Advanced Class Codex by Green Ronin

[bolen]

We haven't given up on d20. We've launched the Bleeding Edge Adventures, in part because I think there's a market for good adventures that don't mine the nostalgia vein and in part because 32-48 modules are a lot less risky to experiment with than 256 page hardbacks. Mansion of Shadows, the first of these, is available as a PDF now and is at print for a June release. The second one, Beyond the Towers, is in layout and should be out in July. If you want to show us that there is still a viable market for generic d20 material, do check the line out.

This summer we've also got True Sorcery, which takes the Black Company magic system and revisises it so it can be used easily with D&D (or d20 Modern, True20, Thieves' World, or Iron Heroes), and Crisis in Freeport, the capper to the plot begun in the original Freeport adventures. In addition that material, we are still doing PDF projects like the Advanced Race Codex and others, and some of that material will be available POD as well.

Oh, and if you want something you can drop right into your D&D game, come see us at GenCon for the debut of...

The Deck of Many Things
A Card Accessory for d20 Fantasy
Artist: Eliane Bettocchi
Format: 24 tarot-sized cards in a tuck box
MSRP: $9.95
Product Code: GRR3004
ISBN: 1-932442-77-4
Release Date: August '06

The most famous artifact of them all comes to life with Green Ronin’s Deck of Many Things. Spice up your d20 fantasy game with this handy accessory. Each deck includes 24 tarot-sized cards beautifully illustrated by Eliane Bettocchi. Now you can watch the apprehension of your players’ faces as they draw from a real deck of cards. Pray for the Moon and beware the dreaded Donjon with the Deck of Many Things!

Only 24 cards? I know art is not cheap (maybe I dont know how much) but doesn't 24 kind of limit you (or does 1 card have many possiable outcomes. )

EDIT - Please dont take this as a slam, I was just wondering

 

[Nellisir]

Depends. Currently GR is charging something like $6.95 per race for the Races that are supposed to be in the Advanced Race Codex. NO way I couldn't get it cheaper in print from say Amazon.com or Buy.com.

PDF does not have an outside vendor that will provide 'discounts' for those looking for the low end deal and are willing to wait for delivery.

To produce. Pdf is cheaper to produce than print. And since GR's pdfs are predictive of print sales, it makes sense to do a pdf run to gauge the viability of a print run.

 

[Sledge]

Seeing as how the srd deck only has 22 cards, 24 is two extra.

 

[bolen]

Seeing as how the srd deck only has 22 cards, 24 is two extra.

shows what I know

 

[WayneLigon]

Only 24 cards? I know art is not cheap (maybe I dont know how much) but doesn't 24 kind of limit you (or does 1 card have many possiable outcomes. )

EDIT - Please dont take this as a slam, I was just wondering

A Deck of Many Things (DMG pg 278) only has 22 cards, normally; dunno what the other two are, but normally each card only has one effect.

 

[Yair]

GR used to be my favorite company, but I don't play D&D (or its derivatives) right now and that tends to cool down interest.

At any rate, I only read the Dwarves ARC pdf, and I wasn't terribly impressed. It was good enough, but rather bland in comparison to the full Hammer & Helm which didn't make me want to purchase the other entries in the series, sorry. (Especially given its OGC statemet, but that's my pet peeve so I'm biased.)

Yair

 

[Nightfall]

Actually I thought the Human chapter was very nice. You should try that one out instead.

 

[Twowolves]

Well, I am not going to engage you in a long, drawn-out debate on the economy, as it is largely off-topic and particularly since you seem to have an ideological axe to grind. But since you obliquely called me a liar, and since you keep banging your little drum by citing "sluggish economy" in every one of your posts, here's the last thing I'll write on the subject: a comprehensive analysis of the current US economy is a extremely complex undertaking that must take into account a multitude of often conflicting data points, and is almost impossible to do with perfect clarity in real time. Professional economists disagree over the interpretation of common economic indicators every day of the week. For example, consumer spending was up 0.6 percent in April. Doesn't that mean the economy is strong? Well, maybe, but it appears that much of that increase was due to high gas prices.

1. I didn't call anyone a liar, obliquely or otherwise. If I meant to say you were a liar, I would have said "You are a liar".

2. I have no axe to grind, ideological or otherwise, nor drum to bang. I just think it's funny how some folks want it to rain on some other folks so badly, they'll say that it's raining and hope the objects of their scorn will feel wet.

3. It seems to me that since a "comprehensive analysis of the current US economy is an extremely complex undertaking", I should just smile and nod and accept what you say is true, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, because, you know, it's so complex and stuff. In other words, I'm too stupid to understand the big words, so I should just let the social elite do the thinking and I should just agree with them, right? Riiiight....

While I must admit I did casually throw out the phrase "sluggish economy," I don't think you can be readily trumpeting that everything is hunky dory, either. Sluggish doesn't mean recessive much less depressive, but I probably should have wrote "uncertain economy," since the best anyone can say right now is that we are getting some very mixed signals regarding the health of the economy. Some signs are very promising, some are rather worrisome. If you want to see that glass as half full, great for you, man. I hope your investments do well. Just don't call me a liar for suggesting that the glass could also be half empty.

I'd believe "uncertain economy" over "sluggish economy", certainly. When a country kicks out UN atomic energy inspectors on Tuesday and then calls for the "wiping off the map" for another country on Wednesday, it certainly makes for an uncertain world. But the facts are pretty strong that the US is not in recession, nor depression, nor suffering high inflation, nor high unemployment, or any other of dozens of bell-weather indicators of economic trouble brewing. My point was that many many people DO have an axe to grind, and they casually throw out accusations that are completely meritless in the hopes of changing public opinion without something as niggling as facts or data. Don't take it personally, because I didn't mean any offence, but I did take exception with the trend in general, and in my virtual life as in my real life, I'm tired of letting half-truths and boundless insinuations go unchallenged.

Now, back on topic, I agree that the "D20 bubble" may have (or is about to) burst, but I really believe that is due not to the economy, but to the inevitable cycle brought out by the OGL and the reinvigoration of D&D by 3rd ed. Lots of people hopped on the d20 bandwagon, and flooded the market with product of varying quality. Now, years later, every concievable topic has been done, usually twice, and the companies with the best products are the ones still standing, it seems. But we have come to a point in the life cycle of the new edition where good ideas and real innovation are harder to come by, and the remaining competition in the field is stronger than ever before. Players who have been playing since 3rd ed came out have lots of books now, and aren't particularly interested in another book on elves, or on castles in the swamp, or new races, etc etc.

As for PDFs, like I said, I buy lots of books, but won't ever buy another PDF, and I certainly won't pay for the same book twice just so I can read one on my computer. If GR is releasing product in PDF form to see if it'll be hot enough to print, then the odds are pretty good that I'll miss out on some product, because a lot of people who think like I do would have bought a printed book on a certain topic but never would have bought the PDF, so the "trend" wouldn't have been seen and the product wouldn't make it into print. Essentially, because I and others of my ilk don't buy PDFs, our "vote" will never be counted by GR. Now, I don't know how they will actually run things, but off the top of my pointy lil' head that's how it seems. As if I can only have the pleasure of buying product from their company that others have "voted" for buy buying lots of PDF copies. *shrug*

But, then again, I don't run a company and my bills aren't paid by having my opinions on the RPG industry be accurate. Mr Pramas has a company, a good one at that, and has done research and seen the data and made up his (and his company's) mind. So be it.

 

[Nellisir]

I'd believe "uncertain economy" over "sluggish economy", certainly. ... But the facts are pretty strong that the US is not in recession, nor depression, nor suffering high inflation, nor high unemployment, or any other of dozens of bell-weather indicators of economic trouble brewing.

"Uncertain" works for me. There certainly seems to be plenty of work, yet I just got laid off last week. Everyone wants to ask about building a house, but no one wants to do it; and since I'm 1/2 of a two man company, and the other half is my father, when I'm laid off it means we're -really- out of work.

As for PDFs, like I said, I buy lots of books, but won't ever buy another PDF, and I certainly won't pay for the same book twice just so I can read one on my computer. If GR is releasing product in PDF form to see if it'll be hot enough to print, then the odds are pretty good that I'll miss out on some product, because a lot of people who think like I do would have bought a printed book on a certain topic but never would have bought the PDF, so the "trend" wouldn't have been seen and the product wouldn't make it into print. Essentially, because I and others of my ilk don't buy PDFs, our "vote" will never be counted by GR.

I'm sorry you got burned by one pdf, and it's too bad that one soured you on all of them -- or at least that's what it sounds like. As far as your "vote" being "counted" -- either you understand what a representative sample is, or you don't. If "a lot of people who think like [you] do" only buy print, there's a smaller, representative sample who will buy in pdf. I, for instance, am one of the freaks crazy enough to buy products in both pdf and print (I hate reading onscreen, but it's far easier to pull content from pdfs).

 

[Twowolves]

Nellisir: Sorry to hear about the job situation. I do hope things turn around.

I do understand "representative samples". I also haven't seen the same raw data that Mr Pramas has. I am just unsure how much faith I have in samples with less than thousands upon thousands of data points, and I'm not sure how much I would be convinced of the apparant trends. But, like I said, I can sleep easy knowing that my job doesn't hinge on my faith in the research. I was just throwing out the possibility that the "representative sample" didn't accurately represent ME. I can't readily accept that the only difference between me and the average PDF buyer is "paper vs electric". I suspect our tastes in content might be equally divergent.

And I didn't get burned by the one PDF I bought, in fact I quite liked it. But I ended up printing it out, and by the time I was done, I was out more money than if I had been able to just buy the hardcopy from the get-go. Like I said, I only bought it because there was no other way to get the book. Given that fact, I just don't ever see myself buying another, no matter who wrote it nor what was in it. I don't have a laptop, and I don't use a computer when running my games, so I'd end up taking the hit again on print copies that are expensive and of lesser quality.