Chinese Government Burns Cthulhu RPG Print Run

The Sassoon Files is a Call of Cthulhu sourcebook Kickstarted by Sons of the Singularity... and printed in China. This week, they reported that the Chinese government had ordered the destruction of their entire print run.

The Sassoon Files is a Cthulhu mythos campaign set in 1920s Shanghai.

They wrote to their backers on March 22nd -- "We have suffered an unfortunate and unexpected setback with the off-set print run. On March 20th, the Chinese government ordered the destruction of our books. Although the printer returned our deposit, we need to find another printer and this will result in a delay in fulfillment. We are committed to completing the print run and fulfillment."

[video=youtube;G9Urosc-JEY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Urosc-JEY[/video]​

 

[Toriel]

China is increasingly on my radar as a place to avoid buying stuff from. I'd rather pay more for an item than encourage their policies limiting freedom.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How do *you* know? I submit that it didn't *tell* you so, because you are still capable of putting together a cogent sentence, which we wouldn't expect if you'd had direct communication with such an elder being.

Cthulhu is not a god out there looking for human respect and worship, like some puny narcissistic human god looking for validation from mere mortals. Cthulhu sleeps, and then wakes, and uses the planet as a large buffet table. What we do in the meantime is irrelevant.

Not be fair, though, Cthulhu DOES have a few Twitter accounts...

 

[Satyrn]

And the lesson here is:
If your going to print something concerning China, don't have it printed in China.

Yeah. When I saw the thread title, I said to myself, "well that doesn't surprise me."

Then, to see the book was about Shanghai . . . Surely the writers of a book about China should know enough about China not to print the book in China.

 

[Umbran]

Not be fair, though, Cthulhu DOES have a few Twitter accounts...

Bah! As if Cthulhu cares about likes on social media. Cthulhu does not engage socially. Cthulhu EATS societies.

 

[MockingBird]

Is this company U.S. based? If so then why not give business to American printers. I understand that costs was figured into the decision. This thought process is hurting the U.S. if every business decided to keep business inside the U.S. when it comes to production then eventually the costs would be competitive. I for one would pay a bit more knowing that fact.

 

[Immortal Sun]

Oh look you tried to cheap out and print in China and forgot for a moment this was China you're dealing with.

This is demonstrative that once again "cheap" is not always superior.

 

[pauldanieljohnson]

Is this company U.S. based? If so then why not give business to American printers. I understand that costs was figured into the decision. This thought process is hurting the U.S. if every business decided to keep business inside the U.S. when it comes to production then eventually the costs would be competitive. I for one would pay a bit more knowing that fact.

Likely because the audience comprises more than just Americans. True, some Americans (perhaps a majority, perhaps a minority) would be willing to pay more for a book if it was printed in their country, but tell someone from England, Canada, or Upper Zambootyland to pay more for a Made in the USA product and you won't get much enthusiasm.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

OTOH, because of this, they may wind up paying more anyway. And the initial print run may be smaller. And there will be inevitable delays.

“Enlightened Self Interest” is an important economic concept for producers and consumers alike.

Without actually demonizing China, there are all kinds of well-documented concerns about doing business there that- while lessened- have not disappeared.

 

[Elderbrain]

Take note out there you socialism/communism lovers. This is what happens when you give your freedom away or lose it and let the government have control.

I hope the moderator punishes you for your inappropriate political post, buddy. Attack the book-burners? Fine, perfectly reasonable. Use this to take a cheap shot at people in the U.S. who lobby for sensible, sane regulations? Not cool. Save that garbage for another site where it belongs, and where I can respond to you... appropriately.

As for the book-burners, I hope Cthulhu devours them.

 

[Elderbrain]

I am not surprised at all. Worse for them, because when they want to control all, then they put to flight the businessmen. Do you know videogames in China can't show dead corpses? There is a special censure in Warcraft about that. And putting limit of time for videogames.

Here we talk to about RPGs. Sometimes we can talk about History because some games are set in our past, and other times we can talk about modern society because cyberpunk RPGs is a genre what tries to warns us about a dark future if we don't fix our mistakes in the present.

If something we have learnt by the speculative fiction is the difference between a true leader and a toxic boss. Characters from "Game of Thrones" can show some examples of different types of good and bad leaders. The toxic boss or tyrant has got the power, but not true loyalty. The oppressors shouldn't hope best minds sacrifice themself as fresh meat for the cause, and they shouldn't be surprised when they are betrayed in favor of a rival for vengeance for the mistreatment suffered.

* Cyberpunk books warn us about a future where people is poor and oppressed by an oligarchy. This is just happening in Russia and China.

* Capitalism and oligarchy are two different things. The free market is the opposite of the oligopoly. You learn this reading Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek or Ayn Rand, not watching Robocop movies.

- The people you are citing are not known for either their credibility or their respectability. They're, shall we say, on the fringe...

 

[ParanoydStyle]

Take note out there you socialism/communism lovers. This is what happens when you give your freedom away or lose it and let the government have control.

Yo dawg, speaking as an anarcho-socialist, please don't conflate socialism with Communism. on Communism as much as you want. "National Socialists" (Nazis) burn books. Communists, clearly, burn books. Socialists do not burn books. I'm surprised in 2019 I still need to explain to people in 2019 that Socialism != Communism. Socialism has nothing to do with authoritarianism.

Communists don't have a monopoly on authoritarianism.

Well said. What rhymes with hump, lump, and chump?

...Anyway, as to the OP, I have two major thoughts:

1) What on EARTH was their stated rational for burning these books? Or did they not even BOTHER giving a reason?
2) What can we do to get back at these bastards? I know it's ridiculous since I am substantially less powerful than the NATION OF CHINA and PROBABLY can't exact any meaningful revenge, but honestly that was my gut reaction upon reading the original post. Nobody should burn RPGs/sourcebooks and get away with it.

Also I think this has got to be the most unassailably legitimate reason for delayed fulfillment in the history of Crowdfunding.

 

[MockingBird]

The only way we can fight back is by not buying things that are produced in China. That's tough to do unfortunately.

 

[ParanoydStyle]

Well for what it's worth, while in general I am stridently against public shaming in virtually any circumstance, and I don't know if it's even POSSIBLE to shame A NATION (and not just A NATION, but probably the largest nation in the world), I still think a massive coordinated campaign to tell the world that this thing actually happened--that the Chinese are burning books about imaginary monsters in 2019--might be a good place to start. Because you're right...virtually everything is made in China. But the Chinese government MIGHT still care about their optics, you know, how they appear to the rest of the world. Which is apparently BURNING BOOKS IN 2019. Hitler would be proud.

 

[jacleg05]

Didn't this happen to a game supplement of Venger Satanis a few weeks ago here in the US? Though I believe, they just refused to print it. I remember the cover was the back of a woman's legs and a small stream of blood was coming down one leg. The printer thought it was menstrual blood.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Didn't this happen to a game supplement of Venger Satanis a few weeks ago here in the US? Though I believe, they just refused to print it. I remember the cover was the back of a woman's legs and a small stream of blood was coming down one leg. The printer thought it was menstrual blood.

That’s a little different than what happened this time in China, and happens in all kinds of publishing. The recording industry is full of examples of changed cover art...including some abject refusals.

 

[Immortal Sun]

- The people you are citing are not known for either their credibility or their respectability. They're, shall we say, on the fringe...

As John Rogers put it:

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

 

[charlesatan]

In general, China has guidelines on certain tropes/themes that are banned from the country.

The concept of banning something is not inherently wrong--Germany bans Nazi iconography for example--but specific applications of censorship (since this is being performed by the government) are open to criticism.

Without reading the book in question, grounds for destroying the print run might include:

* Depiction of skeletons
* Criticism/Defilement of Chinese culture/traditions
* Promotion of drinking/smoking
* Time travel
* Cleavage
* Homosexuality

 

[Lucas Yew]

Why am I not surprised by this...

 

[billd91]

In general, China has guidelines on certain tropes/themes that are banned from the country.

The concept of banning something is not inherently wrong--Germany bans Nazi iconography for example--but specific applications of censorship (since this is being performed by the government) are open to criticism.

Without reading the book in question, grounds for destroying the print run might include:

* Depiction of skeletons
* Criticism/Defilement of Chinese culture/traditions
* Promotion of drinking/smoking
* Time travel
* Cleavage
* Homosexuality

Maybe... but before offering them too much benefit of the doubt, there's a difference in them suppressing materials designed for their own market and suppressing materials being processed for foreign companies for a foreign market. They've usually been pretty compliant with American businesses exploiting their labor force and lax environmental regulations. Too much of this kind of behavior loses them business that will probably go to the next cheap country (like India or Vietnam). Kind of makes me wonder if there's an additional factor involved in this case.

 

[Immortal Sun]

Maybe... but before offering them too much benefit of the doubt, there's a difference in them suppressing materials designed for their own market and suppressing materials being processed for foreign companies for a foreign market. They've usually been pretty compliant with American businesses exploiting their labor force and lax environmental regulations. Too much of this kind of behavior loses them business that will probably go to the next cheap country (like India or Vietnam). Kind of makes me wonder if there's an additional factor involved in this case.

It's entirely possible the printer was attempting to skirt the rules and then the government caught wind.