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...