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DoctorTristan posted:It's as if he saw his marginal costs dropping as the print runs grew larger and was determined not to make any money off that. Didn't he explicitly say this at one point? Something about not wanting the kickstarter to end up as a charity for him or something.
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Dec 10, 2013 15:34
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There's no charity quite like selling loving products.
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Dec 10, 2013 15:43
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Mystic Mongol posted:Dude wanted glossy, high quality printing on thick paper that was 100% recycled at a cost competitive with most graphic novel trade paperbacks. He cut corners nowhere except the price. You do the math. The man wants to put out a quality product because he loves his work. I can respect that.
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Dec 10, 2013 15:43
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"I make a niche product for a small but dedicated audience, so my profit margins are terrible because I can't get economy of scale working for me" is practically the Platonic ideal of when you need to go digital, and like it's already been said, maybe the fact that as soon as Burlew sold anything online he literally made a million dollars should have been a clue. Dude wants to keep on keeping on like it's 1980 and living off of sales to Android's Dungeons. Which, hey, I've got nothing against an Android's Dungeon. It's great fun to find one and go in and browse their completely disorganized shelves and see what weird poo poo you can find. But holy poo poo, it's not a business model any more. It barely was even at the best of times.
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Dec 10, 2013 18:39
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Mystic Mongol posted:There's no charity quite like selling loving products.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:42
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It's not that weird. It's about piracy, and Rich is smart enough to know you can't admit that piracy is anything other than a total benefit for content creators without getting crucified by the internet. I've been there.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:09
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Zetetica posted:It's not that weird. It's about piracy, and Rich is smart enough to know you can't admit that piracy is anything other than a total benefit for content creators without getting crucified by the internet. I've been there. This would be a better argument if scanners didn't exist.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:15
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Who What Now posted:This would be a better argument if scanners didn't exist. People are lazy and not many people are going to put out the effort to scan the books in, let alone at decent quality. There's also the issue of how much would he charge for a pdf. Would people pay the same price as a book? Of course not! So what is fair then? 20? 15? 10? 5? Now its just getting silly. Of course his argument assumes there are people who would buy the PDF instead of the hardcopy, a very large number of people, instead of people buying ONLY the PDF who would have never bought the books otherwise. Which I think is the more likely case, so that pretty much renders other arguments moot. One day he'll have to put out official pdf versions, there is a limit to how many times you can reprint books for late coming fans.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:34
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Who What Now posted:This would be a better argument if scanners didn't exist. Scanners, like all media pirates, have diminishing impact when you make it easier to get the product. Digital distribution does that, and lowers cost. There's a reason stuff like Hulu exists.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:37
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Gally posted:People are lazy and not many people are going to put out the effort to scan the books in, let alone at decent quality. It doesn't matter if "not many people" would do it. All it takes is one.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:39
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Small press publisher Kenzerco puts out some of the highest print and build quality books there are in the gaming world, at ridiculous prices, and they somehow still manage to put out PDFs as well.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:39
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Zetetica posted:It's not that weird. It's about piracy, and Rich is smart enough to know you can't admit that piracy is anything other than a total benefit for content creators without getting crucified by the internet. I've been there. But the pdf argument is that he could make significantly more money by supplying strips in digital form and also not be constantly scrabbling for cash to build inventory. That's a testable proposition but he has no interest in testing it. To my mind it comes back to him being stubborn, but he'd probably not be writing fantasy War and Peace in an obsolete pen and paper rpg format if he wasn't incredibly stubborn, so y'know.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:05
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He straight up said the reason he prints it is because he enjoys his work being in books, and wants to keep it in books, and doesn't really care about the finances as long as he can still eat and have a place to live.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:31
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jsoh posted:He straight up said the reason he prints it is because he enjoys his work being in books, and wants to keep it in books, and doesn't really care about the finances as long as he can still eat and have a place to live. Right. It's sort of crappy for people to be disparaging on Rich for not being money-hungry enough and making up reasons for why he doesn't do .pdfs.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:59
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Honestly, I also wouldn't doubt it that he's just had it up to his eyeteeth with people criticizing every little thing he does. Burlew's "lucked" into one of the most fractious, detail-oriented fan communities on the Internet, and in his position, I could very easily see myself having a similar "this is how I'm doing it, gently caress right off" attitude to the entire thing.
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Dec 10, 2013 23:13
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Who What Now posted:Right. It's sort of crappy for people to be disparaging on Rich for not being money-hungry enough and making up reasons for why he doesn't do .pdfs. Not really. I'm going to be paying like $NZ90 for his next collection, probably 80% of which he won't see. Being keen to get it some other way and make sure all the money goes to him isn't lovely. But, eh, there's not much to be said about it. Dude isn't gonna change his mind. Edit: I hope Rich is ok 
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Dec 11, 2013 00:15
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There's also the fact that more than half of his books are just compilations of strips that are already on his website, so to sell those in PDF form would be a bit redundant. He'd be setting up a whole new distribution service just to sell two books.
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Dec 11, 2013 03:36
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Heatwizard posted:There's also the fact that more than half of his books are just compilations of strips that are already on his website, so to sell those in PDF form would be a bit redundant. He'd be setting up a whole new distribution service just to sell two books. That I want very much 
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Dec 11, 2013 03:38
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CapnAndy posted:There are commentaries and bonus strips. Yeah, but you're saying that as someone who's already looking to spend money on him. Joe Average generally doesn't go out of his way for a handful of director's commentary. I mean, I'd love to be able to grab a pdf of Origin of PCs, but considering how long it takes Rich to draw six stick figures insulting each other, you know the errand would take ages anyway. :V
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Dec 11, 2013 03:45
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Heatwizard posted:He'd be setting up a whole new distribution service just to sell two books. He could sell through an existing service, like Comixology. It already has some collections of webcomics, like Grundurig(sp?) Court.
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Dec 11, 2013 03:54
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Tinyn posted:It already has some collections of webcomics, like Grundurig(sp?) Court. Close, it's Gunnerkrigg
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Dec 11, 2013 08:00
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Heatwizard posted:
The one you really want is Start of Darkness, trust me.
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Dec 11, 2013 08:31
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Eifert Posting posted:The one you really want is Start of Darkness, trust me. I already have that one.
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Dec 11, 2013 08:44
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I hope Rich... *refreshes GITP page* ...is ok.
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Dec 13, 2013 03:16
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Illuyankas posted:I hope Rich... *refreshes GITP page* ...is ok. I just did this a few minutes ago
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Dec 13, 2013 10:13
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greatn posted:Small press publisher Kenzerco puts out some of the highest print and build quality books there are in the gaming world, at ridiculous prices, and they somehow still manage to put out PDFs as well. I'd be very interested to see Knights of the Dinner Table vs. Everything Else Kenzerco Releases, though.
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Dec 13, 2013 11:50
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Wolfsheim posted:I just did this a few minutes ago You fools killed the magic in those words.
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Dec 13, 2013 14:22
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Tiler Kiwi posted:You fools killed the magic in those words. I hope "I hope Rich is okay" is okay.
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Dec 13, 2013 14:24
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Well, let's pass the time with some trivia. Is the last gate actually in the dwarven lands or just some nonspecific northern location? Also, how exactly is Durkon going to bring doom to his homeland? Yes, he's a vampire now, but the combined priesthood of the northern gods should be able to deal with one vampire. I mean, vampires are dangerous, but they are hardly civilization ending monsters, are they?
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Dec 13, 2013 15:37
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e X posted:Well, let's pass the time with some trivia. Is the last gate actually in the dwarven lands or just some nonspecific northern location? Depends on how peckish they get. It could be dwarf blood is too thinned out by all that booze and he has to go through dwarves like they were popcorn to slake his thirst. I could totally see this as an in-character excuse to wipe out (convert) the homeland that spurned you. As far as the priests go, he knows everything they can do. Remember how difficult it was for him to deal with Malak. Priests themselves have all sorts of things to disable the classic weaknesses vampires have. Not to mention sunlight is hard to get underground.
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Dec 13, 2013 16:24
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Kalas posted:Depends on how peckish they get. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know that they spurned him. He was "sent on a quest", but the letter that the replacement high priest sent to Durkula vis a vis Shinjo's messenger was lost before it got to him (RIP Miko). For all he knows, he's posthumously (postdwarfously?) returning to a country waiting to accept him with open arms (since they don't know about the vampirism). My question is - with Durkula's dramatic wardrobe change, does that mean regular passers-by will recognize him as a vampire? Malack hid it by being a lizardfolk, and I know that some vampires can get by with decent enough disguises I suppose. We see it because we've witnessed the whole thing. Would any of their past allies (Hinjo?) recognize the change at a glance? Detect Evil notwithstanding, I mean. Because he could conceivably walk into the dwarven homeland and attend dwarven highschool for generations, feeding on subterranean deer and sparkling in the moonlight while
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Dec 13, 2013 16:33
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e X posted:Also, how exactly is Durkon going to bring doom to his homeland? Yes, he's a vampire now, but the combined priesthood of the northern gods should be able to deal with one vampire. I mean, vampires are dangerous, but they are hardly civilization ending monsters, are they? Little known fact: dwarven vampires can animate armies of trees.
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Dec 13, 2013 16:36
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fool_of_sound posted:Little known fact: dwarven vampires can animate armies of trees. Order the trees to all climb up a mountain, raising the stakes too high.
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Dec 13, 2013 16:59
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The prophecy-cheating way would be that the battle over the last gate destroys the dwarven homeland. Durkon brought the doom by helping to destroy the other gates. More natural, I think, is that he'll learn the truth (or some of the truth) about being sent away and his new personality will dictate bloody revenge on the priesthood.
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Dec 13, 2013 17:05
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Illuyankas posted:Order the trees to all climb up a mountain, raising the stakes too high. .... Haaaaaaaaaahahahahaha
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Dec 13, 2013 17:10
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Mniot posted:The prophecy-cheating way would be that the battle over the last gate destroys the dwarven homeland. Durkon brought the doom by helping to destroy the other gates. Or he could potentially come to the decision that facing whatever would ensue from breaking all five would be preferable to the guaranteed destruction Xykon and Redcloak would use it for, and personally destroys it.
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Dec 13, 2013 17:17
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Or maybe he just casts doom, which surprisingly had never been cast there.
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Dec 13, 2013 17:22
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greatn posted:Or maybe he just casts doom, which surprisingly had never been cast there. That would be amazing. I don't know how Rich can resist just constantly trolling his readers with things like that.
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Dec 13, 2013 17:27
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Here's a take: The prophecy by the High Priest of Odin turns out to be metaphorical. As I recall, the exact wording was "when he next returns home, he will bring death and destruction to us all." Death and Destruction are cleric domains that one would expect the northern goddess Hel to have. Given the way she's shown up as a nemesis for Thor in the comic, I suspect that Durkon's about to find out that Thor will reject his worship...but that Hel will take it, making him her first dwarven cleric, and possibly with a mandate to recruit more worshipers for her. It could be that rather than sparking a dwarven genocide, what Durkula's actually going to do is bring worship of Hel to the people...to give the gift of Death and Destruction spells to the dwarven people! EDIT: Of course it's also possible that I'm not remembering it correctly, and since I can't find my copy of "On the Origin of PCs" it's hard to check right now. 
jng2058 fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Dec 13, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2013 17:29
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jng2058 posted:EDIT: Of course it's also possible that I'm not remembering it correctly, and since I can't find my copy of "On the Origin of PCs" it's hard to check right now.
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Dec 13, 2013 18:11
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