Ptolus at Amazon?

[Land Outcast]

I'm wondering if someone is willing to set a Small Store in Uruguay. That would be good, and allow me to have Ptolus.

[Sorry for the sarcasm, this is more than sarcastic, this is satiric... most people won't get it, probably]

 

[Treebore]

Your in Uruguay, probably difficult as hades to get gaming material there, not to mention shipping! I feel like I have it rough because my LGS is 54 miles away and my car/Conversion Van guzzles gas at 15.1 MPG. Yeah, I would have liked to by Ptolus, but I have my reasons and my situation in my life. I'm just sorry that the distributors and mom and pop shops are more important than back woods customers and those with too tight a budget to pay full price.

 

[Dark Psion]

Ok, but this statement doesn't make sense either. He IS releasing it in parts, as .pdfs. Their are 3 released already, and one of them is even free. And you COULD have paid for it over time, a whole years worth of time with the preorder.

Yes pdfs are nice, but books are better. If the pdf books were made availabe in Print-on Demand I might consider it.

As to the preorder, it was not made available from a source I know and trust. Yes, there are many sites online that will take my money, but some of them will not give me a book in exchange

Treebore hit the Kobold on the head, Monte is worring about who distributes the book when he should worry about getting the book into as many hands as possible. The more stores that sell the book, the more books you sell and the more people get to play in your world.

 

[Talgian]

As to the preorder, it was not made available from a source I know and trust. Yes, there are many sites online that will take my money, but some of them will not give me a book in exchange

While I personally do not care for White Wolf, they are a well established and reputable company. They're generally considered the second biggest RPG producer behind WotC, so I imagine (and I did pre-order through them) that they're a secure place to buy from.

-Talgian

 

[6pakofdwarves]

I see his reasoning, I admire his desire to help the smaller stores and distribution channels through his loyalty. But he failed to get his product to this customer.

Treebore hit the Kobold on the head, Monte is worring about who distributes the book when he should worry about getting the book into as many hands as possible. The more stores that sell the book, the more books you sell and the more people get to play in your world.

I see where you guys are coming from on this point I suppose. But truly, it is not Monte's fault that you won't use the channels he has provided for purchase. Both White Wolf and Drivethru are reputable company's. I also don't think this is a product designed for wide distribution any way. By it's very nature (size, cost, layout) it is a niche product. And from everything I have seen Malhavoc indicate online, they are VERY pleased with the pre-orders. I doubt this book is hurting their bottom line at all, probably just the opposite. I think the business decisions and distribution model they are following are just right for the type of product Ptolus is.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Well, why dont people do what I'm doing...

and not buy the book.

D00d isnt forcing money out of our wallets. I mean I actually want the book, it's a great looking book and the material seems on the spot, but I'll be darned if I shell out $120 for a game book. And for the record, that's MY judgement and not an indictment of anyone who choses to spend thier hard earned money on it.

I got my copy of WLD from an online store for about $70, My copy of Wilderlands of High Fantasy for about $40, I'm pretty sure that some online distributor will be selling Ptolus for much less that cover price well after the book comes out. It's just the matter of waiting and if not then I dont own the book. My life wont end, the world wont stop. Some of you are acting like this is a heroin fix, it's not, it's a book.


And the person saying this is a BIG Malhavoc fan I have almost everything that Malhavoc has put out either in print or PDF. But $120 that's a bit much, even for me. Maybe i'll change my mind when I actually see the product, but for now...

 

[johnsemlak]

While I personally do not care for White Wolf, they are a well established and reputable company. They're generally considered the second biggest RPG producer behind WotC, so I imagine (and I did pre-order through them) that they're a secure place to buy from.

-Talgian

White Wolf's site was hacked not long ago by some people looking to steal credit card data. I can certainly see this as a reason people would avoid ordering from their site (though WW may have in fact solved the problem entirely).

 

[Vocenoctum]

And from everything I have seen Malhavoc indicate online, they are VERY pleased with the pre-orders. I doubt this book is hurting their bottom line at all, probably just the opposite. I think the business decisions and distribution model they are following are just right for the type of product Ptolus is.

The best thing about the pre-order situation, is that it actually gives them a great guage of how many books to actually print. Sure they need enough to make all the time spent on it actually worthwhile, but above that he doesn't need to make a whole lot more than he has ordered.

 

[skinnydwarf]

The best thing about the pre-order situation, is that it actually gives them a great guage of how many books to actually print. Sure they need enough to make all the time spent on it actually worthwhile, but above that he doesn't need to make a whole lot more than he has ordered.

Personally, I think this is going to be a really cool book. However, I'm not going to buy it right now because A: I really don't have the money for a $120 book I'm not going to use for awhile (I'm a law student, I barely have time to play games let alone DM them). B: I'd rather play in the world before DMing it. From the bits I've read of the Players Guide, it looks really fun.

I'm sure I'll be able to get it on ebay eventually. Or as a *.pdf. If I'm still in school when I get it, I can use the school printers. We don't pay per page, and I don't mind it being B&W. Does anyone know what the *.pdf is going to cost?

 

[BSF]

Just to pipe in here.

Ptolus is going to be a limited run print. Monte has said that from very early on. To me, that sounds like a collectible item. Given the stated production values, I don't think it is an unreasonable presumption on my part.

There is a lot of buzz over the death of the FLGS and how Amazon.com has contributed to that. Monte has also stated very early on that he was not going to offer this through the book trade channels.

None of this is really news, it is just brought back up by the listing on Amazon.com.

There is also a lot of buzz on how non-WotC d20 RPG books are being treated more like trade magazines. Distributors order once and never replenish. Effectively, these books are no longer in a backstock channel. If you don't get the copy that your FLGS ordered, then the FLGS might not even be able to restock the product.

I can understand a certain amount of frustration from folks here. But let's take a look at some of the stated realities that have come up on the boards in the last year and a half.

Reality: A certain segment of the market buys collectible products because the financial limitations for that segment are higher, or non-existant.
Reality: The FLGS is becoming reluctant to stock high value items that will immediately be sold cheaper at Amazon.com.
Reality: The FLGS is still a really good place to actually sell collectible items.
Reality: The hobby distribution channel is a bottleneck to backorder replenishment. As a result, that first sell through the channel is likely all that you will sell. Backstock will eventually be liquidated after sucking up cash flow for a while.

What I see is Malhavoc taking a chance on playing to the market realities. Monte is creating a book that won't rely on backstock replenishment to reach the ROI for the project. Do I necessarily like that? Not really. But that isn't because I dislike the way Monte is approaching it. I dislike that apparent market realities seem to make this a creative solution to what is happening. I hope Monte's plan is successful. If it is, there may be other options available to other publishers that are leaving the market entirely. It still sucks for those people that cannot easily afford to make this purchase. But eventually some copies will show up on EBay. There will be the secondary market of used product. There will still be opportunities for PDF sales. It won't completely go away. You just won't be able to find the full collectible package sometime after it is released. Of course, that has been happening to me at the local FLGS for years now with all sorts of D20 product.