Do we know how much of the errata/typos being found now in SR5O will be in the actual 1st print run? When will the 2nd print run be? And lastly will the PDF be updated with errata as it's found and put into print?

Trying to decide if I should preorder or wait for a cleaner version.

First print run? Sadly, none of it; it was already at the printer as this round o' stuff began to surface.

Second print run? No idea; gotta sell out of the first run before we can do that. Depending on how quickly that happens, errata should be in there, but if it winds up happening too fast, it might not be until the third run. I don't see that happening, personally, but I've been wrong before.

The initial for-sale PDF probably won't have the fixes in them; I don't know that there's enough time. But the fixes are supposed to go in and the PDF updated as things progress. There have been a LOT of talks, some with me and some without, about this.

To judge by previous releases? The errata will be in Pegasus' German-language printings. Catalyst will happily ignore its existence until SR6, but print items in later splatbooks that only work if the errata are actually in play.

This is a personal bugaboo of mine, and I'm working really hard to correct this.

I don't mean to sound overly critical, but really?

One of the things that surfaced was a block of text that was outright removed from the game because it was a playtested possibility but was ultimately decided not to be used in favor of another option (which was also in the material).

I've been trying to give CGL some benefit of the doubt on stuff like this, but if these errors are showing up in the printed version then I am not going to buy anything they put out. None of it. I wrote letters to them about the issues in War! (including one to Topps) and it's starting to look like they haven't changed.

This is the CORE BOOK for a NEW EDITION. You can afford a few extra months of editing to make sure issues are fixed. And for almost free. All they had to do was not-print it while they put out the preview PDFs, and take feedback from us: ten thousand eyes eager to dissect, discuss, and critique.

Its not that easy. Printing books have tight schedule ( on part of the printer company), you get "slots". Miss the slot, good luck getting a new one in the next time. And CGL have to pay bills as well.

Sometimes even to Freelancers.

SYL

Thank you, and I sincerely wish you luck.

Well the sad fact is that there's little reason to buy the non errated book.

Also im pretty damm sure that the no errata for SR4 books isn't your fault.

Ditto.

Me too, Patrick (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

HougH!
Medicineman

Then playtest sooner, get the preview out sooner, hire more editors, get a later slot, or find another printer. Seriously, it's worth the investment.

If it sells out in the current form, someone may decide it isn't worth the investment.

"Selling out" is hardly a measure of success. If the print run is only 1000, doing that would be easy. Even if 50% of the fanbase is utterly disgusted and doesn't even attempt to buy a copy.

Then again...


_{Edit for more representative image}

I think in this day and age it would be better to released the pdf, and set up a print run for 3 months later, then you have 3 months to get errata fixed and you can still update the pdf after FLGS get their copies. Meanwhile people can be complaining about all the mistakes in the pdf (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hence why I referenced the previews.

Because those were PDFs, not intended to be permanent, and freely available to everyone.

And chock full of errors that are now going to be printed.

Though that is a very good point, it can be frustrating for those who do NOT want the book in PDF form and having to wait months on end for the hardcopy.

It was what put me off SR4 a few times as the delay between PDF and print version here in the UK was atrocious sometimes. Especially as it didn't always seem like there had been any fixing anyway.

Eventually I did just make the jump to PDF, but I do still like a proper book as printing off pages just is not the same.

Again why I mentioned the preview PDFs...

I just have trouble imagining who would buy the book despite the glaring errors. If not for the fact that the second run of printing won't happen until the first run is sold out, I can't picture people buying a book they know is badly flawed instead of just waiting for the fixed version.

I personally won't be buying the book in anything other than an updatable PDF format until it's actually been fixed sufficiently to justify the purchase. I may not even bother switching over to SR5 for a number of months, or maybe even a year or two, if at all, unless I see measureable improvements in the quality of the work. I can always keep playing SR4 with my group, and even bring in new ideas from SR5 as house rules.

~Umi

Sadly the masses don't have any idea about errors.

And then I remember the second printing with errata of SR4.

Oh.

Right.

Your Friendly Local Gaming Store will be the ones who get burned, if anyone, as they'll have hard copies of SR5 sitting around... and if the general populace notices the errors before buying, those copies are just going to gather dust until they go on ultra-clearance someday or some poor schmuck who doesn't know better buys them.

Neither is very convincing towards getting people to stock the game.

Thanks for the info. Makes the PDF version seem a better choice. Shame that the errors already found are not going to make it into the print run.

Looks like I'll have to use white out and post it notes for use at the table.

There's been a few RPG companies now that have put out low-cost or free 'beta' versions of their rules well before the offical finalized print run.

I have to imagine this results in a LOT more polish for the books involved.


-k

I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you

Patrick's busting his hump to get a document compiled and okayed by TPTB. Literally from the day we breathed a (very brief) sigh of relief and went "Whew, it's done!" and a final draft was sent off to the printers, we started working on getting this errata together.

I know it's not in the same ballpark as, well, not needing the errata in the first place -- but if nothing else, please believe me when I say that we, the writers, aren't taking the need for errata lightly. We want the end product to be awesome, not just playable, and guys like Patrick are how it's gonna get there.