Quote from: Psikerlord;1108487As far as I can tell, the DTRPG PoD books are printed in the UK.

South Carolina is where Lightning Source is. But DTRPG probably farms out some work to the UK POD companies as well.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1108683The point is, what country should we be buying our printed books from?

1) I'd say one where you don't have to worry about the government burning a print run because it disagrees with the content - https://www.enworld.org/threads/chinese-government-burns-cthulhu-rpg-print-run.666211/
2) A country that is a little more trust worthy in the contents/quality/materials in a product - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8944028/One-third-of-Chinese-toys-contain-heavy-metals.html
 - https://time.com/107922/china-pet-food-contamination-recall-video/
3) not to mention actively throwing citizens in concentration camps and engaging in forced sterilization -https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2019/05/09/uighur-chinese-human-rights-violations-concentration-camps-column/1143252001/
4) Hong Kong
5) Excessive long lag times between printing and product arriving. The cost to a small company to continue operations while waiting months for a product that can be sold is pretty high. Not to mention the cost if there are delays due to international issues or  natural disasters anywhere along the way.
6) Instability of costs in the face of US Tariffs.

I'm not advocating for a company to print in one specific country over another. They all have to make their own choices. All I'm saying is 1) China is a horrible place that we really shouldn't be supporting as much as we are and 2) contrary to popular opinion you do not HAVE to print in China.

I think that's enough sleep addled rambling for now.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1108683You can correct it better than that still.


The point is, what country should we be buying our printed books from?

Yep. And it was last night with great irritation, after the lastest Blizzard debacle that I dropped out of my progression raiding guild in shut down my account. I've been with Blizzard for *decades*. I have friends that work there, my wife worked there, my kids grew up eating and breathing Blizzard... but this China-thing turned into the bridge too far for me. We all cut our subs last night and I had to let my guild know. Real bummer.

But I've been voting with my dollars for a long time... no chance in me stopping now.

You're not alone TenBones; my FB has been blowing up with people letting friends and family know they have cancelled their Blizzard subscriptions. I don't know who made this decision, but it's lining up with "Star Trek will never be a success..."

This is absolutely an on-topic thread for this forum, so no problem there. But just remember: don't start posting about the larger political subject of China. Keep it to the subject of publishing RPGs in China vs other countries.

I backed the SJGames pocket box Kickstarter, getting everything. I have a genuine fear the ship with all the boxes will just never arrive, and the Chinese government says "so sorry, you no get games." Here's a very real possibility existing contracts might not be fulfilled if China decides to ramp up the trade war. They'd be stupid to destroy their own economy like that, but they're playing the long game and probably figure they can recover before another superpower rises to fill the gap.

Anyway, I'm glad POD exists and I also have a color laser printer...

RPGs who print in the local nation should be loud and proud about their support.

If you're interested in small business & postal issues, there's been a shakeup with the International Postal Union which oversees global postage issues.

https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/10/universal-postal-union-compromise.html
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/upu-postal-rate-change/564615/

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1108683The point is, what country should we be buying our printed books from?

Everyone should try to support their LOCAL economy. Of course, that's not always possible and some items must be imported, but on a day to day basis, when you can buy from a local business for the same quality, it's worth the money.

Why? It's YOUR community. What you spend locally has a better chance of circling back locally.

Quote from: The_Shadow;1108686I mean, yes, you could attempt to totally divest yourself of all the above Chinese products, but how many are actually willing to follow through?

It takes effort to be conscious of how you vote with your dollars.

I feel that effort is worth my time and my money.

Quote from: tenbones;1108719Yep. And it was last night with great irritation, after the lastest Blizzard debacle that I dropped out of my progression raiding guild in shut down my account.

Tenbones, please start an thread in Pundy's forum about the Blizzard debacle.

Quote from: Chainsaw;1108400AS&SH prints all of its books and modules in the USA.

Ditto with Black Blade:  we've used Fidlar-Doubleday and TPS, as well as our local printer in Wichita for our graph/hex paper.

Allan.

Is this the Blizzard thing? https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/8/20905181/blizzard-hearthstone-player-ban-marco-rubio-ron-wyden-china-hong-kong-protests-blitzchung

Quote from: S'mon;1108865Is this the Blizzard thing? https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/8/20905181/blizzard-hearthstone-player-ban-marco-rubio-ron-wyden-china-hong-kong-protests-blitzchung

Inspired by it but regarding TTRPGs. I think a thread was made in pundies forum.

I've had arguements with people many times about the wisdom of printing in China and I've always been told it's impossible. I've tried pointing out other companies that were able to do it (for example back when AEG was still publishing L5R 4th ed), and was told (by the guys at Kenzer Co) that AEG was lying about it.

The recent stuff regarding Blizzard, Hong Kong, the NBA, South Park, and incoming Tariffs just brought it all back to the fore front of things I'm thinking about in regards to all these new guys getting into producing RPGs thanks to kickstarter. I thought hey with everything going on, if we can show them that it is possible to print outside of China then maybe, just maybe we can help break through to people that there are other options.

Plus I like supporting companies that put out good material and who support industries closer to home.

And wouldn't you know...Trump is signing a new trade deal. Market is way up this week, everything might be okay.