Vigilance Press releases Clash of Kings: Guilds and Money

[Urizen]

His title for the line is the same as one of the most popular fantasy novels as the last decade. So there are two options:

1) He didn't know that and it's just a coincidence.

2) He did know and used the title anyway. Why would he do that other than attract the attention of gamers who like Martin's book?

I'm not trying to be a jerk here but it strikes me as awfully dodgy. If he really didn't know about Martin's book, now that he does maybe he should consider coming up with a different title.

Have you even read the pdf?

 

[jaerdaph]

I'm not trying to be a jerk here but it strikes me as awfully dodgy. If he really didn't know about Martin's book, now that he does maybe he should consider coming up with a different title.

And you may wish to consider getting a law degree so that you actually know what you are talking about before you offer any more of your incorrect advice.

 

[Vigilance]

His title for the line is the same as one of the most popular fantasy novels as the last decade. So there are two options:

1) He didn't know that and it's just a coincidence.

This happens to be the correct stance.

2) He did know and used the title anyway. Why would he do that other than attract the attention of gamers who like Martin's book?

If this was my intention, don't you think I'd have the books resemble the book in question IN ANY WAY?

I had heard of A Game of Thrones before, but had no idea what the other books in the series were.

Looking at the Amazon description for the book, I see a politically-oriented fantasy novel, set in a "truly epic fantasy world with 8000 years of history", a "relentlessly ingenious dwarf" and "an amphibious assault".

Sooooo... to capitalize on that, I do a book about medieval guilds, European coinage of the middle ages, and a merchant/craftsman class?

And put the London Guildhall on the cover?

I mean... if I really was trying to "trick" fans of this book into buying my little 8-12 page PDFs I am doing for my own amusement in between freelance assignments, can you at least give me the credit to not be DUMB about it?

If I was going to rip something off, at least give me the damn credit for being to freaking rip it off.

You don't think I could come up with a similar fantasy world, file the numbers off and put it out?

Nope, I'm too dumb for that. Instead, I'll do historical fantasy d20 PDFs, put medieval pictures on the cover, and then just yoink the title and hope people is DUMB like me.

I mean... the covers for my books are a public domain painting of two Arthurian knights charging across a river, a public domain painting of Queen Elizabeth from the 17th century and a public domain painting of the London Guildhall from the 18th century.

Yep, all those things sure scream "epic fantasy world to me".

Everything about my books, the way I advertise them (like, uh, telling people that they're to help folks add a little historical European feel to their games), to the content (like including rules on the evolution of horsemanship, horse breeding and saddles) to the trade dress (like using period paintings for the covers) is designed to let people know what they're getting.

What they're getting, is d20 sourcebooks for historical Europe. Not "epic fantasy worlds", "ingenious dwarves" or "amphibious assaults".

I'm not trying to be a jerk here but it strikes me as awfully dodgy. If he really didn't know about Martin's book, now that he does maybe he should consider coming up with a different title.

I might consider changing it. But mostly, the reason I haven't, is twofold:

1st: The name of these books is not the name for the entire line. Of the three I've done, I've already used two different names. The more marshall ones are "Clash of Arms" and the ones that are more generally medieval are "Clash of Kings".

The decision to call books two and three "Clash of Kings: XXX" is more based on the fact that clash of arms doesn't seem to fit a book about nobility or a book about guilds.

There. You have ferreted out my nefarious scheme: I thought "Clash of Arms: Guilds and Money" would be a dumb title.

2nd: I've had exactly one person complain about the title. You. And your knowledge of my books is frankly woeful. Basically, you seem to have seen the title of my post, and reacted, without even bothering to go look at the cover thumbnails.

I think anyone who did THAT LEVEL of due diligence, just looking at 200x250 pixel THUMBNAILS of the covers, would realize I am not trying to create any confusion in anyone.

Trust me. I've been doing this awhile. If I wanted to rip someone off, I'd be more slick about it.

 

[Shane_Leahy]

I was thinking about buying this PDF, then saw this thread...and decided, damn gotta support someone like this...

3 PDFs later...

 

[rick_hershey]

You should do a greek historical book and call it Clash of the Titans

I wouldn't let it bother you, it is obvious to me that your product has no resemblance to the mentioned novel. Keep on doing what you're doing and try to ignore those people who want to rain on your parade.

 

[CaptainChaos]

I think anyone who did THAT LEVEL of due diligence, just looking at 200x250 pixel THUMBNAILS of the covers, would realize I am not trying to create any confusion in anyone.

Trust me. I've been doing this awhile. If I wanted to rip someone off, I'd be more slick about it.

You've been doing this awhile but you didn't think to even do a cursory Google search on your title to see if it was in use? That, sir, is due diligence.

Look, the only reason I even read your press release was that it said "Clash of Kings". I thought it might have something to do with Martin's work, so I clicked on it. I was able to see that this was something else entirely, which made me think the whole title thing was a classic bait and switch.

You want to keep the title, that's your affair. Personally, I wouldn't try to build a brand using the title of a NY Times Best Selling novel though.

 

[Vigilance]

Look, the only reason I even read your press release was that it said "Clash of Kings". I thought it might have something to do with Martin's work, so I clicked on it. I was able to see that this was something else entirely, which made me think the whole title thing was a classic bait and switch.

So what you're saying is, the title "Clash of Kings" made you click on this thread, but upon reading my post you were quickly able to see that my book was historical fantasy and not any attempt to rip off the Martin novel.

I see...

Well I can certainly see why that would upset you.

 

[Vigilance]

I was thinking about buying this PDF, then saw this thread...and decided, damn gotta support someone like this...

3 PDFs later...

Thanks!

 

[jaerdaph]

Edit: Hal is right.

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

I thought it'd be nice to have a reminder of what this thread is really about.