It's to buy the other team more time chummer

So in theory I could drive the 2 hours to Fort Wayne, stage a run on the Alliance warehouse and be one of the first people to have the LE. Awesome! Who's with me!

You could be the first person to have *all the LEs*. Of course, that will make it easier for us to find you...

Bull--Ft Wayne is where the primary warehouse is for CGL's product.

Hmm, I had better rig a bio-monitor to my vital's so anything more strenuous than sex (like perhaps torture) or if I flatline it automatically activates the fire bombs at the storage facility that was arranged for the storage of said "liberated" LE's.

Went into my FLGS and pre-ordered my copy

i am sorry is the leather bound 20th anneversary book i ordered over a year ago?

seriously?

It's a limited print run of 1500, and a pile of those are reserved for CGL direct orders. At this point, if individual shops can just order one at will, I'd be highly surprised. A LOT of folks "ordered" the original SR4 LE from their FLGS, and were sadly disappointed when their shop couldn't come through.

Generally, from what I understand, Alliance doles out LE's for RPGs based on a few different factors and methods. The main ones are basically "For every X copies of the regular book you order, you get 1 LE." The other is "If you order a metric ton of stuff from us, we might be able to slip you a few extras".

However, since the LE is coming out seperate from the regular core book, I'm guessing it'll be a combinaton of "Allocation based on your order numbers" and "first come, first serve".

All I can say is, good luck

Bull

I preordered from BattleCorps in March of last year. Will BC have enough LEs to fulfill all their preorders, or will some of us (read: me) be disappointed?

Last I had 'new' information: More than enough were printed to fulfill pre-orders and to get some into local game stores.

http://www.shadowrun4.com/wordpress/2010/0...oat-has-docked/

About time. Cant wait!

Yet, you MUST wait! Cruel and heartless of the world, is it not?


So, who all thinks that there are 4 decoy convoys, one real convoy, and no-one in any
of the convoys, not even the real one, believe they are the real convoy?

Or that the real convoy only has a couple books, and the REAL transport is actually a guy with a
minivan, hoping that the people spying on the boat took the bait of the convoys, but he drives with
an assault rifle and full body armour in case people see through the clever ruse?

(and, of course, he is not even the real carrier...)

Given the date I will remain leary of this. I don't care that it was posted yesterday, I still doubt.

Cruel teases!

FWIW, an April Fool's joke about such a long-delayed product would definitely fall into my "not funny" category.

Jason H.

Probably the last 'book' (even though its just a special copy of SR4) that I can buy for a little while that I do not own, seeing all the trouble, so yeah I am looking forward to it and all.

That's exactly what I thought, when I read the announcement and considered the date... they wouldn't dare that.

Bye
Thanee

Slow boat from China?!? These books aren't made with that chinese drywall are they?

All of Catalyst's color books -- up until the point I left, at least -- were printed in Thailand.

Out of interest, did you chaps ever consider the print-on-demand route ??
If so, why didn't you go with it - it would seem to remove stock and despatch issues.

I know nothing of this route. Where does the distributor take his cut in this format?

BlueMax

I admittedly know only a little about POD, but it's a much more expensive option than going through a traditional printer. I imagine the cut in the profit margin would be deeper than the expense of a warehouse. You're also much more at the mercy of the POD company, since you're not seeing the product before it ships, and the quality can vary from book to book.

I've seen some horror stories about stuff from POD places over on RPGnet... Miscut books, missing and blank pages, entirely different paper stock between two identical books, etc.

If I ever get around to finishing up and publishing one of the many, many homebrew RPGs I've whipped up over the years, I'd likely go the POD route, but I'm also under no illusion that I'd sell thousands of copies either. If I thought my game had a snowballs chance in hell of selling well, I'd go with a real printer.

Bull

Print on Demand (or, what you probably mean, "Short Run Printing" is not suitable for most projects that Catalyst works on. It's much more expensive to produce a POD book, the quality is more variable, most POD/short run printers offer fewer options, etc.

If you're selling thousands copies of a single title, POD is not the route you want to go.

Just to throw out some numbers: printing 100 copies of Eclipse Phase at Lulu (which is a pricier vendor, but they offer true POD with fulfillment as opposed to just short run printing) would cost $24 per copy. Printing 1000 copies would be $23 per copy. In the world of economy of scale, this is laughably bad. (and in this case, would still require up front investment ... if you just wanted to customers to order a copy at a time from their website, it would be $25 per copy. Again, that is JUST TO PRINT THE BOOK.)

Hmmm...

Interesting stuff.

Personally, if I could 1000 copies of something I'd put together, I'd be sitting with glazed eyes and a big grin on my face.

You wouldn't feel so good if you had paid $23,000 to print it.

I thought I smelled lead... or is that benzene? j/k

Just don't lick your book and you should be fine.

Or lick your fingers to pass the pages, just like in "The name of the rose"

Where I have found PoD (such as Lulu) to be nice is for projects where a product is set to be primarily a PDF product, but give people the option to order a bound version if they so desire. Yes, you end up paying a premium for the privilege of a dead tree, but it allows the "completist" type collectors to get their print on.

Another option is when you have a collection of small PDF only type adventures (think RedBrick's Earthdawn Classic Shards) to be able to publish a compilation edition in print. There could be a niche market within the already niche market of entertainment->games->adventure games->RPG->scifi->transhumanist/horror of folks that want a dead tree of the PDF collection that was bought earlier as individual adventures.

No arguments at all, though, about the costs of POD (especially with Lulu).

/Paul

I licked my copy of Eclipse Phase. I couldn't help it, it's just so nice.

I knew I risked poisoning from the heavy metals, but I'd already bought the PDF and it was better than getting shocks from the hard drive all the time.

K.

Yup. POD and Short Run printing should be used for those things, not to replace regular offset runs.

Is there a chance we might receive the SR4ALE books before April 30? If not, is there a way to cancel the order? I won't be in the US for 2 months after that and thus will not be able to receive the book, which makes those delays slightly worrying (paying 75 bucks for a book I might never see...)

Let me check on that and get you some info by Monday.

Jason H.

Thanks a lot Jason. And it's Week-End. Take a break.

No rest for the wicked!! Make with the SR, you!!

The last update I received from our shipping people was that the container was not sent to the warehouse, but actually, went straight past Indiana to New York to be xrayed. (That's right folks all the way from LA to NYC as a container for an xray...let ytour paranoid, security driven minds play with the mischief possible there.)

The updated date for arriving in the warehouse is Tuesday, April 13th. When they arrive in the warehouse, for real this time, I'll let people know. I have one sitting in the container right along side everyone else's.

-Stephen

Jeez, how much lead was in those books!

Glad to know, thanks

This makes me feel very comfortable with out national security. "Hey look, there's something about this container that is calling for us to x-ray it, should we do that here in LA?" "Nah, put it on a train, send it across the country, and then do it in New York."

Since it went from LA before heading east there is a very good chance that it passed by the tracks a mile from my place. So close, yet so far! Now it has to go to NY, then back to Indiana, then to who knows where, so it can get back to me in California.

Why does Customs take such an interest in Battletech and Shadowrun products? The ones people are waiting for
always seem to get hit by odd customs issues(Tactical Operations, Jihad Hotspots 2072, SR4A LE)..

They know we are on to them....

I WONDER

Also thanks for the update. I hope I manage to get my copy before I move out of my current place though.

By the same reason GURPS Cyberpunk was investigated by the FBI some 20 years ago?
Because the book "taught" you how to hack accounts and steal from banks. I mean, all I have to do is turn my computer on and roll 3 dice and see if they roll less than my assumed skill I steal money from people, YET, I think the book is lying to me because I did this like a hundred times and never saw any increase in my banking account.

Now, it makes you wonder why the hell take a book to the other side of the country to investigate for suspicious materials, if there was a nuclear device inside it they could just blow it half the way in the heart of the food belt, now I know that bureaucrats are the same in every country.

Secret Service, not FBI.

Hm. Let's pretend for a minute, Shadowrun-style (in other words, bring out your paranoia), because this would make a great run or adventure, IMO. Let's say an Alphabet Soup agency hears about a corporation. This corporation has hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash that have been withdrawn and disappeared. This company regularly makes large wire transfers to foreign countries. This corporation now has a container arriving from abroad into LA's port... My paranoid Shadowrun mind says that Alphabet Soup Agency might be interested in seeing just what is *in* the container...

I think it makes for a great movie. I'd cast a pretty, dark-haired and dark-eyed female agent with a hard chip on her shoulder, about to be outcast from the [insert Alphabet Soup agency here] for insubordination... or maybe for screwing up a big catch where her partner was shot by the Mafia. She comes across this information in her research on Corporation X. Her beareaucratic superiors have rerouted the container to New York for inspection, assuming it is really a box of printed books. She believes differently... And then there's a frantic race against the clock before the [insert dangerous mass weapon--to be truly SR it should be a device that will scatter airborne HMHVV virus across the city and turn all of NY into Ghoul Land] arrives in New York...

I'd also throw in a taxi driver named Bob. Because, hey, it's New York! (And this thing is so full of cliche's that you have to do it.)

Anyway, I return you to your regularly scheduled anticipation.

Secret Service, FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, yada yada yada...
America has so many police/inteligence agencies it is hard to keep track of them all

But, yes, you know what episode I'm talking about

@Tiger Eyes, I would watch this movie. I can even see Jessica Alba as the main character.

Seems to block-buster-y to be a good SR plot. I like my SR a little more film-noir. Lots of rain, dark with harsh neon accentuation, etc.

<edit>
That's not to say I don't like the plot, however. Thanks for the delve into your creativity.

Someone get a team together, go hijack that container and get it distributed!

Or is that a bad plan?

Wait...
is that the plot for Sukie Red Flower 3?