Hello all.
I’ve been willing to throw a few bucks at John for a couple weeks, but I do cringe a lot over the tremendous $25 shipping costs for a hardback.
So I considered the digital tier, although its lacking U’duasha is indeed a bit depressing. The Tinkerer may be fine, but I don’t really feel like I will hack the game a lot (plus, stretch goals already provided us with multiple settings and hacks by themselves, making for years of play), so again it’s a question of 25 dollars for the additional city alone.
You might say I don’t need U’duasha. Hell, if we go down that particular road, I probably don’t need the game. But John mentioned he could make U’duasha and its maps available as an add-on at some point so, with 18 hours to go, I thought I might just ask.
There was also word that U’duasha would be made available for free once the game releases, or during the KS survey, or whatever. Maybe it’s licence-related stuff. Nothing is very clear regarding this, I must say I’m confused.
Do you guys have any advice, besides “go for the damn $75”, which my current situation definitely doesn’t allow?
I had to enquire about a second matter : are translations already in the works? And if not, what would it take to start one, licensing particulars and so on? The CC status of BitD makes me wonder how it would stand commercially to handle the, say, French translation and selling of the game. Although I’m pretty sure others have had this very thought long ago.
Thank you in advance for your kind answers.
Translations can be done using the CC licence that comes granted with the Tinkerer stuff. If one would like to do a translation resulting in a pdf or book to be sold you would have to address John in regards of a commercial licence.
I noticed several expressions of intents to create a translation (German, French, Italian, Spanish) though I am not aware that they are already in the works. As the game isn’t finished yet and work done may prove to be futile.
In regards of U’Duasha I understood that it will be released awhile after the Kickstarter for a small price as John Harper wants to keep something added to the hardcover apart from ‘just the cover’.
Is there anyone else near you that is interested in the book? Maybe you can share shipping costs somehow??
Thanks for the quick and clear answer, Jennifer Fuss. My understanding is that we’re talking about a digital version of U’duasha for a small price? This would definitely fill my needs, I’d happily and almost blindly go with the $20 tier.
Oh and hum, I didn’t realize a translation would require the “hack right” granted by the Tinkerer and Hacker tiers. I will definitely take that into consideration. And of course contacting Mr Harper in case of a commercial use, out of courtesy if nothing else.
If you have any references or links to places where the French translation was mentioned, it’s warmly welcome.
Thanks again!
Rowdy Scarlett I had considered this option but, unless I’m mistaken, shipping costs go as high as $70 with the Four hardcovers tier, for a grand total of $245, thus $61 each. Granted it’s less than 75, but still a bit much for both my tastes and my purse. Not to mention the fact that I don’t think I’ll find 3 persons near me fluent in English enough and interested in the game enough to fill the spots 😉 Thanks for the heads up anyway!
It got mention in the comments:
“SlyBebop on March 16
I’m not a professional of any sort, but I would love to try my hand at translating at least the quick-start rules in French. If you’re interested John, let me know ;)”
So far its my assumption that it would count either as a hack or an edition of its own. Might be wise to check with John Harper. Same goes for U’Duasha.
Asking John is so obvious I didn’t even think it would work. I’ll give it a try anyway.
He does check the community regularly, which is why I tried to “summon” him by using the +Name stuff ^^;
I took the liberty of dropping him a direct mention in a private G+ post. If he’s able to comment I’ll be more than happy, if not I’ll come to a decision by myself, like the grown-up I should be 😛
I would be willling to pay the 75$ (or +5$ with the book now). I just asked at German customs and they’ve told me it would have to go through customs. That means I have to travel to the customs office (far away) to get the book. So, I have to decide between the 20$ or the 45$ (+5$) option, now.
Are you sure you would have to drop by yourself, BeePeeGee RPG? That the book should go through customs doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be there. I’m not sure if it could add cost, though, it depends on the type of goods and I don’t know a lot about German laws on the subject.
Well, if it adds cost (which they told me it would), then I’d have to pick it up from customs.
With a bit of luck it will bypass customs like most of my Kickstarter Projects did.
If it ends up in customs you might have a small chance to haggle. Arguing once that Kickstarter Projects are donations and not sales worked for me once (another time they billed a book as a game because it had dice next to it – so its a bit of a gamble).
Sucks indeed. I didn’t think books were subject to such nonsense. Oh well, the world we’re livin’ in, I suppose.
One more reason which would keep me away from the hardcover tiers, anyway… Darn taxes.
What is it you need about u’duasha that prevents you from backing if you don’t mind me asking? It’s not a previously published setting and the game has a ton of alt skins and settings now?
I don’t mind you asking at all, especially since you’re perfectly right : there’s nothing in particular, except an advanced case of completism on my part. I already know I’ll back, 20 or 45 tier depending on if I think I’ll work seriously on a translation, or not. U’duasha must remain an added benefit, not a decision maker, if I want to be reasonable.
That makes sense, Im a completist too… There were a whole bunch of folks complaining in the KS comments, when I read it I thought it sounded very negative. I didn’t want to ask there as some folks sounded like they wanted to fight. You sounded approachable and and I was just wondering.
To me it seems like with or w/o U’duasha Blades is a great bargain. I guess that they do too, but just feel like they aren’t getting everything and are being vocal about it. Personally with the POD I think this is the most accessible KS I’ve seen with some of the best return for the dollar. Thanks for not biting my head off and shedding some light on it.
Yeah well, I ended up getting the $45 tier, here’s to hoping I’ll make something out of the source material but if it comes to that and I don’t, at least I’ll have U’duasha heh.
I can’t really comment on the “bang for your buck” issue, since almost all crowdfundings I joined had a pretty good result, hence many stretch goals (most of the time anyway) and a very decent ROI, if I may say so about a game product without insulting anyone.
BitD is definitely on the good side of things in that matter, material-wise anyway. The shipping costs are awful (that’s my opinion of course) although it’s not John’s fault at all. As an EU resident, I just couldn’t wrap my head around putting $75 for a hardback, even with all the added digital content.
KickStarter (and their competitors) is only a few years old, so I guess we can’t really know how it’ll mature, but I’m dubious the current trend for lots of stretch goals in RPGs will really last. It hurts costs and production delays for a whole lot of projects, and it gives us customers really bad habits.
The phenomenon you’re describing is increasingly bothering me. People are not thankful for what they’ve got in these campaigns, which is often an awful lot ; they’re usually asking for a whole lot more, and sometimes not even in a very nice way.
I think that, if nothing else does, this should make editors and writers rethink their job, and focus on getting the product out there, not necessarily providing us demanding kids with shiny add-ons. In that respect, I find John’s choice of stretch goals quite wise, as well as accurate for the game’s sake : immediately and really useful material, as well as some stuff he won’t have to write himself, which is quite good in regards of the deadlines.
Just my 2 cents.