Quote from: The_Shadow;836518It's not brain surgery, and it's the norm on DriveThru, in fact I would say 95% of publishers on that site use the feature.

I thought that was automatic on DriveThru? So the previews is something that the publisher sets up themselves?

Quote from: Omega;836522I thought that was automatic on DriveThru? So the previews is something that the publisher sets up themselves?

Yes.

Quote from: Omega;836522I thought that was automatic on DriveThru? So the previews is something that the publisher sets up themselves?

It's automatic, but you (the publisher, that is) can disable it or specify different page ranges.

The default setting is pages 3-9 for the quick preview, and 2-7 for the sample download.

Quote from: Omega;836522I thought that was automatic on DriveThru? So the previews is something that the publisher sets up themselves?

I'm pretty sure it's a matter of checking a couple of boxes on the publisher interface on OneBookShelf.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;836521What do you think of the on-going trend now to offer games with a "pay what you want" for them? Otherwise known as given away the core rules for an RPG and then charging for the setting and splat books.

PWYW seems to be a good idea for the smaller publishers. I guess it allows you to put out stuff that normally would be free, and those who want to can throw a few coins in the jar. I'd be interested to see the metrics of how it works out in practice.

I have no problem with paying $10-$20 for a pdf though. Design Mechanism charge $25 for RQ6, and why the hell not? It's a premium quality product, in terms of game quality if not expensive art. And if you don't want to pay, there's also a cut down but fully playable version.

There are probably too many people willing to put out their labors of love for next to nothing, so a few great games get put into the same bucket as the myriad products that are free because no-one would download them otherwise.

Then there's Monte Cook making his name (or remaking it) by using a big art budget to dress up what might otherwise be middling-exciting games. People buy in to the appearance of quality, even if they have to drop more dollars. It's a good strategy.

But to get back to the spirit of this thread: Hero Games' current active-duty staff (this doesn't include the heroic Steve Long) suck. Ah. Feels better.

Quote from: Matt;836414How is anything "ruined" for you or me? Don't like it, don't buy it.  Don't imagine you have the right to tell someone else how to run his business simply because it's not to your taste. That's a big nerd pastime right there.

Not just a big nerd pastime.  This is default human nature in general.  (ie. Monday morning quarterback, etc ....).

In practice, it takes a lot of discipline to recognize this type of behavior in one's own self and keeping one's mouth shut.

Quote from: The_Shadow;836536Then there's Monte Cook making his name (or remaking it) by using a big art budget to dress up what might otherwise be middling-exciting games. People buy in to the appearance of quality, even if they have to drop more dollars. It's a good strategy.

Sounds like how the world functions in general.  


The real world equivalent of overusing CHA, with INT and/or WIS being "average" or dump stats.

Quote from: ggroy;836549Not just a big nerd pastime.  This is default human nature in general.  (ie. Monday morning quarterback, etc ....).

In practice, it takes a lot of discipline to recognize this type of behavior in one's own self and keeping one's mouth shut.

Except that if you do not speak up about bad business practices then those bad business practices will likely continue or get worse. And businesses are accountable for their actions and can be brought to task for it.

But yeah sure. Lets no one talk about how so-n-so company robbed customers or treated customers or workers like dirt. Its THEIR business and they can run it how they want. Who are we to tell them not to grind up a worker in a machine for an hour? Nope. Not us. Its THEIR business and they can run it how they want.

Quote from: ggroy;836549In practice, it takes a lot of discipline to recognize this type of behavior in one's own self and keeping one's mouth shut.

So if you're a regular in my restaurant and I decide to start urinating in your pudding you would just quietly stop coming there to eat... not raise a ruckus, not warn your friends? Let them decide for themselves if they like piss in their pudding?

The_Shadow, I don't think you're being quite fair regarding Hero Games' use of the Preview option. A lot of the products do have previews, and for those that don't, it appears to be a technical matter--the ones I see that are lacking them are the ones being sold in ZIP format. (And a lot of those had previews on the Hero Games site that are now defunct links, alas.) Mostly that's the older products; the one recent exception is Fantasy Hero Complete, which bundles a lot of extras into the ZIP file.

   Now, that's probably a bad marketing decision, but with the company down to 1-3 people, I can see why updating the electronic format of their older products isn't a top priority.

Quote from: The_Shadow;836536Then there's Monte Cook making his name (or remaking it) by using a big art budget to dress up what might otherwise be middling-exciting games. People buy in to the appearance of quality, even if they have to drop more dollars. It's a good strategy.

Not arguing the point (shiny does sell and I think this is what, say, Chaosium should be doing with CoC; I own the French version of CoC and it's a thing of beauty). But why do you feel Monte's games are "middling"?

Quote from: The Butcher;836408The truth of the matter is: Palladium can't edit a book worth shit and recycles its own content like it's going out of style. Nothing ever gets playtested, the power creep is a joke and several books can't even offer a GM a decent

I see what you did there



...ending?

Quote from: Ravenswing;836502Surprised to hear you say that about Banks.  I was an early and loud critic of the Serenity RPG (for a bunch of reasons), and on more than one forum Banks handled my oft-caustic criticisms with grace and class.

What issues did you have with the Serenity RPG?  I'm not saying the game didn't have issues, it certainly had a lot, but I'm just curious as to what you saw.

Quote from: AaronBrown99;836596I see what you did there



...ending?

Oops. Serves me right for posting drunk. I stand by my assessment, though. In vino veritas.

And Disney, Jobs, Edison, Bell, and Carnegie were all complete asses.  Welcome to the real world.

Quote from: Old One Eye;836677And Disney, Jobs, Edison, Bell, and Carnegie were all complete asses.  Welcome to the real world.

One would be hard pressed to find a significant historical figure who wasn't a bastard in some way. Ghandi was a wife beater. Martin Luther King cheated on his. Winston Churchill was a racist, sexist pig. JFK was a massive tool. CSLewis was one of the worste "born again" Christian apologists on the planet. Charles Dickens was a massive dick to his wife. Lovecraft buttered his toast on the wrong side. Most of the Founding Fathers were slavers, and in some cases, rapists. Abraham Lincoln didnt actually give that much of a crap about the slaves.

Christopher Lee, OTOH, was a fucking badass. I'm still reeling from that death.