In the summer of 2012, Swords & Wizardry Complete was given away for free to over 17,000 supporters of the Reaper Bones Kickstarter. Think of that number for a second. Pretty huge, right? Sure, but it's a passive number. None of those 17k asked for the ruleset, so how many actually downloaded it, let alone read it or used it?
We have no idea really.
I do have some numbers from the Free Release of Swords & Wizardry Complete PDF yesterday. 116 PDF copies emailed and a bakers dozen waiting to be sent when i get home later this afternoon. Oh, and an unknown number that have downloaded from my DropBox link.
All in a bit more than a day. Just here at the Tavern. Others are spreading the love too.
These copies will be read and probably used at some point. These required interest and minimal effort to obtain, but effort none the less. Folks wanted their copies of S&W Complete and I can't blame them - it's my OSR ruleset of choice.
Now is the time for the Frogs to get the books into the hobby shops and on Amazon. The interest is there.
problem with frog god's books is they are way to expensive. considering the price plus shipping oversea. that's way beyond my purse...at least at the moment...
ReplyDeleteuh and i hate pdfs, i need dead tree...
DeleteUnfortunately, international shipping is expensive for everyone from the US. It isn't just FGG.
ReplyDeleteYes, the difficulty is (mainly) that we committed to make durable books. We use library-style stitched bindings rather than just paper glued to the inside of a cover, which is what most publishers do. The postage costs, of course, are something none of us can do anything about. Actually, the price of $35 for the stitched-binding hardcover rulebook is phenomenally low relative to everyone else, I think.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone who doesn't have experience with the Frogs' books, I'm happy to attest that they are of very, very good quality, and their customer service is very good as well. While I do think that the LotFP hardcover books are the best physical products to come out of the OSR and that they offer a bit more bang for the buck from that perspective, that's not a knock on the Frog Gods at all. Both the Tome of Horrors and Monstrosities are wonders of book engineering!
DeleteI totally sprung for the $110 S&W from the kickstarter. A stretch but I think worth it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. If you mask your download link with a bitly URL you can get link usage stats by adding a plus sign after the URL.
excellent advice and allows me to keep track of the stats!
DeleteSo they hit their goal and released the PDF?
ReplyDeleteYep - done deal :)
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