 Scan this, chummers..., We're about to get some paydata! |
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  Feb 3 2005, 08:03 AM
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#1
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 293 Joined: 27-January 03 From: Kentucky, USA Member No.: 3,958  |
According to this post on RPG.net, FanPro will be offering Shadowrun supplements in PDF format beginning this Friday. The files will be sold through DriveThruRPG and Battlecorps.
8) |
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Feb 3 2005, 08:24 AM
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#2
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Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
K00l! I hope all the file sizes are small, and that the books have the latest corrections, and are fully text-searchable, and that they have handy bookmarks for navigation!~!~!@#
I hope they're inexpensive, too, and don't have any DRM~!~! What? ;-) |
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Feb 3 2005, 08:42 AM
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#3
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
:rollin:
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Feb 3 2005, 09:13 AM
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#4
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Adam: All joking aside (for now anyway), can you give us a clue about the general price range?
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Feb 3 2005, 09:32 AM
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#5
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Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
Stuff is still subject to change, and I actually don't have finalized prices for the Shadowrun books yet, but the general trend is that FASA titles will be half cover price, or less. FanPro titles will be roughly 60-75% of cover price, depending on whether they're still in print or not.
Those aren't absolutes, though ... while we want to offer stuff at a fair price, we don't want to leave money on the table -- and unlike a lot of publishers, we simply didn't scan the books and say "That's good enough." When possible we're building the books from the original layout files, or we're scanning and OCRing them. Then we're taking the time to add in corrections and bookmarks [it amazes me that virtually no mainsteam publishers bother to do that with their digital offerings...] So, in short, we've put work above and beyond just making the books available in digital form, and so we're not willing to shortchange ourselves. |
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Feb 3 2005, 09:50 AM
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#6
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Sounds reasonable. More than I was hoping for with the FASA stuff, but understandable all the same. Thanks for the info.
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Feb 3 2005, 11:50 AM
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#7
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,001 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Michigan Member No.: 1,514 |
Gee what sucker did they get to do this......Oh.... :oops:
Yup, definitely getting a drink of your choice at Gen Con. |
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Feb 3 2005, 12:15 PM
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#8
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Target Group: Members Posts: 25 Joined: 24-January 05 Member No.: 7,012 |
Hey! 70% of the cover price isn´t reasonable! We have to able to print the book if we want and still pay less than the original price, after all it will be a black and write printing in plain paper...
Anyway this is a great initiative! For guys like myself who live in Brasil - MG, the only option is buying through Amazon and pay additional $11 per shipment and $7 per book and wait 10 days. I would love to simply download a file. |
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Feb 3 2005, 12:26 PM
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#9
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Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
For in print FanPro books, it will almost always be cheaper to buy the print book, as compared to buying the ebook, then printing out a full copy of it. The upside: You don't have to print out the entire ebook, just the material you want, and it's fully text-searchable, for quick reference.
The print books and the ebooks are two different products with two different feature-sets. Additionally, drastically undercutting game stores on price for in-print products [especially "core" products] is frowned upon within the industry. Ebook sales supplement FanPro's print products, but FanPro's focus is still on providing new print books, and they need the support of game stores, distributors, and fans for that. |
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Feb 3 2005, 01:09 PM
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#10
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
Then simply do not make the non-OOP books available online. But other company/s that are putting their e-books are doing it free (I think).
Having the book searchable and able to print out what you want is a minor convenience compared with the hefty prices we are buying the e-books for. Yes, it is a feature and a very attractive feature. But is anyone going to shell out more than half the price to buy an e-book? I know it is intellectual property and all that but are people willing to buy virtual books with hard cash? |
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Feb 3 2005, 01:16 PM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 401 Joined: 7-June 02 From: Living with the straw sheep. Member No.: 2,850 |
To make a reference to The Other Game: ask Monte Cook.
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Feb 3 2005, 01:29 PM
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#12
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Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
If you'll scout around DriveThruRPG.com for a bit, I think you'll see that compared to many publishers, our pricing scheme is quite attractive. Remember that FASA also had exceptionally low cover prices. Take Renraku Arcology: Shutdown for an example, which I just finished touching up. It has a cover price of $15, so it's probably going to be priced at $7 or $8 as an ebook.
Most companies on DriveThru temporarily [usually for a week] make a product available for free. A few companies [including Guardians Of Order, my ex-employer] make their core books available for free on a more permanent basis. Typically this is only done with "entry level" core books, or older editions, such as when Atlas Games put Ars Magica 4th Edition online as a free download, while announcing that they were working on 5th Edition at the same time. People are willing to buy virtual books with real cash, and I think we are putting forward a superior offering in terms of quality and pricing. Obviously, make the purchasing decision that's best for you, even if that means not purchasing. This is just another avenue for people to get FanPro products. |
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Feb 3 2005, 01:43 PM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 230 Joined: 3-December 04 Member No.: 6,863 |
I know me, I will buy both. I am a slave that way. The PDF will be great to have on disk and easy to carry, but you still can't beat a good book in hand durring game play.
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Feb 3 2005, 01:50 PM
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#14
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Chicago Survivor Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 5,079 Joined: 28-January 04 From: Canton, GA Member No.: 6,033 |
And, given the work going into the production quality of the digital version, I can see that being worth a little extra.
Any possibility on a package deal? Say we buy the whole schebang in digital format, do we get an additional 10% off the final price. That sort of thing? Also, what about updates and futre errta, etc. Will we be able to get updated versions as they become available (for free, provided we own a legal digital version)? |
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Feb 3 2005, 01:53 PM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 230 Joined: 3-December 04 Member No.: 6,863 |
Both are good questoins. But updating the erra is a darn good one. If you have Adobe Acrobat they can just submit you a new page and you insert it. But most don't so i am curious on how this will be done. |
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Feb 3 2005, 02:07 PM
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#16
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,453 Joined: 17-September 04 From: St. Paul Member No.: 6,675 |
This sounds like a heck of a deal to me, even if I have to print the books myself. I, however, do have the ability to print 2-sided and bind books at work for a very nominal fee. (lucky me) :)
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Feb 3 2005, 02:22 PM
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#17
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Man In The Machine Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,264 Joined: 26-February 02 From: I-495 S Member No.: 1,105 |
Yes, drinks for Adam in Indy this year.
I can finally have legal PDFs of the core books... now just need a faster laptop... |
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Feb 3 2005, 02:43 PM
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#18
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Beetle Eater Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 4,797 Joined: 3-June 02 From: Oblivion City Member No.: 2,826 |
What about mail-in rebates for e'books inside new printed books? Such as Shadows of Latin America having a card saving x$ on an addition DriveThrough Shadowrun purchase?
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Feb 3 2005, 02:46 PM
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#19
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Prime Runner Group: Retired Admins Posts: 3,929 Joined: 26-February 02 From: .ca Member No.: 51 |
Hey folks,
Some good questions. We'll try to get you answers when we can, but, uh, I'm a bit busy finishing books right now. ;-) |
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Feb 3 2005, 03:00 PM
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#20
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Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760 |
Ack!! Ferret-shock!!
Are there going to be any copy protections on these books (I'd love to burn them on CD so I can have a copy at home and a copy at work, but I don't want them popping up all over kazaa)? I'm very interested in the bundles too. OH MAN! That's going to be so awesome. And I get SOTA64 today too!! I think it must be my birthday : ) I think the idea of getting a discount for buying the e-book when you got the printed book is a great idea. As someone else said, I'm probably going to get both. The ebook is infinitely more useful to me (I don't have to cut up my own books!) but I love the feel of that paper... How big will the files be? If we lose them, can we redownload them? EEEEE!!! |
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Feb 3 2005, 05:02 PM
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#21
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,086 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 364 |
This board needs a "bow down in worship" smiley.
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Feb 3 2005, 05:07 PM
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#22
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Mr. Quote-function Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 1,312 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Somewhere in Germany Member No.: 1,376 |
You mean like this one: :notworthy: ?
Just click on that "Show All"-Link whenever you do a post and you'll find it ;) |
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Feb 3 2005, 05:51 PM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 376 Joined: 14-July 03 Member No.: 4,928 |
O shuuuurree... just like when you lose a print book FanPro will replace it for free :sarcasm: Backing up files and data is *your* responsibility, not FanPro's. That's why I *always* burn at least 2 copies of DVD backups, in case one goes haywire. Purchaseable PDFs Sound Great! A slightly cheaper way for me to get all the books I want, and have them be searchable on my laptop. And I don't mind printing them out on doublesided paper on my cheap laser printer. and having them bound at the local Staples/Kinko's etc. If anything happens to the books... just re-print and re-bind. Since you can buy a box of 5,000 sheets of paper for $25 bucks, it's a pretty good savings. |
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Feb 3 2005, 06:05 PM
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#24
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 232 Joined: 19-October 04 Member No.: 6,773 |
OMG, i finnaly get to own R:AS and Branscan! Woo hoo! I've been wanting those for ever!
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Feb 3 2005, 07:36 PM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 496 Joined: 28-June 02 From: Orlando FL Member No.: 2,915 |
unless Adam compresses them any more, they should run about 3 MB for 100 pages or about 30 K per page, depending on text/graphics etc...
you should be able to easily fit the core books and a few others (if not the whole catalog) on a CD... |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 27th April 2024 - 04:56 AM |
Topps, Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. Topps, Inc has granted permission to the Dumpshock Forums to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with the Dumpshock Forums in any official capacity whatsoever.