Quote:
Originally Posted by lawrence.whitaker
A 600 page core book is unlikely to be attractive for a professonal publisher. It carries several risks:
Format, layout and editing such a huge book will be a massive job. Games companies have limited time and resources, and tackling 600 pages, plus 173 pages of skills and powers (which will need cross-reffing, double checking for fit, consistency and balance, etc), may not be attractive simply in terms of the amount of time it will take.
The second risk is physical size. A 600 page book, even in paperback, is going to be a monster tome to physically print, bind, ship and display. This indicates a high price-point, which may put customers off. Also, there's artwork to be considered - a LOT will need to be commissioned to break up the text and that pushes-up the page count. The book, with 600 pages of text, once layout and art s factored in, could be up to 700 pages - double the size of BRP Zero, for instance.
The third risk is Licence. Have you submitted this to Chaosium? If its using BRP, then you really need to. Unless, of course, you've found a publisher who has licenced BRP already. If you haven't, and you decide to PDF or go for prnt on demand, then you'll need to have some form of agreement with Chaosium to use the BRP system.
All that said, I do wish you well with the work, and I've enjoyed reading the snippets you've put-up here.
Lawrence
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The size is an issue. I've considered breaking into three "region books" or a "setting" book and an "equipment" book. I would be willing to go with either option. I started writing it and just kept adding to the same word file and now it's big. How it is broken up matters little to me.
As for the price point, I personally couldn't care less. The only thing that I do care about is artwork and I can drop 3-4 grand into that if I have to.
The book is done from my vantage point. It is getting edited now so that by the end of the year, all I will need is .jpg's and .png's to insert into the word file, PDF it and give it to someone to print.
So, if I have it "my way", I will have paid for the art, the writing, the editing and everything else...but someone needs to print and distribute it. If I have the option, I would cut my share of the deal to zero dollars to have the retail price be about 20$...the cost to the publisher and the cut to store owner.
This is neither a labor of love, nor a job. It is a hobby and I like to make stuff for other people to, hopefully, enjoy. Plus, I just really like game stats...
-STS