I wish for BRP Essentials to be ...

[Nakana]

I fully understand that I am part of a very small and overall unprofitable club for the company to cater to. That being said this news confirms that there are no known products on the horizon that I am interesting in buying. (Was holding out for BRPE)

The only other thing I'd be interested in is World of Wonders, in any possible format (pdf, POD, reprinted new edition, etc.)

The only copies I can find for sale are around $100. Alternatively if anyone is interested in selling me their copy at a reasonable price please contact me. 

[Mankcam]

I'ld prefer the entire BRPE notion to be replaced with the title Worlds Of Wonder, it is just a better name. The core book could still be a slim hardcover about 100 pages. Then you could publish slim setting books of about the same page count covering the original Worlds Of Wonder settings, and possibly a few new ones, such as Wild West, Detective Noir, Hollywood Action Blockbuster, Sword and Planet etc. 

Failing that, a POD hardcover book + pdf of the original Worlds Of Wonder could suffice. However I think all this has been canned now, and will be for quite some time.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Mankcam

[Guest Vile Traveller]

1 hour ago, Nakana said:

The only other thing I'd be interested in is Worlds of Wonder, in any possible format (pdf, POD, reprinted new edition, etc.)

A compiled WoW book was the first thing mooted by Rick on The Acaeum after the shake-up, but there hasn't been any mention of it since then. I assume there must be rights issues involved which make it complex and thus low-priority. In other words, if I were you I'd keep an eye on eBay for an affordable copy. I got my "new" copy through Noble Knight, not cheap but under $100 IIRC (must have been or I wouldn't have bought it).

[g33k]

For me, in light of the new plans for the BRP line... well, there's not much.

RQ:New is on my "must-buy" list (the only way I won't get it is if I don't have the funds at the time the KS runs); sounds like RQ is going to be 4+ books, however!

If there were a 64-96pp "BRPE" (as previously mentioned/described in various places) ... again, it'd be a "must buy" book.

And... that's about it.

Which turns out to only be the one game, as "BRPE" remains an in-house resource only.

 

[Rick Meints]

11 hours ago, Vile said:

A compiled WoW book was the first thing mooted by Rick on The Acaeum after the shake-up, but there hasn't been any mention of it since then. I assume there must be rights issues involved which make it complex and thus low-priority. In other words, if I were you I'd keep an eye on eBay for an affordable copy. I got my "new" copy through Noble Knight, not cheap but under $100 IIRC (must have been or I wouldn't have bought it).

Worlds of Wonder being reprinted is still on the cards, and the only big factor determining when it will happen is that it is (wait for it) not a high priority. We have not discovered any "rights issues". I know a number of you HATE the "not a priority" reason, but that doesn't make it any less true. As a side note, while it was mentioned very early on after the shake-up, that does not equate to it being a high priority then (or now), it only means that it was thought of early on, probably because somebody asked me about that specific book early on. One thing is for certain: when I first started working for Chaosium last year I did not say to myself "now I can quickly fulfill my dream of getting worlds of wonder back into print immediately". :-)

In case you are wondering how a book like Worlds of Wonder gets reprinted, here is the basic process. Somebody takes the physical books and scans them in one page at a time. They take those scans and run them through an OCR program that turns them into a text file. That text file then needs to be edited for errors, which are mostly typos and garbled info. Once the text file has been edited to make sure all the text from the original is present and correct, it then gets put into a simple style format. Another separate effort is scanning each piece of art, graphic, or map individually at 300 DPI. These need to then be cleaned up. Taking that formatted and edited text file and the individual art pieces through layout like the RuneQuest Classics style is actually the easiest part of the process. Most of the time is spent on the error cleanup and editing.  

If you want to see Worlds of Wonder reprinted sooner, rather than later, please feel free to volunteer to help get it recreated (personally message me). If someone is willing to volunteer to create a single Microsoft Word file of all of the text from the boxed set, in a simple clean format, we are half way done. I am happy to work with volunteers willing to scan, OCR, and then clean up the material. My only caveats are that I cannot send you a physical copy of the boxed set or even a subset of its contents. You would have to have access to that yourself, plus have a scanner and the related software. 

[Guest Vile Traveller]

21 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

I know a number of you HATE the "not a priority" reason, but that doesn't make it any less true.

As someone who works in the tertiary education industry and thus has to prioritise on an hourly basis, I fully appreciate the issues. Glad to hear that it's not a legal rights matter. While I do have a set of WoW, and a rather natty scanner (hey, design faculty!), I have to say I have no clue about OCR. If someone here would care to enlighten me, you have a volunteer.

20 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

One thing is for certain: when I first started working for Chaosium last year I did not say to myself "now I can quickly fulfill my dream of getting worlds of wonder back into print immediately".

Sorry, that bit doesn't make sense. 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Vile

[colinabrett]

2 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

If you want to see Worlds of Wonder reprinted sooner, rather than later, please feel free to volunteer to help get it recreated (personally message me). If someone is willing to volunteer to create a single Microsoft Word file of all of the text from the boxed set, in a simple clean format, we are half way done. I am happy to work with volunteers willing to scan, OCR, and then clean up the material. My only caveats are that I cannot send you a physical copy of the boxed set or even a subset of its contents. You would have to have access to that yourself, plus have a scanner and the related software. 

@Rick Meints

 

Errrm ... at the risk of getting sued to smithereens, I have PDFs of Worlds of Wonder.

I originally got the pdfs from Basic RPS , which is now inactive but can still be found on the Internet Wayback Machine (going back to at least 2002). The Wayback link supplies the Rules, Magic World, Future World and Super World settings.

Please don't unleash a SWAT team of lawyers. I have never distributed (or even used in games) these files and they have just been sitting idle on my hard drive since 2002.

I can look into OCR-ing them into Word docs (I have a Linux box and there are several packages available) but really don't want to go further in case I get in trouble.

Rick: it would be great if you could advise.

Regards,

Colin

[Rick Meints]

Hi Colin,

Please don't look out your window while you read this. I want the legal swat team to get a clean shot at apprehending you... :-)

On a more serious note, we know that lots of illegal PDFs are floating around on the web, for almost any and every printed book, including ours. Of course, we greatly prefer you buy a legit copy of said PDFs if they ever become available from us! In the mean time, if you are not distributing them, and would prefer to use them for the greater good, we'll leave it at that. Those PDFs can be OCRd, and there are free software packages available on the web if you don't already have such software on your computer. 

NOTE TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO HELP: If you actually start OCRing something, put a simple post on this thread so people know what you are doing and don't duplicate that work.

[Nakana]

Alright this seems promising.

Full disclosure: when it comes to works that are out of print and either too expensive or simply not for sale legally anywhere the temptation to download and use those illegal PDFs is high. 

've seen those PDFs of Worlds of Wonder.  They are not high quality and parts of the original Magic World are simply missing. 

I would much rather have a high quality and legal PDF. 

If this can be somewhat of a loyal fan team effort then @Vile I can take your scans and do the rest of the work. (Full text file and high quality imagery). 

@Rick Meints would you have a problem with this?

[colinabrett]

16 hours ago, Nakana said:

I would much rather have a high quality and legal PDF. 

If this can be somewhat of a loyal fan team effort then @Vile I can take your scans and do the rest of the work. (Full text file and high quality imagery). 

@Rick Meints would you have a problem with this?

I second the call for legit PDFs. Or, as a wise man once said:

I have managed to get the PDFs I have OCR-ed and I'd be pleased to join a fan project. The quality is quite good but it will take some time to get the docx files reformatted to something useful.

Regards,

Colin

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Well, I shall start scanning my books tomorrow. In case anyone else is doing the same, I intend to start with Future*World.

Oh, question for Rick - I presume you also want the BRP booklet and all the peripherals ("what's in this box", etc.)?

Edited October 27, 2016 by Vile

[colinabrett]

15 minutes ago, Vile said:

Well, I shall start scanning my books tomorrow. In case anyone else is doing the same, I intend to start with Future*World.

I'm working on the Magic World PDF.

Colin

[Rick Meints]

All,

Thank you for the help. As for the BRP booklet, I would like to get that as a separate MS Word file.

I will look at creating a separate thread/topic for the Chaosium Scanning Initiative, or CSI for short...

In all honesty, there are lots of Chaosium publications that are in need of OCRing.

[colinabrett]

I've finished my copy of Magic World. As @Nakana says above, the PDF is incomplete but it might make a good start point. It has very basic formatting (which I hope someone more capable than I can make better) and runs to 21 pages. 

@Rick Meints: Should I upload them to this thread or would that encourage further illegal downloads?

Colin

PS: What is the preferred format? DOC or DOCX?

[Rick Meints]

Microsoft word DOCX is slightly preferred. Please email me the word file (rick@chaosium.com).

Thanks.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

3 hours ago, ColinBrett said:

I've finished my copy of Magic World. As @Nakana says above, the PDF is incomplete but it might make a good start point.

Colin, how about sending me your Magic World .docx so I can check it against my hard copy? Then I can fix any missing bits.

I'll finish Future*World soon. Which are you tackling next, Superworld or the Basic Role-Playing booklet? I'll take the other one.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Vile

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Future*World is done, I am now adding the missing bits to Colin's Magic World and combining the files into one while Colin works on Superworld. We'll keep the Basic Role-Playing booklet as a separate file.

[TrippyHippy]

Isn't Super World already available in PDF form as a standalone game? Obviously it's nice to have the original Worlds of Wonder box set available wholly though. 

[colinabrett]

@Vile

I've finished the SuperWorld draft and emailed it to Rick.

Colin

[Guest Vile Traveller]

@Rick Meints, it's probably a good idea to move these posts to their own thread, as you said.

[colinabrett]

Back on topic (sort of).

I must confess to having had some reservations about a 32-64 BRP Essentials book. The BGB, while hefty,  covers everything and I felt a slim Essentials volume wouldn't be as versatile.

Now, in working with @Vile on the scanning and conversion of Worlds of Wonder, I am frankly gobsmacked over the amount of material that can be crammed into just 32 (ish) pages. So, I'm glad to have had my reservations firmly staked with garlic in its mouth. 

If Worlds of Wonder (or even Essentials) comes to pass, I'll be there, cash in hand!

Colin

Edited October 29, 2016 by ColinBrett

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Back off topic again, with a bit of a status update: Colin has finished converting Superworld and most of Magic World, and I have finished Future*World. I have combined all three into one document and made sure the formatting is consistent throughout.

Still to do: scan and OCR the missing parts from Magic World as well as a few other bits and bobs, add those into the document, and proofread. A lot.

And then do the Basic Role-Playing booklet as a separate document.

And then harrass the Chaosium: "is it done yet? How about now? Now?" ... 

[Questbird]

18 hours ago, Vile said:

Back off topic again, with a bit of a status update: Colin has finished converting Superworld and most of Magic World, and I have finished Future*World. I have combined all three into one document and made sure the formatting is consistent throughout.

Still to do: scan and OCR the missing parts from Magic World as well as a few other bits and bobs, add those into the document, and proofread. A lot.

And then do the Basic Role-Playing booklet as a separate document.

And then harrass the Chaosium: "is it done yet? How about now? Now?" ... 

I'm happy to help out with proof reading.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

1 hour ago, Questbird said:

I'm happy to help out with proof reading.

Well, by proofreading I mean checking the document against my boxed set before submitting it to @Rick Meints. I'm sure the Chaosium has its in-house system for dealing with it after that.

[Mankcam]

It will probably then sit in the vaults like The Ark Of The Covenant, but hopefully Worlds Of Wonder is one step closer to reprint reality due to all of your efforts.

You guys have done a good thing here!