GOD RULES: Player's Guide (5e) Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page

[Upper_Krust]

I think the question is: why are you making so little profit off the print version?

As far as I am aware I'm making the maximum profit without overcharging the Customer.

My original target price was $35 (PDF) and $70 for the book - though the current exchange rate has bumped that up a little.

I noticed most Publishers add about 5-10% more for Book + PDF deals). So I added £2 from the pdf to the Book + pdf.

In a 'normal' Kickstarter books (of this magnitude) are around $70 (Profit & Printing costs) + shipping. Printing costs here are $33 (and $54 for glossy pages).

I am charging £30 - basically the profit. But backers have to pay that £30 to get sent a Discounted Complimentary Copy from Drivethru.

So backers pay £30 in the Kickstarter then pay an additional +$33 (or +$54) on Drivethru + their shipping ($6 in the USA for standard shipping, $17 for tracked and signed).

So the book will cost backers approx. $70 (or $91) + their choice of shipping.

 

[Upper_Krust]

@Upper_Krust congratulations man on this project.

Thanks AnotherGuy amigo!

I'm very much looking forward to your first two products specifically! I promised my table I'd run our game all the way to level 20 (at least once in my life), they're currently level 15 and we are having a blast. With a product like this I could continue that campaign for a while longer.

You'll find adding these rules super-easy. Its all modular simple templates and then you get to pick a small number of Divine Boons. After this I think the only 'hurdle' for Epic & Immortal Tier games will be the immediate lack of (challenging) Monsters - but once I get my first Epic Bestiary on sale with 100+ new monsters in (possibly up to) 14 "groupings"* I think you'll have years of campaign material and tons of templates.

*its not laid out in the conventional A-Z sense its more like Elder Evils (but a larger group of monsters) where you get maybe around 28 pages of monsters thematically linked in some way. Toying with the idea of whether this will have maps or not.

12 of the planned 14 sections are loosely aligned to one of the monster Types: Aberration, Beast, Celestial etc. Currently with two repeats (at the omission of Fey* and Oozes**).

*Who get a big entry in the planned 2nd Bestiary
**There are Oozes in the 1st Bestiary, just in other sections.

The group is currently in Forgotten Realms, there will be some plane-hopping but being a Mystaran fanboi, I intend to return to the reality of Mystaraspace and explore Dimensions, The Void and all the weird and wonderful that setting has to offer for Immortal-level campaigns.

I've actually got this amazing tie-in for Mystaran fans (in particular Mystara Immortal fans) but I'm not revealing it yet - so no spoilers for now...apologies for the tease - its a cool nod to that lore.

I also like the idea that you're thinking of keeping it simple and not just have more and more levels which is something that appeals to me as a DM for encounter design and running a combat.

You have to keep things simple at these High Levels. Back in my 3rd Edition days I thought infinite class levels was the way to go - and while I know lots of people here love my 3rd Edition Immortal rules I think its just a flawed design choice. We cut our teeth in 1st Edition with our own Immortals Rules - how we played then was always what I envisioned for people using my rules. But I got carried away burdening characters with too much 'stuff' in 3E. When I looked back at my 1st Edition Legends & Lore (greatest book ever) I noticed most immortals had 1, 2 or 3 unique powers - not the 6, 8, 12, 16 + I'd outlined in my 3E Immortals Handbook. So I have went a bit back to basics here and simplified and streamlined everything.

Characters still have largely the same amount of options/powers to choose from, just that they won't be able to gain more than a few at any one time - but they can swap all Divine Boons out each time they gain a new Divine rank - to try different builds.

Most importantly the table would have to figure out new hooks/goals for the PCs for epic tier play.

Slight tangent from what you are asking but I do have a table in this book for randomly generating crazy epic campaign ideas - and it is accompanied by probably my second favourite art piece in the book.

So if you (or anyone else) roll four d20 in order, I'll tell you the result you just rolled on the table.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Very excited to hear that you're finally approaching completion @Upper_Krust !

Its been a long time coming my friend. Thanks for the support.

I wonder, will we get a tease or sample stats for the Neutronium Golem as part of your pre-release publicity?

Yes but not in this book.

As a slight aside I am considering 3 short books spinning off of the Player's Guide - so two of these you won't need to buy if you have the Player's Guide as the material will largely be the same.

A. God Forged: Artifacts (basically chapter 7 from the Players Guide)
B. God Rules: Epic Spells (basically chapter 8 from the Players Guide)
C. God Forged: Epic Golems... new material spinning out of the Dimensional Forging rules

If you noticed in the Kickstarter Pre-Launch I have a section called Dimensional Forging and its probably the craziest part of the book. This has 50+ new materials and not only outlines the powers of each but lets you splice and combine materials to create completely unique materials in certainly millions, possibly billions of combinations. So I was thinking...what if you turned all these materials into golems! This is very simple to balance - because the materials are dimensionally linked so we know the narrow band of Challenge Rating each golem will be. Neutronium (for instance) is a 4D* material so I know such a Golem will be CR 40-52 (probably 52 I am thinking). But you could Splice Neutronium (maybe its an iron golem with Neutronium flakes). Or Combine Neutronium with something like Uchronium (Crystalized Time) - into Neu-chronium or something.

So with this one book I could give GMs an unlimited amount of Golem options for ANY conceivable power level (and some of the weaker materials (Mithril, Force etc.) could be used in Non-epic/Immortal Campaigns, so its not solely epic material (just 90%).

*Dimensions of Consciousness - not spatial dimensions.

I'd be interested in seeing how it compares 1:1 with the old Epic Bestiary version, but it's also probably the best-know part of your oeuvre, so I bet it would help people connect this project with your older stuff.

I do have a soft spot for the Neutronium Golem, the God Forged: Epic Golems book might be worthy of its own quick Kickstarter (after all backers get the Player's Guide that is). I think someone else suggested I get a miniature of the Neutronium Golem designed and I think that might be a cool idea and I could have it on the book cover.

...maybe I should call the book God Forged: One Million Golems...since its both non-epic and epic golems.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

As far as I am aware I'm making the maximum profit without overcharging the Customer.

My original target price was $35 (PDF) and $70 for the book - though the current exchange rate has bumped that up a little.

I noticed most Publishers add about 5-10% more for Book + PDF deals). So I added £2 from the pdf to the Book + pdf.

In a 'normal' Kickstarter books (of this magnitude) are around $70 (Profit & Printing costs) + shipping. Printing costs here are $33 (and $54 for glossy pages).

I am charging £30 - basically the profit. But backers have to pay that £30 to get sent a Discounted Complimentary Copy from Drivethru.

So backers pay £30 in the Kickstarter then pay an additional +$33 (or +$54) on Drivethru + their shipping ($6 in the USA for standard shipping, $17 for tracked and signed).

So the book will cost backers approx. $70 (or $91) + their choice of shipping.

Ok, I guess I see what you’re doing. I just don’t normally see it explained that way. Typically I see a cost for PDF only, cost for Book only, and a cost for the two together.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Thanks, birthday is actually this coming Wednesday but more convenient to celebrate on the Saturday. Wish your daughter a belated Happy Birthday from me and hope she had a great day.

She really did, thank you.

 

[dave2008]

If anyone is interested in such a thing either post in this thread or message me privately.

Well GreatestHonor already said they would prefer blank pages earlier in this thread"

Personally, I would prefer a a version with no AI. Whether stretch goals make it viable to replace, or the pages become blank.

I heavily dislike AI “art”, so even a text-only version would be favorable for me.

Some people really do not like AI art.

To be clear, I am not overly concerned about those who don't like AI images not willing to get your book. My concern is bad PR. AI images are a big no-no in a lot of the industry and I worry it could generate a negative flow away from this wonderful product..

 

[Morrus]

To be clear, I am not overly concerned about those who don't like AI images not willing to get your book. My concern is bad PR. AI images are a big no-no in a lot of the industry and I worry it could generate a negative flow away from this wonderful product..

It will. Ethics aside, it’s a death-knell in this industry. People won’t back it, Kickstarter won’t promote it, and outlets won’t cover it. The negative pushbacks for companies the size of WotC all the way downwards to indie companies who had to deal with the outcry when they accidentally used just one or two pieces of AI art have been pretty well publicised.

It’s a bold move, I’ll give you that. But it would not be my advice, even ignoring my strong ethical opposition to it.

 

[Upper_Krust]

It will. Ethics aside, it’s a death-knell in this industry. People won’t back it, Kickstarter won’t promote it, and outlets won’t cover it. The negative pushbacks for companies the size of WotC all the way downwards to indie companies who had to deal with the outcry when they accidentally used just one or two pieces of AI art have been pretty well publicised.

It’s a bold move, I’ll give you that. But it would not be my advice, even ignoring my strong ethical opposition to it.

It's not a decision made lightly Morrus, nor is it something I'd look to do in any future books. But I have painted myself into a corner on this one. Having already spent my life savings paying artists for over 100 illustrations (and you as a Publisher yourself know what that means financially speaking) then having to split the book into two books on top of Epic material being niche I know I probably won't make back what I have already invested.

That said, I'm happy to do Stretch Goals to replace AI art with more art by real artists or even offer an AI Free version. But I can't afford not to release it. I appreciate your opinion on the matter though - always happy to take advice, especially from yourself or other publishers.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Well GreatestHonor already said they would prefer blank pages earlier in this thread"

Yes noticed that earlier buddy

Some people really do not like AI art.

To be clear, I am not overly concerned about those who don't like AI images not willing to get your book. My concern is bad PR. AI images are a big no-no in a lot of the industry and I worry it could generate a negative flow away from this wonderful product..

I appreciate your concern mate. I am not trying to become some champion of AI Art, nor am I intentionally snubbing real artists - many of whom I have paid handsomely for their fantastic work. Just over ambition on a project got the better of me.

Saw the first episode of Twilight of the Gods earlier. Very good. Thor suitably powerful...maybe even as powerful as my version in the book, who knows. ;-)

 

[Upper_Krust]

Ok, I guess I see what you’re doing. I just don’t normally see it explained that way. Typically I see a cost for PDF only, cost for Book only, and a cost for the two together.

It's one of the options Drivethrurpg offer and it seemed the best fit for this project Uni.