Chaosium Re-issuing Back Catalogue

[Guest Vile Traveller]

I thought this might be better off in its own thread where it won't be buried. Rick Meints has posted on the Acaeum asking about interest in reprints - please go and post your preferences! 

https://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=241907#p241907

Edited August 9, 2015 by Vile

[Trifletraxor]

Think I got most of it, but it's a smart move if they make the old stuff available again. As long as they continue printing new stuff of course!

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Yep, that's why I hope they just start with PDFs of old stuff, which minimises the work. Rick's Gloranthan Classics are nice but they must have been a huge piece of work.

[K Peterson]

That's encouraging. I think it would be great if Chaosium (/MD) considered a premium reprint of RQ2. A shiny, anniversary edition or the like?

[Guest Vile Traveller]

That's encouraging. I think it would be great if Chaosium (/MD) considered a premium reprint of RQ2. A shiny, anniversary edition or the like?

As long as it's not a 40th anniversary edition! 

[auyl]

I do hope they reprint Classic Runequest. I'd vote on that other forum but for some reason my registration never went through.

[K Peterson]

As long as it's not a 40th anniversary edition! 

Sooner would be better, definitely. But the 40th anniversary is just around the corner.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Sooner would be better, definitely. But the 40th anniversary is just around the corner.

Not for RQ2, that's 2020! And RQ1 would be 2018. 

If they get a move on they can catch the 35th for RQ2, that's fine by me. 

[Mankcam]

This is a smart move to do some reprints of Chaosium Classics in the same manner of the hardcover Gloranthan Classics reprints.

Personally I think Worlds of Wonder would be great presented this way, or perhaps it could even be a springboard to keep classic BRP alive with a whole Worlds of Wonder line.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

It's actually quite common practice if you look at the OneBookShelf sites, for example you can get most of the old Judges Guild books in PDF (including the RuneQuest adventures). It's basically free money for the publisher after the initial cost of scanning and OCRing the books. I'm surprised that it took Chaosium this long to look into it.

Well, no, I'm not really surprised. 

[Zit]

Everything which belongs to RQ2 would be good. Not forgetting the soloquests.

[threedeesix]

I also liked the soloquests and would enjoy seeing them reprinted. But on top of that, I would also love to see some new ones. Soloquests were a great way to introduce a new player to the game in a single sitting, without necessarily getting the whole group together beforehand. I would let the player keep any experience gain and let it carry over to the weekly game.

Rod

[auyl]

It's actually quite common practice if you look at the OneBookShelf sites, for example you can get most of the old Judges Guild books in PDF (including the RuneQuest adventures). It's basically free money for the publisher after the initial cost of scanning and OCRing the books. I'm surprised that it took Chaosium this long to look into it.

Well, no, I'm not really surprised. 

I actually wouldn't mind PODing all these old titles along with all the monographs on OneBookShelf sites. I commonly order POD titles off there despite the quality being a little lower.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Do DTRPG do saddle-stitched (i.e. stapled) books? With Lulu I prefer them over perfect bound, they are much more user-friendly and you can lay them open flat. And most of those old books were stapled originally, so it should work.

[NickMiddleton]

Do DTRPG do saddle-stitched (i.e. stapled) books? With Lulu I prefer them over perfect bound, they are much more user-friendly and you can lay them open flat. And most of those old books were stapled originally, so it should work.

Only small ones "Note that softcover, premium color books that are less than or equal to 48 pages will be saddle-stitched. Over 48 pages will be perfect bound."

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/pub_pod_cost.php

Cheers,

Nick

 

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Makes sense, most PoD places don't seem to be able to press saddle-stitched books very flat, which gets worse the thicker they become. Still, plenty of pages for the WoW books. 

[auyl]

Makes sense, most PoD places don't seem to be able to press saddle-stitched books very flat, which gets worse the thicker they become. Still, plenty of pages for the WoW books. 

I've never had any problems with the saddle-stitched books but you may need to press them between some heavier books for a bit to get them as flat as you'd like. Maybe a couple of RQ6 books would do the trick?

[nclarke]

If you kept any of those encyclopedias that were hawked around pre-Internet as necessary for your (or your child's) education then this is a good use for them.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Now that Chaosium are here, perhaps we can get an update on the project of re-issuing the back catalogue? Which products can we expect? When can we expect them? Which will be PDF, which PoD, and which actually get a proper re-printing? Will they be straight-up reproductions or will any be revised?

And the question on everyone's lips, what's going to happen with Worlds of Wonder?

[Rick Meints]

Once we know that Chaosium absolutely has all the rights for an out-of-print title it is very likely that we will get it back into "print" in some form or other. If we feel it does not justify a full print run (which means 1000+ copies) we will offer the title as PDF and POD via Lulu and/or DTRPG. Researching the rights on some titles is not always as easy as it sounds. In the early days Chaosium made different deals for many of its products. For example, we do not have the rights to Raiders and Traders. If it was written by an employee we own the copyright on the text, like Ringworld, but we no longer have the rights to use Larry Niven's IP (Intellectual Property). The same could be said for Elfquest. While it may be possible to license the IP rights again that takes time and probably money. I believe that Worlds of Wonder was a combination work for hire and employee created project, but we would have to dig out the contracts (if we have them) and see what they say. Alas, it's not just a "scan and upload the file" situation. I dislike the quality most "scan to PDF" efforts yield anyway. It's better than no PDF, but not by that much. It's the electronic equivalent of a bad photocopy.

As for "would they be straight-up reproductions or will any be revised?", that's also a "depends on the title" situation. If we are getting it back into circulation because people have a hard time finding the original without paying "collector prices" a straight reprint is probably best, especially if the game isn't played much any more. I do know one likely aspect of some reprints. It is very unlikely that we would reprint a boxed game, like Worlds of Wonder, as a boxed game. It would probably be done as a single hardcover book. As for when, we have a lot of work to do getting the company back firmly on its feet, fulfilling its current obligations, and also getting some new product out. We might work some magic on a few classic titles along the way, but massive amounts of classic titles coming back over the next few months just isn't on the current schedule. 

ps: if you own a good scanner, own and know how to use good OCR software, and want to volunteer, please privately message me.

[NickMiddleton]

Once we know that Chaosium absolutely has all the rights for an out-of-print title it is very likely that we will get it back into "print" in some form or other. If we feel it does not justify a full print run (which means 1000+ copies) we will offer the title as PDF and POD via Lulu and/or DTRPG. Researching the rights on some titles is not always as easy as it sounds. In the early days Chaosium made different deals for many of its products. For example, we do not have the rights to Raiders and Traders. If it was written by an employee we own the copyright on the text, like Ringworld, but we no longer have the rights to use Larry Niven's IP (Intellectual Property). The same could be said for Elfquest. While it may be possible to license the IP rights again that takes time and probably money. I believe that Worlds of Wonder was a combination work for hire and employee created project, but we would have to dig out the contracts (if we have them) and see what they say.

I imagine most of us are hoping stuff like Worlds of Wonder will be practical at some point (as a book, I think most gamers are aware of the challenges fo boxed sets these days) and things like ElfQuest and Ringworld are a bit of a pipe-dream.

That's not to say there aren't those of us who'd buy 'em, but I think we all know that negotiating reprint licenses for these old games is a somewhat quixotic wish, even with out the long list of more urgent priorities for Chaosium!

 

Alas, it's not just a "scan and upload the file" situation. I dislike the quality most "scan to PDF" efforts yield anyway. It's better than no PDF, but not by that much. It's the electronic equivalent of a bad photocopy.

MY first real awareness of you  Rick was the RQII Gloranthan Classics - and the contrast between those and the illicit scans of the same material that were (and alas, still are) around couldn't be clearer. Indeed, apart from just typical enthusiasm for this stuff, the interest now is that with yourself and the rest of Moon Design taking charge at Chaosium, any reprints that DO happen will be top quality.

As for "would they be straight-up reproductions or will any be revised?", that's also a "depends on the title" situation. If we are getting it back into circulation because people have a hard time finding the original without paying "collector prices" a straight reprint is probably best, especially if the game isn't played much any more. I do know one likely aspect of some reprints. It is very unlikely that we would reprint a boxed game, like Worlds of Wonder, as a boxed game. It would probably be done as a single hardcover book. As for when, we have a lot of work to do getting the company back firmly on its feet, fulfilling its current obligations, and also getting some new product out. We might work some magic on a few classic titles along the way, but massive amounts of classic titles coming back over the next few months just isn't on the current schedule. 

ps: if you own a good scanner, own and know how to use good OCR software, and want to volunteer, please privately message me.

I'll look forward to some news / developments in 2016

cheers,

Nick

[Steve]

A hardback reprint of the RQ2 rulebook has recently been confirmed.

 

[Guest Vile Traveller]

I certainly wouldn't expect much to happen in the immediate future unless it be some scanned and OCRed PDFs. I was more wondering if you had any priorities or definite 'go' titles, and whether we could expect to see any PDFs in the near future.

Pity that WoW might take a bit longer to sort out, but I'm certainly looking forward to the hardcover of that. I'm scared to crack open my booklets these days.

I'd heard about the RQ2 hardcover, although that sounds like the sort of thing that might be a while down the track (happy to be told otherwise!).

[soltakss]

I certainly wouldn't expect much to happen in the immediate future unless it be some scanned and OCRed PDFs. I was more wondering if you had any priorities or definite 'go' titles, and whether we could expect to see any PDFs in the near future.

 

I, for one, would prefer Scanned/OCRed PDFs as I could then legalise the ones that I might, or might not, have. 

[threedeesix]

I, for one, would prefer Scanned/OCRed PDFs as I could then legalise the ones that I might, or might not, have. 

I see what ya did there.