|
|
From:
GaRy
|
Posted on:
3/17/2003 5:52 am
|
|
To:
ALL
|
|
|
This is a very bold move. I can't work out if its very clever or very short sighted. But Atlas has released the 4 ed Rules for Free as a PDF file on RPGNow (follow link below) http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=774& I guess its a clear effort to attract newbies to the game and convert people to this system. Making the bulk of the profit of the warehoused suppliment stock onhand. I would love to hear John / Davids view on this one. Gary
|
|
|
From:
spuwdsda2
|
Posted on:
3/17/2003 9:39 am
|
|
To:
GaRy
|
|
What are the terms and conditions? I assume we shouldn't put this on our own websites? Should everyone 'purchase' it from RPGNow? Regards - David W
|
|
|
From:
Hindmarch
|
Posted on:
3/17/2003 10:05 am
|
|
To:
GaRy
|
|
|
The official press release is now all over the Atlas website. That should explain most of the ideas behind the free release. At present, we'd prefer that folks don't host the core rulebook on their own sites. RPGNow has been very gracious in hosting the book for us, and they deserve the extra traffic the free book will hopefully generate. Beyond that, RPGNow can give us data on the number of downloads the book receives and so forth, which is information we'd very much like to see skewed as little as possible. Enough from me, though. What do you all think of the big news?! word,
Will Hindmarch
Atlas Games
|
|
|
From:
spuwdsda2
|
Posted on:
3/17/2003 10:32 am
|
|
To:
Hindmarch
|
|
Imo it seems like a very good idea. Hopefully people will read ArM4 and fall in love with the game as I did (ArM3 actually). Reading a pdf on-screen is do-able, but I don't think it'd be very practical for actual gaming reference. As printing out 250 pages and getting them bound in a useable way would be an expensive pain, I imagine a number of people will read the pdf and then buy printed copy. In any case, people wishing to start a game may well buy other books anyway. I guess you'll be watching to see how this affects the sales of the printed version. Interesting experiment. :) Regards - David W
|
|
|
From:
Vorsharkar
|
Posted on:
3/17/2003 11:09 am
|
|
To:
Hindmarch
|
|
|
Well, It is very cool ! I wrote the information an all french RPG electronic media as soon as I saw it ! As a player, I could and will copy-paste the spells' descriptions in my own character sheet spellbook, instead of some sketchy descriptions of the spell's effect. Definitely better ! JyP.
|
|
|
From:
AngusGM
|
Posted on:
3/17/2003 11:41 pm
|
|
To:
Vorsharkar
|
|
|
I copied the message to several of my friends who do not yet play the game (as well as my Usual Group of Suspects). I am hoping to entice a few more people into the game with this... :)
|
|
|
From:
Chalybeius
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 2:32 am
|
|
To:
Hindmarch
|
|
|
Hi, I've been a long time ArM fan and have followed the game through numerous publishers. IMHO Atlas has done the best job so far, which is why I am just a little concerned... I have seen the 'free core rulebook' ploy to revive a struggling game before: FASA tried it with Earthdawn in the '90s. While it did boost sales, ultimately it was not enough to keep the game afloat and it was cancelled a few months later. If this is a last-ditch attempt to keep Ars Magica alive in an environment that's almost completely dominated by 'd20' and White Wolf, I really hope that it does enough to do just that! Just my R0.02 Chalybeius
|
|
|
From:
spuwdsda2
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 3:58 am
|
|
To:
Chalybeius
|
|
>>>If this is a last-ditch attempt to keep Ars Magica alive in an environment that's almost completely dominated by 'd20' and White Wolf, I really hope that it does enough to do just that!<<< No. Fifth Edition is due for Q4 2004, a mere 18-21 months away. The idea is to introduce as many people as possible to ArM before publishing the next edition. As for FASA and Earthdawn; according to the line editor, Earthdawn was a marginly profitable game. However, FASA wished to concentrate their resources on far higher volume products (Crimson Skies). In hindsight, the writing was on the wall for Earthdawn for about 2 years before the plug was pulled. However, it seems that these new lines never met expectations. As time proved, the guys at FASA sold up completely. I don't believe the situations are comparable. Regards - David W
|
|
|
From:
Ed9C
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 10:50 am
|
|
To:
spuwdsda2
|
|
|
Actually, it shouldn't be too hard to cut and paste it into a more friendly and useable form, say Word, or HTML, add cross references, etc. making one less book for me to carry all the time. Ed C.
|
|
|
From:
MichaelTree
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 12:19 pm
|
|
To:
Ed9C
|
|
|
I'll have to forward the link to my friends. It was always a PITA to only have one rulebook. However, at the risk of sounding less than completely enthusiastic about Atlas's bold decision, I do wish that the PDF had a usable bookmarks index, for ease of use and reference. It's an awfully big book to have to flip through it a page at a time to find what you're looking for.
|
|
|
From:
David Chart
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 1:53 pm
|
|
To:
Chalybeius
|
|
|
Ars Magica is not a struggling game. It's solidly successful, but not as successful as we'd like. As David Woods said, the aim is to build up a larger player base before we release fifth edition, in the hope that that will be really successful. This isn't a last ditch effort of any sort. David Chart
Ars Magica Line Editor
|
|
|
From:
spuwdsda2
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 2:09 pm
|
|
To:
MichaelTree
|
|
>>>I do wish that the PDF had a usable bookmarks index, for ease of use and reference.<<< I was disappointed at that too. However, never having used a PDF creator, I have no idea how much extra work that would have been. This is supposed to be a low cost exercise. Perhaps we might see a version with an index if someone at Altas can spare the time? Anyway I still think its great. Now I can reference ArM4 at work. At lunchtime of course... :-) Regards - David W
|
|
|
From:
GaRy
|
Posted on:
3/18/2003 10:16 pm
|
|
To:
spuwdsda2
|
|
|
>>>I was disappointed at that too. However, never having used a PDF creator, I have no idea how much extra work that would have been. This is supposed to be a low cost exercise. Well having bookmarked and provided internal links for many a PDF, I can tell you that the bookmarks for this detail of document (unless already in the Quark document, ususally not) would have taken several hours to do and check. The links from the contents and indexes would hae taken about a Day to do. This is a costly at a 1.5 days work for a staff member, especially if you want it as a cheap resource you are going to give away. I am glad that the text is selectable, this can be a real help for putting together summaries of rules / tables etc. Thanks Atlas for this resource. Now I just have to wait for BMoG. (yeap I must be the only one that is looking forward to it - or so it seems) Gary
|
|
|
From:
haakonolav
|
Posted on:
3/19/2003 5:50 am
|
|
To:
GaRy
|
|
Thanks Atlas, it's a bold move to get up the fan base for the fifth ed. It has good possibilities for us fans as well. We can now print out a "Character creation compendium" and spells etc. which makes it all much easier to play and create new characters. Also now one of the players in our group who doesn't have the main rulebook can look up rules at home. All in all: Great!!
Haakon
|
|