Colin Chapman

Thanks for sharing that, Chris, much appreciated. Now if I can only find time to read it. cheers! Colin

So, has anyone else picked up the pdf? I love it, though having been on the dev forum for it, I had a solid idea of what to expect anyway. Still, having the whole thing in front of me is a joy, and my hat is off to Chris for producing a setting that oozes adventure potential and that strikes so many chords with me. I remember being delighted by Chris' redesign of the Deru and they still stand out for me as one of the strongest non-human races visually and conceptually. I really cannot stress highly enough that this is not your run-of-the-mill monograph; it's a hefty tome (over 200 pages), well-written, imaginative, heavily illustrated, and thorough. cheers! Colin

Crafty Games, Fantasy Flight Games, Goodman Games, Moon Design, Paizo, that's just five RPG companies off the top-of-my-head that offer 1st Class International postage as an option for their business. Companies bigger, the same size, and smaller than Chaosium. It becomes increasingly difficult to cite staffing level as the reason given the wide variety of companies that do offer the option. I'm not saying it couldn't be a contributing factor, but if other companies manage it, or manage workarounds, there's every chance Chaosium might be able to do so too. Edit: Actually, I need to stop discussing this now as it's getting wildly off-topic and the thread is and should be about Chris' excellent monograph. Sorry Chris, I'll shut up now.

And yet I manage to order books of the same size and weight from the US all the time for prices considerably lower than $41. Sorry, as much as prices have gone up globally, a 1.1lb. book does not have to cost $41 to ship from the US as the *cheapest option.* You must've only looked at some of the options. I just used the USPS calculator myself: 1.09 lb. book, plus let's say a generous amount of extra padding and a box to take it to 1.4 lb. To the UK, it costs: $14.74 1st Class Int'l Parcel (so if we add say $5 for a box and padding, it's around $20). That's nowhere near $41 (in fact, it's under half the cost). 1st Class Int'l is not a slow or unreliable option either, and it's the most-used option I've had in terms of books from the US being sent to me. In fact, let me just grab the box my copy of RQ6 came in. Ah, 1st Class Int'l. Sent on the 2nd, arrived on the 8th. All of six days to reach me. Oh, and RQ6 also weighs nearly 1.1 lb. (and it's 456 pages, which is twice as thick as the Chaosium monograph!), plus it came in a sturdy card box full of packing, which brought the weight up to 1.4 lb. Sorry, mate, I deal with parcels to and from the US all the time, and as a small press RPG publisher myself (one even smaller than Chaosium), I also know all about the difficulties faced by rpg publishers and how the current pdf and POD market is going. When I tell you $41 is too much for the cheapest option, it's not because I'm some clueless, inexperienced noob who needs to be told "how things are". Here's the problem: Chaosium only offer Priority mail options for int'l customers, and they are a serious step-up price-wise from 1st class int'l. A step that really isn't necessary and only discourages international customers. Colin

Got the PDF, which is great if pricey. Was going to order the book too, but the cheapest postage option they provided to the UK was $41 (which would've brought the cost up to a sliver over $70)! Suffice to say, I don't think they want int'l customers at Chaosium. I'm not sure how anyone can justify a postage price of $41 P&P for a single rpg book to be sent to the UK, especially when that's their least expensive option.

It's out! PDF HERE and Printed Book HERE.

Superb news, mate. Ever since I took a look at some of the material, I've been looking forward to its release. cheers! Colin

Do we know if the known errata is being incorporated in the print release or not? Colin

Well, I'd be able to help with anyone getting that started. I spent many months researching historical firearms data for the period 1870-1880, and put together a free series of pdfs for anyone to use (so there's no excuse for anyone guesstimating costs, etc.; the information is freely available to use, though it'd be nice if someone did use it if they credited me with a little thanks and let me know). Unlike most folks doing such reseach (who only ever seem to use the Montgomery Ward 1895, and Sears Roebuck 1895 (because they're easy to locate), I spent a chunk of cash and time grabbing copies of many other catalogues, including the P. Powell & Son 1875, James Bown & Son 1876, E. Remington & Sons 1877, etc. catalogues. In total I've obtained and used 12 period catalogues putting the pdfs together, plus the historical data from a variety of other texts including Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms. I have historical details on a bunch of other costs, etc. beyond these, but never put the extra pdf up so if anyone wants it they need to PM me. So, if you want authentic costs and details (accompanied by images to scale of each weapon), researched over a long period, and for goddamn free, just freaking ask. I've done similar, much, much more extensive files on gear and weapons of the 1930s too. cheers! Colin

Scan gratefully received, thanks. :thumb: cheers! Colin

On a related question, does anyone have a large, high quality scan of the RQ Deluxe boxed set cover with the female warrior bearing the longspear and wearing the blue cloak, and the chap with the nasal helm, sword, and shield? It's one of the best rpg covers ever published, imo, and I'd love to have a bloody good scan of it for use as wallpaper, for use on my homemade GM screen, etc. Anyone who has such an image, or can scan one for me, would be the object of my personal worship. cheers! Colin

Hey, Figured out why the line was appearing on pg. 331 when I was opening it before: the Foxit Reader I was using. The line doesn't appear when the pdf is opened with Acrobat Reader. Oh, one odd thing I noticed, was that when I logged back in and went to re-download the pdf (in case the line had happened to just be the result of an earlier faulty upload of the file on the Chaosium site), the option to re-download was not present, and the status on the order itself now reads "Pending Pre-Order". Anyone have any idea what's going on there? As much as I like the pdf, dear god is Chaosium's online catalog and sales system bloody awful and counter-intuitive Colin

Anyone else got that patchy black line running down the page on pg. 331 of their pdf (page 329 of the book)? I think it may be a remnant of a black edge on the left side of the image used on the page (in which case it may well be something that will appear on the print copies as well). Colin

Thanks for the heads-up, mate. I'm really looking forward to this supplement and Interplanetary. cheers! Colin

So, apart from the blurb on the front page, is there any more info. on Mythic Iceland? I ask, because the blurb alone makes it clear it's something I'd be extremely interested in. cheers! Colin