RPG companies and China issues

lordmalachdrim · October 08, 2019, 04:43:24 PM

So given all the crap going on regarding US companies bending the knee to china and that countries record on human rights I was wondering which RPG companies print their books in countries other then China. After all we always hear how it's impossible to print your books anywhere but China due to cost. I think it'll be good to see if there are any companies that are able to pull of that "impossible" feat.

USA
AEG (L5R 4th ed line was at any rate)
Black Blade Publishing
Griffon Lore Games
North Wind Adventures, LLC (Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea)
Palladium Books
Troll Lord Games

Finland
Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Lithuania
Free League

Anthony Pacheco · October 08, 2019, 05:46:23 PM

Anybody using Ingram, Amazon or DriveThru is printing local, either the US, UK, or Australia.

Just-in-Time or Print-on-Demand printing does not make sense to do in China (or anywhere else non-local) but offset printing does.

A more interesting question is how big of an impact will China tariffs have on, well, just about anybody not using Ingram or other POD printers.

Chainsaw · October 08, 2019, 06:24:41 PM

AS&SH prints all of its books and modules in the USA.

lordmalachdrim · October 08, 2019, 06:40:51 PM

Quote from: Anthony Pacheco;1108390Anybody using Ingram, Amazon or DriveThru is printing local, either the US, UK, or Australia.

Just-in-Time or Print-on-Demand printing does not make sense to do in China (or anywhere else non-local) but offset printing does.

A more interesting question is how big of an impact will China tariffs have on, well, just about anybody not using Ingram or other POD printers.

I know that PoD is done in locations that are closer to the destination point since that is the only way that model works. After all who would order a single book, wait printing time and then 6 odd months shipping.

I was looking for companies that do the more traditional offset printing that prints in countries outside of China. Partly to prove the common wisdom of it not being possible false and to build of list of companies that are safe from the instability of printing in a country that could deem a print run in appropriate and have the whole thing burned, as happened to a CoC product.

Blankman · October 08, 2019, 07:04:04 PM

Lamentations of the Flame Princess prints its stuff in Finland (Raggi lives in Finland so it is definitely local to the publisher). Free LEague prints at least some of their stuff (everything I could find a "printed in" for in my game shelf at least) in Lithuania. Again, very local, considering it is a Swedish company.

Both these companies tend to produce full color, hardback goodness as well. Is there a difference here in level of production? Is it a smaller price difference for premium products to be printed closer to home than there is for a black and white softcover?

lordmalachdrim · October 08, 2019, 07:39:55 PM

Troll Lords has both full color and black and white and both soft cover and hard cover.
Palladium is only soft cover black and white.
L5R 4th was full color hard covers.
ASSH is all black and white. Only core book is a hard cover.

Anthony Pacheco · October 08, 2019, 11:56:46 PM

Quote from: lordmalachdrim;1108404I know that PoD is done in locations that are closer to the destination point since that is the only way that model works. After all who would order a single book, wait printing time and then 6 odd months shipping.

I was looking for companies that do the more traditional offset printing that prints in countries outside of China. Partly to prove the common wisdom of it not being possible false and to build of list of companies that are safe from the instability of printing in a country that could deem a print run in appropriate and have the whole thing burned, as happened to a CoC product.

A good question.

The breakdown on USA Offset saving more money vs USA Pod is about 10,000 copies, so we (Griffon Lore Games) never looked at USA Offset. And Ingram is like a drug dealer. They give you discounts for large POD runs that are like offset print discounts.

So you can include little-old-us as a non-China printer. Our books are printed in Pennsylvania.

China tariffs are going to get worse before they get better.

Shawn Driscoll · October 09, 2019, 12:55:26 AM

The USA has killed nearly 45 million babies since the '70s. Why would you want a book printed from there?

EOTB · October 09, 2019, 01:57:48 AM

Because where morals aren't geographically pure on either side, one option has a dollar velocity that helps my nearer-neighbors.

S'mon · October 09, 2019, 04:10:15 AM

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1108457The USA has killed nearly 45 million babies since the '70s. Why would you want a book printed from there?

Has China killed more?

Spinachcat · October 09, 2019, 04:21:06 AM

Palladium gets a lot of shit online, but they've been printing locally in Michigan since the early 80s. They've always supported their local printers and printed soft covers to keep the prices down for their fans. Kudos to Kevin!

Psikerlord · October 09, 2019, 04:53:44 AM

As far as I can tell, the DTRPG PoD books are printed in the UK.

tenbones · October 09, 2019, 03:27:45 PM

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;1108457The USA has killed nearly 45 million babies since the '70s. Why would you want a book printed from there?

Significant Correction - Individual Americans that are into "abortion-as-birth-control because . It's not state-mandated. Just state-sanctioned by judicial fiat.

Otherwise...

Shawn Driscoll · October 09, 2019, 11:06:08 PM

Quote from: tenbones;1108563Significant Correction - Individual Americans that are into "abortion-as-birth-control because . It's not state-mandated. Just state-sanctioned by judicial fiat.

You can correct it better than that still.

Quote from: S'mon;1108483Has China killed more?

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

TheShadow · October 09, 2019, 11:35:51 PM

What would be the point of ordering some RPG books printed in the USA, on moral grounds, on your laptop or phone assembled in China, and then reading them on your Chinese-made furniture while sipping a cup of home-made espresso from a Chinese coffee machine?

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