We need the supplements edited into Hardbacks

[Astromancer]

I'm not saying we need to ditch the Pdfs. I saying that the Dungeon Fantasy supplements to date should be edited into one or more Hardback books so that people could have easier referencing of the material. It would also promote the game with new audiences.

Reactions?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

The question of redoing the DFRPG as a single volume was addressed around here somewhere within the past few months. The reaction has been that it takes on a significant editorial and production cost (redoing the layouts and repointing every page reference, TOC, and index), puts some useful content in limbo (the hand back-of-the-books reference charts), and breaks compatibility with the published material (internal references plus the companions) in order to put things into a single volume, and it's not even remotely clear that those costs would be offset by new sales, to say nothing of playability issues arising from dueling page references.

Those are the business reasons. For my part, I don't even see how a single volume makes things necessarily easier. Maybe for one person, but at the table in actual play, the several volumes of the DFRPG box set can be shared and used simultaneously. For example, I can be looking up stuff in Exploits about jumping over a pit while somebody else can be checking up on the effects of a spell. That's ease of use I appreciate from seeing it in action.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I don't even see how a single volume makes things necessarily easier. Maybe for one person, but at the table in actual play, the several volumes of the DFRPG box set can be shared and used simultaneously. For example, I can be looking up stuff in Exploits about jumping over a pit while somebody else can be checking up on the effects of a spell. That's ease of use I appreciate from seeing it in action.

For what it's worth, when I ran Hall of Judgment at GameHole Con, I found the same thing. The spells book went back and forth between the casters, the Exploits book stayed with me mostly, as did Monsters. Having them smaller like that is very handy.

[ericbsmith]

Unlikely. What might be interesting is if they offer a special edition hardback of the 5-volume set, or at least four of the five volumes (the adventure is so small it probably doesn't need to be in hardback). Making a book available in softcover and hardback is only trivially more expensive - essentially only adding the cost of creating and then printing the hardback cover itself, which is not that great of a cost sink compared to the editorial costs of re-laying out all five volumes, as Turhan's Bey mentioned. Keeping them all in box format may require redoing the box, which adds more cost, but the box has enough extra room that may not be necessary.

A hardcover special edition of the four main books has one other advantage: It gives a reason for serious fans to buy the product all over again.

[bert]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

I'm not saying we need to ditch the Pdfs. I saying that the Dungeon Fantasy supplements to date should be edited into one or more Hardback books so that people could have easier referencing of the material. It would also promote the game with new audiences.

Reactions?

Are you talking about publishing the GURPS DF supplements as a hardback or combining the contents of the DFRPG into a hardback? My initial interpretation was the former but the earlier replies in the thread seem to go with option 2.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by bert

Are you talking about publishing the GURPS DF supplements as a hardback or combining the contents of the DFRPG into a hardback? My initial interpretation was the former but the earlier replies in the thread seem to go with option 2.

This is the DFRPG forum, so I interpreted the question as being about the DFRPG. That said, the exact same objections apply to the GURPS DF series: significant editorial costs and introducing incompatibilities for questionable benefit.

[Tom H.]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

The question of redoing the DFRPG as a single volume was addressed around here somewhere within the past few months. The reaction has been that it takes on a significant editorial and production cost (redoing the layouts and repointing every page reference, TOC, and index) . . .

Yes, I recall the thread that discussed reprinting the DFRPG as a volume without the box and contents.

While I don't have a stake in advocating for this, it did occur to me that some of the reservations can be solved.

For example, regarding the page references, you could still keep the original numbers on the page either prefixed with a volume number or with an additional comprehensive collection page number.

I've realized that besides financial and labor constraints, implementing GURPS/DF suggestions really comes down to "where there is a will there is a way," and the will is usually already allocated. And I guess that is okay because a choice has to be made.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

For what it's worth, when I ran Hall of Judgment at GameHole Con, I found the same thing. The spells book went back and forth between the casters, the Exploits book stayed with me mostly, as did Monsters. Having them smaller like that is very handy.

You could even argue they could be sold separately (as PDFs) to enable players to not have to spend $ to get an adventure or a monsters book they dont need.

I dont see that happening though.

[bert]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

This is the DFRPG forum, so I interpreted the question as being about the DFRPG. That said, the exact same objections apply to the GURPS DF series: significant editorial costs and introducing incompatibilities for questionable benefit.

I agree that the same objections would be valid- however I got a bit unsure what OP meant.

[Pragmatic]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

For example, regarding the page references, you could still keep the original numbers on the page either prefixed with a volume number or with an additional comprehensive collection page number.

Colorize the edge of the pages, so people can quickly go to the right section, maybe?