Wizards: Hurry up already!

[dpdx]

Dear Wizards:

Since I've read reviews on it already, I know that all the beautiful people have their advance copies of "Coruscant and the Core Worlds."

But the rest of us (okay, ME) need that book to show up, and we (I) need it to show up NOW. At a Barnes and Noble, so I can use this gift certificate my brother got me for obscene amounts of cash.

And WTH is with Ultimate Alien Anthology coming out in April? Or Galactic Campaign Guide coming out in August? Anybody work for a living in Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond?

Thank you for your time.

Fondest thoughts,
dpdx
Roi des pels

 

[Wikidogre]

check a FLGS, mine here has it. good luck

 

[dpdx]

check a FLGS, mine here has it. good luck

At a Barnes and Noble, so I can use this gift certificate my brother got me for obscene amounts of cash.

If it wasn't for such incongruities as this, I'd probably OPEN an FLGS... at my house.

 

[teitan]

As to the UAA and other books, there is a limited amount of material that WOTC seems to have the staff and time to produce. Remember all the recent lay offs by Hasbro? They weren't pretty at all and a lot of the leading developers and best selling authors got the axe.

You will see limited releases for all of the WOTC lines as they have three lines at least (D20 Modern, DnD and SW) to worry about and not the budget to produce them, they sold off the magazines etc to help clear some of the plate. Yeah they may be a major RPG company, but RPG companies owned by overly large corporations are not the top priority.

Jason

 

[dpdx]

As to the UAA and other books, there is a limited amount of material that WOTC seems to have the staff and time to produce.

Oh, I know. My main point is that Coruscant's DONE. But it ain't OUT, except for where Wikidogre saw it.

Besides, I see a few names on post-layoff Wizards releases that aren't "supposed" to be there (as in, they didn't survive the creative pogroms at Wizbro), which leads me to believe that Wizbro is hiring out (as in, contractors) to finish up the sets to a point where the skeleton crews can take over.

So if they can do that, they can publish a little more aggressively. And since they're paired up with Lucasfilm, and have access to all of the West End content, I don't ever want to hear from them that sourcebooks for SW-RPG are gonna be delayed, or released one day later than it actually takes to produce a half-decent book with a FULL staff.

But mainly, I just want the Coruscant book, so I can get started on some adventures.

 

[Ranger REG]

AFAIC, the book have already been printed. It's now up to the distributors to ship the orders to local retailers.

And besides, we have 15 more days till the end of January. So hold on to your knickers.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Besides, I see a few names on post-layoff Wizards releases that aren't "supposed" to be there (as in, they didn't survive the creative pogroms at Wizbro), which leads me to believe that Wizbro is hiring out (as in, contractors) to finish up the sets to a point where the skeleton crews can take over.

Well, you do realize how far these books are written in advance, don't you? I finished up my work on Coruscant and the Core Worlds last July, and I finished writing the Hero's Guide last June, and it doesn't even come out until June of this year. WotC is dealing primarily with freelancers on the Star Wars line, now, but they do the whole of the writing anyways.

So if they can do that, they can publish a little more aggressively. And since they're paired up with Lucasfilm, and have access to all of the West End content, I don't ever want to hear from them that sourcebooks for SW-RPG are gonna be delayed, or released one day later than it actually takes to produce a half-decent book with a FULL staff.

Actually, you've got it backwards. It's much harder to coordinate freelancers than to coordinate an in-house staff. Additionally, they don't reprint ANYTHING from WEG sourcecbooks; everything is original content. It means higher quality books that people from the WEG days will buy for the new mateiral. It's ludicrous to think that WotC would reprint WEG material, so that shouldn't even be a factor.

Licensing takes a long time, so calm down, be patient, and deal wiith it. It's not as easy as D&D, where they don't have anyone to answer to but themselves.

 

[dpdx]

Oh, please...

Well, you do realize how far these books are written in advance, don't you? I finished up my work on Coruscant and the Core Worlds last July,...

YEAH! That's my point, Rodney! You turned that stuff in months ago, right? In fact, the printer has already released copies of the FINISHED BOOK, right? So where is it?

Actually, you've got it backwards. It's much harder to coordinate freelancers than to coordinate an in-house staff.

Okay, but obviously you and your team overcame all that and got it to the printer, and now it's FINISHED, right? So the only part of this that is about you, Rodney, is that at least a few people are so amped to get at that new content you wrote, that they're not willing to tolerate Wizbro's haphazard, marketroid-laden, 'when I feel like it' distributing BS without saying something.

Additionally, they don't reprint ANYTHING from WEG sourcecbooks; everything is original content. It means higher quality books that people from the WEG days will buy for the new mateiral. It's ludicrous to think that WotC would reprint WEG material, so that shouldn't even be a factor.

Of course the team wasn't publishing WEG content word-for-word - I didn't say they were. I said they had "access to the content." (for ideas, and whatnot.) They said as much in the interview they did on wizards.com. At least one of the guys on your team came right out and admitted it!

But that's haggling over a tiny subset of the point I was making:

My major point is that Wizards' distribution channel needs to improve, and be free of the "all the executives get a copy off the first print run before the Rules Helpdesk even sees it" syndrome I used to endure at software companies. I suspect they're not free of it, and I'm calling THEM on it.

"January," "April," and "August" are not release dates. They're release months at best, and insults at worst.

Priorities, man. Everybody at once.

 

[Owen K.C. Stephens]

Although I feel your pain (I haven't seen the book yet, and I really want to see what Rodney has done in it), the reason WotC has release months is that release dates didn't work. Either someone didn't get the book from their distributor in time, or some store would put it out as soon as they got it, getting the jump on others who were dutifully waiting before selling copies.

It takes time for things to get through the distribution channel. And if you want Borders to get the book in faster, let -them- know. It's much more likely the delay is occurring at their end than at Wizards'

Owen K.C. Stephens.

 

[dpdx]

Well, Barnes and Noble, but close enough, and thanks.

I realize I'm not gonna change the way anybody does things overnight, but it needs change, and in the meantime, it's pissing me off.

So rather than blow up at some Wizards customer service person who has nothing to do with the process, I decided to take my frustrations public, and see if I couldn't get a witness, so to speak.

I know that the beautiful people read this board, and if I could make a dent in anyone's consciousness, and get them to think about the thousands of content-starved SW Gamers just raring to get a game going, or like me, write up an adventure, then that's a service to the gaming community.

I'm still not sorry I've done so.

Wizards must know they've been harsh to SW gamers, and if they don't, it's their own fault for not finding out, to wit:

- They killed the magazine.

- They released two rulebooks, without any recourse for customers to financially recover from the first one (like, say, a trade-up).I'm glad they released a better rulebook, but now I own two and the bookseller won't take the original one back. I can't buy many more $30 paperweights.

- Precious little usable source has come out since RCRB, and the peculiarity of the Wizards/Lucasfilm relationship for content precludes very much third-party content coming out for SW, and if it is, it's either rules supplements (which are great for their purpose), or Infinities (which I can't use). I need campaign worlds that are in the universe, or even talked about in SW material, but not done to death already.

My situation sets up best if THIS particular book is at Barnes and Noble, now. Next time, it might be a different member of the Wizards supply chain. But in general, and especially in this area, not enough content gets out. The game book you want, in ANY system, should not be hard to find. Most times, it is.

Core Worlds is IMPORTANT: it represents our first chance to see how the rules changes affect the universe, and more importantly, it tells us if the game is still on, or we should just pack up our grid paper and head over to DnD, permanently.

Wizards should be riding distributor ass to make sure it's on shelves. And they damn sure shouldn't be holding on to it at the printer for their own sakes. It doesn't get in my hands any faster when it's at the warehouse, anyway.