Elements of Magic: Revised -- here at last!

[RangerWickett]

Certainly, but a free upgrade WAS promised. Which makes all the difference.

I still have my e-mail.

Bryon, the initial idea for an update was for it to be made 3.5 compatible and for us to fix a few balance issues, as we did with Four-Color to Fantasy. Over time, as we realized we wanted to make the changes more thorough and overall better, we realized the necessary effort would mean giving out complete free updates would sabotage our ability to make any sort of profit on the book. Which would mean no book.

The solution we came up with for that was to offer a rather sizeable sample of the revision as a free download. That certainly counts as more than an upgrade, since it's more than 40 pages of completely new rules.

We probably should have been more cautious in our promises early on, but back then we didn't realize this was going to be an 8-month process to finish the book. I hope you enjoy the freebie on the E.N. Publishing site, and if you like it, maybe you'll consider getting the pdf, to support the people who spent months on this book.

 

[Crothian]

Nice job on this one guys, it looks really good.

 

[RangerWickett]

Nice job on this one guys, it looks really good.

Thanks a lot. Honestly, it's a bit of a strain to work on a book for months, release it, and have the only responses be complaints. It means a lot that you like it, Crothian.

Russ, if you read this, swing by the ENPub forum and see my suggestions for clearing up the main page announcement.

 

[BryonD]

Bryon, the initial idea for an update was for it to be made 3.5 compatible and for us to fix a few balance issues, as we did with Four-Color to Fantasy. Over time, as we realized we wanted to make the changes more thorough and overall better, we realized the necessary effort would mean giving out complete free updates would sabotage our ability to make any sort of profit on the book. Which would mean no book.

The solution we came up with for that was to offer a rather sizeable sample of the revision as a free download. That certainly counts as more than an upgrade, since it's more than 40 pages of completely new rules.

We probably should have been more cautious in our promises early on, but back then we didn't realize this was going to be an 8-month process to finish the book. I hope you enjoy the freebie on the E.N. Publishing site, and if you like it, maybe you'll consider getting the pdf, to support the people who spent months on this book.

Well, I am certain I'll just be deemed a jerk for daring to be critical of the sacred cow of EN World publishing, but this is all just "why we broke our promise".

No big deal, business as usual these days.

If you are content to say that, then it is no big lose to me.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, I am certain I'll just be deemed a jerk for daring to be critical of the sacred cow of EN World publishing, but this is all just "why we broke our promise".

No big deal, business as usual these days.

If you are content to say that, then it is no big lose to me.

No, you're not a jerk. It's just that, to level with you, we couldn't make any money if we gave the book away to everyone who bought the first one. When we said we were going to give away an update for free, that was a long time ago, when were still thinking it was just going to be an update to 3.5 rules, maybe 10 pages long.

We knew we'd piss some people off with the way things turned out, which is why we made the teaser a 40 page whopper as opposed to the 10 pages or so that it needed to be. We didn't want people to think we weren't providing what we promised. In hindsight we should've posted "FREE ELEMENTS OF MAGIC UPDATE" with the link to the 40 page free download, and then called this book something like "The Geometry of Magic."

You were expecting something that we never intended to promise. We're freely giving away a 40 page book, free to download. I understand if you think we're reneging on a promise, but I certainly don't remember promising a 100 page new book for free. If I did say as much by email, then, well, send me an email, and I'll give you a free copy.

It was a mistake on our part on how we made some of the early announcements, and I'm sorry if we're injured your trust in us. We're just trying to support ourselves and put out products gamers will use and enjoy. And hey, if you swing by this thread, you can post a review of EOM - Revised, and get a free book still. *grin*

If there's still a problem, though, please, email me at RangerWickett at hotmail.com

 

[Morrus]

Well, I am certain I'll just be deemed a jerk for daring to be critical of the sacred cow of EN World publishing, but this is all just "why we broke our promise".

No big deal, business as usual these days.

If you are content to say that, then it is no big lose to me.

Please read this thread, BryonD. You've been told twice were you can get the rules for free.

Being told you're "breaking your promise" when you've actually exceeded it drastically (an entire 44 page free product! on the ENP website! instead of a tiny 10 page 3.5 update! as mentioned twice in this thread! ) is a tad... frustrating.

 

[BryonD]

Please read this thread, BryonD. You've been told twice were you can get the rules for free.

Being told you're "breaking your promise" when you've actually exceeded it drastically (an entire 44 page free product! on the ENP website! instead of a tiny 10 page 3.5 update! as mentioned twice in this thread! ) is a tad... frustrating.

please.

Page count is meaningless.
The promise was for a complete update and balance overhaul (my words) of EoM. That promise was not exceeded, it hasn't even been met.

If you can meet that promise in 10 pages, then GREAT.
A 44 page "preview" - not great, and not a fullfillment

It is your business and your call, but don't tell me that one thing is another

 

[Morrus]

Ah, well, if that's all you wanted, then it has nothing to do with this product and this thread.

If you just want a 3.5 update document for EoM-Original, we'll see what we can do. It won't resemble EoM-Revised, though, which is all completely new.

 

[BryonD]

Ah, well, if that's all you wanted, then it has nothing to do with this product and this thread.

If you just want a 3.5 update document for EoM-Original, we'll see what we can do. It won't resemble EoM-Revised, though, which is all completely new.

Fair enough.

I honestly do not mean this to sound snarky, but I hope you will understand that I jumped to the conclusion that a revised EoM was the same thing as EoM-revised.

But the original product did need some serious fixing.
A fix of that product was promised.
You are correct to state that the promised fix and this product are two different things.
However, I do feel my comments belong in this thread because the would-be fix is what morphed into this product, and it was the announcement of this new product that informed me that what I was expecting is not to be.