Shadowrun
Catalyst Game Labs => Catalyst's Shadowrun Products => Topic started by: vinnmun on <09-22-11/2216:06>
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no pdf format for that? I probbaly missed a posting or something about it.
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The series of "PDF-Only" is the "PDF" of the book, despite the lack of the additional material available only in the book.
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Still feels like a "Game of the Year" edition put out after all of us early adopters got the items as soon as they came out...
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Hey, I just bought the book... there is a little bit of an issue with it... at least my copy... can I get my missing pages?
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Hey, I just bought the book... there is a little bit of an issue with it... at least my copy... can I get my missing pages?
Yeah, drop a line to customerservice.catalyst@gmail.com and they should be able to help you out. Sorry your copy has problems!
Jason H.
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Any news as to when those of us who already have all of those books will be able to buy the PDF copy of just the new content that was created for the Black Book? You had mentioned that something like that might come up if the PDF version of the book was ever released in another thread.
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Any news as to when those of us who already have all of those books will be able to buy the PDF copy of just the new content that was created for the Black Book? You had mentioned that something like that might come up if the PDF version of the book was ever released in another thread.
Jason has said on several occasions that there will not be a PDF version of this book, nor a PDF copy of the new material. The only way to get it is to buy the physical book.
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Any news as to when those of us who already have all of those books will be able to buy the PDF copy of just the new content that was created for the Black Book? You had mentioned that something like that might come up if the PDF version of the book was ever released in another thread.
Jason has said on several occasions that there will not be a PDF version of this book, nor a PDF copy of the new material. The only way to get it is to buy the physical book.
Wow, did I ever misread the posting. When the link to Battle Corps was given, I thought it was meaning that they decided to make a PDF version available and made it available through Battle Corps, but it really just says "hey, you can order the physical copy through here". Whoops.
In any event, I still don't agree with not making the additional content available to people, even if it's for a nominal fee. It still seems like it's punishing everyone who bought the books that make up this compilation when they were first available.
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Its not punishing anyone... its rewarding those who waited. Why do people think some how its a zero sum game? Oh if you reward those guys you must be punishing someone else! No, not true, a reward does not have to be taken from someone else. You aren't LOSING anything you just aren't GAINING anything.
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Perhaps "punishing" is the wrong word. I have no problem with them releasing the entire collection as one book, but if you're going to make "exclusive" content for the people that held out, you're sending a negative message to the people who supported the products at their launch by not making this additional content available through some means. All this sort of thing does is encourage people to hold off on buying future products until the bigger-and-better or compilation material comes along. With enough people working on that "wait until the compilation comes out" mentality, the smaller, individual releases do not sell as well. When they don't sell as well, the company gets the message that people are not interested and either stop producing the smaller materials because there is seemingly no money to be had, or never produce a compilation because there was never an a large enough interest in the original materials. The way it is being done right now just sends the message of "thanks for buying our stuff early, but we're giving more goodies to the people who waited".
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It's not a reward for those who waited -- it's an incentive for those who (like many have) wanted to buy the material a second time, in hardcopy form. Rather than going "LOLZ, thanks for the money twice, whoopwhoopwhoop!" and running away making Three Stooges noises, they wanted to spiff it up a little bit, color up some of the artwork, and toss in a few goodies to say thanks for being loyal customers.
It's not a reward for anyone. It's not a punishment to anyone. It's an incentive to purchase a product, which is (ultimately) what a business does.
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I was on the fence for the RBB for quite a bit. On one hand, I already bought the vast majority of this material, and really disliked not being appraised that a book was coming out at a later time (That said, I have bought both PDFs and DTF versions of books, so, that point there is not applicable.). The thing that really got to me was that extra material was only available in DTF. Seemed like a rip-off for the folks that use the PDFs for quick research (Like myself.).
But, I just had to haul the printed out versions of the E-Books around in their binders, and my FLGS/Army Surplus shop over-ordered the books, so, those two items put me over the edge into buying it. Not exactly happy, but hey, there we are.
I've gone through it a quick once-through, found one page that was cut-off a bit too much (Printers error, not CGL's fault), but other than that it's well bound and seems to have all the info. I like the new Shadowtalk from our old friend Nightfire, the Ares Rep. I'm wondering how he got onto the JackPoint, or if he somehow got a datafile of the comments made from the JackPoint and is giving comments for his Superiors to read about... Be nice to get a clarification on that one.
There is new art for the This Old Drone items, which are very nice. This brings it into the "Gear Porn" level that the other e-books are, and they're actually fairly well done. The new firearms (And Katana) are actually well drawn (Especially compared to the new firearms from Gun Haven Heaven), and look like actual firearms (*GASP*!).
The vehicles look better on glossy paper than on my screen (And a lot better than on the black and white laser printer copies I made), and the portability (Compared to the binders) is a selling point.
In the end, am I happy with my purchase? I can't say "Yes", but I also can't say "No", either. I still feel a little... Hit by the "PDF-Only" items suddenly coming out in DTF. Perhaps if there wasn't stuff in there that was DTF-only, I'd be less upset. I just bought a PDF & DTF copy like I do other books. I'd also enjoy an updated version of This Old Drone to what is shown in RBB as well, as that is some seriously sweet artwork!
Would I suggest this book to others? Well, for those that haven't gotten the PDF-Only items and want all the things in them, yes, I would. If you only want certain items (Such as boats or old drones), go for the PDF-Only versions and buy what you need. If you've already got the PDF-Only items... Well, you gotta decide on your own.
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I've asked on the main page, but maybe someone here can help me....does anyone know if the LE RBB is being sold exclusively thru Battleshop or will other rpg sites have it as well?
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I picked up MilSpecTech and This Old Drone before I caught wind of an upcoming print book. I held off on buying the rest of the PDFs. I have always been a fan of print, and I didn't mind the wait.
I feel a little cheated as well, as I would have far rather just bought print. But if the four PDFs, taken together, are a reasonable discount over the RBB, then at least there is an incentive there. Except for those of us who are completists and want every possible tech profile. I confess to sometimes being one of these.
I've been holding off on purchasing Way of the Adept out of concern for a similar 'character options' book coming out after I'm made my purchases, but that front's been quiet for long enough that I'm willing to take the chance.
As for the RBB itself, I always appreciate solid art and this book is full of it. It evokes the imagination of anyone flipping through the book (another reason to prefer DTF). I wish the core rulebook had pictures for its weapons and vehicles like the expansions do. Anything to make the players drool! The only thing I feel is missing are vehicle measurements. They just help to scale things in my imagination.
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I've asked on the main page, but maybe someone here can help me....does anyone know if the LE RBB is being sold exclusively thru Battleshop or will other rpg sites have it as well?
'
I think it's exclusive through the Battleshop. They only printed a limited number of them (I don't recall the number off hand... I want to say 500 or 750, but it could be 1000. Fiarly certain it's not more than that. Unlike teh SR4 and 4A LE's, they're not numbered), and sold quite a few at Gen Con. So I would guess there aren't really enough to make available through other distribution channels.
Don't quote me on any of that though. I'm speculating here. :)
Bull
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Thanks Bull!
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Also, I want to echo what Critias said here. This isn't supposed to be a punishment, or even a reward.
Runners Black Book is a bit of an experiment. When the PDF stuff was initially conceived, there were no plans to put the material in hardcopy. Heck, no one knew how they would sell, even as cheaper PDF only products.
However, they sold pretty decently, but the question kept getting asked "is there a way to get this material in hardcopy?" There are a lot of fans who don't really do PDF products, either because they don't personally care for the format, or more often because they don't have a convenient way to take and use the books in their local game or prefer to have a physical copy they can pass around (If a book gets dropped or something spilled on it, it's not a total loss and can be fairly easily replaced. A laptop or a tablet computer tend to be much more expensive and have a harder time surviving a spill or drop).
So CGL decided to put out a hardcopy collection of the gear PDFs to see how well they sell. Now, honestly, Hardcopy, full color... While it looks nice, that may have been a mistake, because it makes the book significantly more expensive. But, it's a pretty book, so there is taht. But, knowing that a lot of folks had already bought the PDFs, CGL decided to add a little bit of new material (Which boils down to 8 weapons, some cleaned up/new/colorized art, and a little extra shadow commentary). This was simply as an incentive for folks who'd already purchased the books in PDF to feel like if they purchased the Hardcopy, thre was a little something new to make it worth their while.
The big thing here is taht this is an experiment. if sales justify it, we may be able to do more books like this in the future. I'd love, for example, to be able to have a hardcopy collection of Missions Season 4 down the line. And there are some more cool PDF products in the pipeline taht would be cool to see collected later on.
Bull
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So, heads up folks: That PDF you buy today might be collected in a group of stuff in DTF later. It's the "Extra Only In DTF" that's getting me at this point, that's all. Not everyone is able to get DTF copies of the books easily, and I'm trying to think of the community as a whole. :(
As I said, I get almost everything in PDF/DTF if I can (Some I get in PDF only as I doubt I'll ever use it in game) but want it to read, and PDF is cheaper. I'm on a budget, so I have to make my RPG-Dollar stretch. :(
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Honestly, I don't see what all the fuss is. The Black Book has 6-7 extra weapons and comments from Nightfire. Have we become so enamoured with the idea that we are entitled to everything exactly how we want it that 7 pages of bonus material in a book makes people so upset they feel the need to complain about it?
I bought each and every PDF as they were released. When the book was announced, I held off buying it until I could look it over and see if it was worth it. I decided it was and bought it.
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Please be careful with the use of "Entitled" around me.
But, yeah, it does seem kind of petty. Still irks me, however. Can't help feeling like that for some reason.
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I'd love, for example, to be able to have a hardcopy collection of Missions Season 4 down the line. And there are some more cool PDF products in the pipeline taht would be cool to see collected later on.
I think that'd be a nice thing to have, too.