Yes, the Diaspora RPG, the one all the Swine are going around harping as magnificent and so much better than the far more successful Starblazer Adventures, apparently has no PDF version.  The official reason claimed is that they wanted to wait and release a PDF later. Unofficially (I think) it's been expressed that the authors are design "purists" who don't want the perfection of their book imported to the imperfect layout-format of a PDF.

So, without bothering to actually make a fucking poll, what do you think is the reason:
1. They're pretentious swine, trying to be pretentious?
2. Its an intentional, and incredibly stupid, business move, ie. they're retards?
3. They're scared of "the filesharing", like that's actually going to make any fucking difference in their sales! ie. they're twats.

As you can see, the options are wide open.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;3480603. They're scared of "the filesharing", like that's actually going to make any fucking difference in their sales! ie. they're twats.

Only rpg companies which probably really give a damn about piracy of their books and have the resources to do anything about it, would be WotC and White Wolf.  No idea if Siembieda has any funds left these days for legal fees.

Who the hell is going to give a damn about a pirated copy of an obscure game?

Halfjack post here, why don't you just ask him ?

Regards,
David R

You are incorrect about both our motivations and our intentions. As we've posted both (fairly clearly I think), you must not have read them. Here it is again:

We're not interested in selling the "save as" from InDesign for our book, because we built it as a stepping stone in making a book. It's not designed for sale and therefore we will not sell it.

We are interested in electronic formats and will be discussing how and when to do that in 2010 when we have all four stakeholders in the same city. Whatever we decide to release, it will not be the "save as" from InDesign, the source file intended for our printer. It will be something intended for electronic reading.

We are not interested in DRM and don't give a hoot about piracy.

It's likely our electronic release (if we unanimously elect to have an electronic release) will be in several formats simultaneously. There will be a mechanism by which they can all be correlated with book contents easily so that people with only one format can communicate references to the content with each other.

Each component of the 2010 release will have a unique ISBN and will therefore be available through Library and Archives Canada.

We will continue to make available the complete SRD (as we publish under the OGL and have a loose interpretation of our protected content) which is available at our web site in HTML format. I understand some fans have also made a PDF of it available. We will also continue to make available the player handout material -- a complete skill list, equipment list, and all of the play sequences for each of the four mini-games.

Uh huh, so the answer would be "number 2"; as in, you got a print version ready for release before you got a PDF version ready? Do you think this is going to increase print sales? Do you think it'll increase PDF sales?

RPGPundit

The best bit about this post is that "all the Swine" means "Fred Hicks," and Fred's on record expressing opinions about the lack of PDF similar to (although less ANGRY) than Pundit's.

Also fred hicks has also gone on record as saying he dosent prefer one over the other in his blog (he actualy worked on star blazers) it was just taken out of context and warped by the usual crowd of idiots on the big purple and storygames forums.

Who says a book has to have a PDF?

Look, let me translate, because apparently I can understand Halfjack's strange but beautiful moon-language and you can't: Halfjack is really concerned that the electronic distribution suit the medium, just as the book was designed to suit the print medium. Thus he doesn't want just a dump of the print version, as that doesn't suit the electronic medium. He wants to do the electronic release right. A pdf is one possible format for the e-release, but he is thinking about multiple electronic formats for different display types. They haven't made a decision yet, but intend to do so in the new year when they can all get together face to face.

None of your three possibilities fit, Pundit. It is an aesthetic decision.

-clash

I got something a bit different from you, Clash. Not so much that there's any doubt about a PDF (although there could be) as that the PDF that would get by doing a "save as" wouldn't necessarily be a good PDF (in terms of layout, bookmarking, etc.) for use on a computer or handheld device. For example multiple columns looks okay in a printed book, but they're awful on an iPod and not very good on a laptop, either.

Whether HJ et. al. should have delayed the print version in order to have a simultaneous PDF release is an interesting question. (And I mean "should" mainly in the business sense, i.e., profits, although there may be other goals in play as well such as getting a lot of people playing the game.)

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;348136I got something a bit different from you, Clash. Not so much that there's any doubt about a PDF (although there could be) as that the PDF that would get by doing a "save as" wouldn't necessarily be a good PDF (in terms of layout, bookmarking, etc.) for use on a computer or handheld device. For example multiple columns looks okay in a printed book, but they're awful on an iPod and not very good on a laptop, either.

I don't know whether there is any doubt of a PDF either. I was just trying to phrase it so that both possibilities were covered.

I have personally stopped designing two-column layouts for this reason. PDFs are the bulk of my sales, and two-column portrait is the worst thing to read on a screen. Now I use 2/3 text 1/3 heading layout, which is "ugly" but extremely readable in both print and pdf.

QuoteWhether HJ et. al. should have delayed the print version in order to have a simultaneous PDF release is an interesting question. (And I mean "should" mainly in the business sense, i.e., profits, although there may be other goals in play as well such as getting a lot of people playing the game.)

From other statements he has made elsewhere, I think the popularity of Diaspora took them a bit by surprise, though I may be wrong.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;348144I don't know whether there is any doubt of a PDF either. I was just trying to phrase it so that both possibilities were covered.

I have personally stopped designing two-column layouts for this reason. PDFs are the bulk of my sales, and two-column portrait is the worst thing to read on a screen. Now I use 2/3 text 1/3 heading layout, which is "ugly" but extremely readable in both print and pdf.

But its no-win because I'm apparently the only person that likes your layout...talk about lose-lose...=)

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;348147But its no-win because I'm apparently the only person that likes your layout...talk about lose-lose...=)

Nah! I like it too, so that's two wins right there!

-clash

I for one find it refreshing that for once a publisher is actually thinking about this things, instead of doing the very same "save as" approach everyone else already does.

PDFs suck, and that's partly because most of them are made in a horrible fashion.