Quirks, and which are limited by Careers (see below) … including such favourable things as Ambidextrous, Internal Compass, (Military) Rank and Reputation and such unfavourable things as Clumsy, Fugitive, Pacifist, and Thousand Yard Stare. Abilities are refined by the use of Focuses, which normally add +/- 1 or +/- 2 to a specific area of an Ability. So, for example, you could have Cunning (+1 Emotional Reading, -1 Hearing and Interpreting Sounds). After the basic Character is thus fleshed out, you proceed to choose from a wide variety of Careers, both those that are primarily Civilian and those that are primarily Military, as well as crossover ones that link the two such as Armed Forces Reserve or Military Academy. These packages specify Skills related to that career (which cost 1 SP per level at creation – other skills cost 2 SP per level) and Mustering Out Benefits (Money, Quirks [from a Career specific list] and Equipment you start the game with). Each broad Career usually has more than one Skill List to choose from – for example, an Army Career has Support Personnel and Combat Personnel lists. Once your Career is chosen, you choose Skills (and there are rules to cover the use of your Career as a Skill, or sorts, to cover situations where someone from your career background would obviously have some familiarity, but where your character doesn't have a specific relevant skill) and any Specialisations within them. Skills normally range from Basic (2) to Unique (8) – gaining the Basic skill grants a Basic (2) in all Specialisations … however, increasing a Skill beyond that means the character must specialise eg Riding (2), Riding/Camel (3). If your character has a high enough level in the right package of Skills they may learn Techniques, which offer enhancements that basic skills do not. They allow a PC to do very specific things in very specific ways … for example, Infiltrator Technique allows the PC to 'win' tied Opposed Rolls and to reroll any Calamity so as to misdirect any response to their failure (the guards will still be more alert … but in the wrong direction, hopefully!) amongst other things. More on the Game System in a later post.
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#9
07-15-2015, 11:48 PM
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The World of Road to Armageddon
One of the key elements in any RPG is the background – it should be both realistic and believable. In some ways, this is easier for games with a pre-modern setting, as players usually don't have the background knowledge to really grasp whether it is realistic or not … often relying on Hollywood or fictional 'knowledge' (which game designers often do as well) … and so really don't grasp that the background is completely flawed … which, depending on the game, the players and the GM, may or may not matter. For modern settings, however, the issue of realism and believability becomes more important – and for contemporary settings, such as RtA, it becomes vital … for the simple reason that even poorly read players are constantly bombarded with at least superficial knowledge of what is going on in the world … and most people have at least a solid basic grasp of key geopolitical realities (even if they don't understand why those things are as they are). So, for example, there's no easy way a designer could believably have China invading the US (despite all those horrible, often self-published, novels that do just that which are on sale on Amazon) … the uninformed general public might believe it, but the general RPG playing crowd, especially those interested in modern military RPGs such as RtA, will generally require something much more believable than is usually presented for such scenarios, and will often reject them out of hand. So, what's the background for RtA? The world of RtA is divided into four major blocs – the Western Alliance, the Russo-Japanese Alliance, the Caliphate and non-aligned nations (who really belong to no alliance, or only to local or regional ones not aligned with any of the big three). The Western Alliance includes all the usual suspects – the USA, Canada, NATO, SEATO, Korea, the Phillippines, Australia and New Zealand (amongst others), but also includes a still Communist China (sort of – if modern China can really said to be 'communist' rather than merely 'authoritarian' or 'dictatorial' these days) increasingly worried about a militaristic and revanchist post-Putinesque Russia and Japan … on the basis of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Pretty standard stuff … and not too unbelievable, even allowing for current tensions between China and regional powers (and the US) over the South China Sea. The Russo-Japanese Alliance is somewhat more off the wall – and assumes that Russia continues on the path being set by Putin, who is assumed to be out of the picture by the time of the 3WW, who have initially become commercially aligned with an equally revanchist Japan wishing to secure economic advantage through sole access to Russian markets in a move away from reliance on selling to a more protectionist US (and Europe) in a general move to the right for Japanese politics. The US-European response of increased protectionism and/or embargoes aimed at both parties drives them closer together, and drives the Japanese to remilitarising and supporting the expansion and improvement of the Russian armed forces. The Caliphate. Well. A regional grouping of militantly anti-western Islamic states, mainly in the Middle East, was always part of the RtA background – and I must say that, while I in no way predicted the rise of ISIS/Daesh and it's self-proclaimed Caliphate, I am not entirely surprised by recent developments. In RtA the Caliphate includes Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan as core territories and Caliphate invasion of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States is a major trigger for the series of events that lead to the 3WW ('Three Way War') and the 'Thirty Minute War' (aka 'The Exchange'), the nuclear devastation that doesn't, not really, end it. Even if it probably does mortally wound the 'war effort' on all sides. The Caliphate also expands into and takes over Libya and Sudan in the active player-participation part of the game … and these events form an important part of the backdrop for the main introductory campaign (as do hints of Indonesian attacks against Malaya, Singapore, the Phillippines, New Guinea and Australia). Unlike most of RtA's predecessors, the initial Campaign is not set in Western Europe – nor in East Asia, for that matter. It is set in West Africa, on the peripheries of the rapidly worsening conflict between the three alliance groups. Initially, it is set in Equatorial Guinea where a US/CIA funded revolutionary group is about to stage a coup in Nigeria, recreating the post-colonial breakaway state of Biafra in the oil rich SE part of that country in the face of the incipient collapse of the Federal Republic's institutions in the face of its inability to govern the nation effectively and the rise of extreme Islamic fundamentalist forces in the form of the Boko Haram movement. Why? Well, it allows the players to gain experience without having to fight through a high level mechanised war … they're on the peripheries, and they'll be involved in actions at a much lower level, a level where commando and special forces actions are much more the state of things … just the sort of situation that suits small groups of PCs. As the campaign progresses, they'll have espionage/counter espionage, anti-Pirate and Commando missions in Equatorial Guinea, the Gulf of Guinea, and the early days of the Second Biafran Republic … but increasing Caliphate support for a fractured Nigeria (or the northern, Boko Haram controlled, 'Islamic Republic of Nigeria') will lead to missions into Cameroon and, eventually, Chad … and, finally, back to Biafra and thence to Equatorial Guinea … the latter after the 3WW escalates to The Exchange ... More later ...
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#10
08-06-2015, 08:05 PM
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One trend that has become widespread in RPGs in recent years is the (relatively speaking) ultra fast progression from novice character to demigod ... particularly the idea of mandated level progression every X levels especially prominent in level-progression based systems ... a development is not only unrealistic in the extreme but one that also makes gameplay and GMing more an arms race and numbers game than actual fun.
Does it have to be this way? Can you have player rewards that are satisfying and still allow the GM to have fun as well? Can the arms race of experience based progression be satisfying and yet at least somewhat resemble the real world? I believe that it is possible and that the D10 system used in RtA achieves it. The base assumption in RtA is that skill advancement (there are no levels) will be slow ... or potentially so ... that it will be a tradeoff and that this tradeoff will encourage (and probably require) Players to balance a desire for survival and instant gratification with longer term goals. How is this achieved? Well, Characters have a Luck characteristic which can be used to protect them somewhat from the game world at a fairly major level - that lethal explosion that rendered their corpse into its constituent atoms may not actually have been what it seemed if you have enough Luck (shades of the Fu Manchu or Sherlock Holmes and the Reichenbach Falls!) ... something happens that means they survive ... maybe there was some unseen physical feature that protected them so that they are merely wounded and unconscious, maybe there was a hidden door they could exit through (retroactively found) before the explosion. Something along those lines. Now, this sort of thing isn't at all new, especially in level-less game systems ... and is quite an interesting way of handling those major effects. And a popular one, too. The problem is that it often doesn't have a way of handling more minor, but no less threatening, situations. This is where D10 is, I hope, different. PCs gain Experience Points for certain die rolls and other game effects, and also for some of the usual role playing schticks - and each unit of 20 EP allow a character to potentially increase a skill or acquire a new one. Fairly standard. Now, Combat in RtA is vicious ... characters have relatively few Hit Points and weapons often do enough damage, unmodified, to kill them with one shot ... and a successful attack roll can increase this base damage to really nasty levels. Body armour protects ... a bit ... just as it does in real life. But any player who has his character run around in the open trading fire with the enemy ... well, they'll soon be dead. Absolutely Dead. And even their Luck Characteristic will run out fairly quickly (it's hard to replace/regenerate, as you might expect). Obviously, characters should use cover and concealment and a fire off a lot of bullets to throw their enemy's aim off ... just as in real life ... but, of course, Players won't (or won't want) to do that as often as they should ... so how can they survive? Well, this is where the EPs come in ... and where Players will need to make tradeoffs with Skill advancement. You see, those EPs can be used for minor luck enhancements. 1 EP can add +1D to any roll they make, or add +1 Diff to any roll made against them, or reduce Damage by one grade ... amongst other things. So they can do all those heroic things players want their characters to do ... and probably survive doing so ... but there will be a cost ... slow, probably very slow, advancement ... yet they'll get to have fun, if they're careful. Just as importantly, the GM will still have fun without having to introduce more and more extreme measures (and 'monsters') to try and match the almost demi-god-like status that comes so fast in so many game systems ... that RentaCop Mall Security guard can still get off a lucky shot, if the PCs are careless with their EP expenditure, and cause serious damage ... no need to have a Boss Monster Mall Demon to make the contest 'balanced'!
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#11
08-06-2015, 10:16 PM
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I must say that the demi-god PC & tougher/boss monster aspect of level-up game systems is the major factor in my dislike of any sort of level-up system for historical, present-day and near-future gaming.
Which is pretty much the reason that, despite all the supposed negative aspects of the system, I've stuck with the GDW house system from Traveller: The New Era/Twilight: 2000 Version 2.2 for much of my modern & near-future games. After hearing your take on that specific aspect (and again I'll say that this is explicitly my reason for disliking systems like D20 Modern), I'm sufficiently intrigued to want to check out Road to Armageddon and test out the rules. I also like the treatment of Luck and although I'm not a fan of retroactively applying saves to a PC, I can see it working without screwing up the feel and the story of a campaign.
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#12
09-02-2015, 06:15 PM
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< bump >
I'm hoping Mr McGregor drops by again with more info on this game
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#13
09-02-2015, 08:53 PM
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Add my vote
Quote:
__________________
Tis better to do than to do not. Tis better to act than react. Tis better to have a battery of 105's than not. Tis better to see them afor they see you.
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#14
09-03-2015, 09:09 AM
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If you're going to use a luck stat, and varying age and experience levels, let me throw an aviation expression into the mix:
You start off with an empty bag of experience and a full bag of luck. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck...
__________________
I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away.
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#15
09-04-2015, 01:37 AM
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 The Kickstarter is almost ready to go ... submitted several hours ago for approval by the KS Gnomes, which supposedly takes 1-3 days ... doesn't say whether that means working days or calendar days ... so maybe over this weekend, or early next week. In the meantime, I have put a low resolution copy of the currently almost finalised first book, Road to Armageddon: D10 Core Rules onto RPGNow as a free sample ... http://www.rpgnow.com/product/155970...ttest_filtered You can also see a Preview of the Kickstarter page at ... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...token=89da6e9a ... so it's almost at the starting gate! Exciting times ... for me, anyway ... Phil McGregor
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#16
09-04-2015, 01:49 AM
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Luck Stat can probably buy your way out of a deathtrap ... while Luck/Experience will buy extra dice -- for you or against your opponent or buy down any damage you are unlucky (!) enough to take. To ensure that at start PCs don't start behind the 8-Ball, so to speak, all PCs get a small amount of Experience to be distributed amongst Skills connected to each Ability Score at start ... enough to make them less like sitting ducks! It's also fairly easy to gain Experience - for example, amongst other things, you get an EP for making a Task Check @ Difficulty/4 (that is, you roll 8-9-0 on at least 4 dice, 0's give a reroll) and for rolling 4 x 0's on any roll. At 20 EP in a skill area (and EPs are allocated to Skills) to increase a level, and with definite limits to how much you can increase levels, it will, in any case, be a hard decision whether to hoard those EPs for advancement or use them to enable you to survive in Combat! Making EP expenditure a sort of a tactical and strategic decision making effort! Sorry about the delay in replying, I've been darn busy doing the Kickstarter related stuff ... which turned out to be somewhat more time consuming than I had estimated (fortunately I allowed time for such an underestimation!). Phil McGregor
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#17
09-04-2015, 01:57 AM
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You can download, free, a low res version of Road to Armageddon: D10 Core Rules from RPGNow ... http://www.rpgnow.com/product/155970...ttest_filtered ... to get an idea of the system. It's perfectly readable, but the graphic elements are crappy ... and it's not much use without the Gear Book if you want to actually play the game ... Make sure you get the second file, as, for some unknowable reason, the first one I downloaded ... wouldn't ... for several others including, when I tried it myself, me ... the revised file downloads fine, though Phil McGregor
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#18
09-04-2015, 04:02 AM
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Thanks for the update
 In other news, some of us were talking about the AFTERMATH! rpg in this thread here and discussing that two of the modules for that game were written by you.
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#19
09-04-2015, 10:53 AM
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Super
I GOT IT.
Now ta read it today and I will get back to you and thanks! and to answer yer questions us old USArmy Offcers can sorta read.
__________________
Tis better to do than to do not. Tis better to act than react. Tis better to have a battery of 105's than not. Tis better to see them afor they see you.
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#20
09-04-2015, 06:31 PM
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Road to Armageddon has gone LIVE on Kickstarter!!!
Head over to ... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...y-role-playing ... and check it out! Phil McGregor
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#21
09-20-2015, 09:44 AM
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<bumping it again>
Just to keep it in people's minds!
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#22
09-21-2015, 04:26 AM
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Scoring another $128 in 3 days shouldn't be impossible ...  Phil
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#26
10-03-2015, 10:22 PM
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I keep looking at it, but have no interest in print on demand (not even sure what that is). I just want a level that gets me what I need, and have not taken the time to read all of the page, and none of the levels look like it is that. I may sit down before it is done and figure out what I need to do to get it.
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#27
10-04-2015, 07:02 PM
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So for example, say you had a child and you wanted to give them book they particularly like but as a personalized edition, Print On Demand would allow you to have something like "This book belongs to -----" printed in the book and not just added as a sticky label or written inside.
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#28
10-09-2015, 05:43 PM
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Print on Demand means providing a digital file (usually some form of Adobe PDF) to an online Printer who is set up to handle short runs.
The great advantage is that it makes proofing a doddle. For example, I can (and did, and will do) send of my proof files to Lulu and their Australian printer, in Melbourne, prints them within 2-3 working days and gets them back to me in Sydney overnight. Cost (and Lulu is rather expensive) for ~160 pages, around US$5.50 per book and the same for postage. The real beauty, as far as I am concerned, is that it enables you to do all sorts of variants that would otherwise simply not be economical. For example, the three Core Rulebooks can be printed as individual Books (which is the basic intent) or I will be making two combined versions available ... a two Book Core Rules + Gear Book one and a three Book Core Rules + Gear Book + Modern Encounters one. Why? Well, all PoD printers charge a base fee for a single book plus a per page fee ... so, if you combine several 'books' into one you save on the additional base fees ... which is especially important for Hardcover versions where the base fee is relatively high. Forex, the Core Rules @ ~160 pages is, as I said, around US$5.50 to print through Lulu, of which about US$3 is the base per book fee. If you wanted the three core rulebooks, assuming they're all the same page count (they're not), the cost would be US$16.50 plus postage. If you combined all three books into one, the cost would be US$10.50 plus postage. That's for softcover. Hardcover is around US$6.50 per book fee, so three books would cost 3 x 9 = US$27 plus postage individually or US$14 as a three book combined edition. (That's the printing cost only, of course ... you have to pay the creator for access to the file!) This would be economically unfeasible for normal publishers, in all likelihood, but for PDFs and PoD? It is a relatively simple matter of me running up a combined Table of Contents and Index and adding all the chapters together with some new section artwork using the cover artwork from the one (or two) books that are being combined ... The quality of PoD has come a long way and is now virtually indistinguishable from traditional print methods as far as the print quality is concerned. The rule of thumb for traditional printing methods would mean similar printing costs for the small print runs that most RPG projects not done by Hasbro etc. work with (normally less than 1000 copies, often less than 500), but that has to be paid up front by the creator. With PoD the cost of printing is borne by the purchaser who (unless they're buying Premium Colour, which costs an arm and a leg) ends up paying around what they would have paid for the B&W edition anyway. Anyway, RtA is funded, just shy of 150%, and won't be available for general release (through RPGNow, DriveThruRPG and, possibly, Amazon) till around Christmas at the earliest (for the Core Rules). Phil McGregor
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