Way leads on to way, and other such hogwash.  

Innocently, while browsing the 'completion' thread, I saw a cat that had done a continuation of the G-series, and was still available via Lulu.  How can you not want to have a differential take/continuation, etc for the G-series?  Who didn't get a natural ass-whupping when peeking in the dining room with all the giants staring at them, like morons, back in the day?  Add it to the cart.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/g ... on/6520290

And since I'm using a coupon, I should probably just pick up G5 now, too.  For efficiencies sake; shipping cost.  Why, I'd be foolish not to buy it!

And look down there, there's this other OSRIC adventure

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/b ... wed/left/4

Good look.  Nice feel.  Former Dungeon contributor...what's a $11 flier on an unknown?  I've spend dumber money before.  And the surprises are always worth it!

And then you look at other similar items...and get sidetracked by another author also doing the retro feel, but he's also got a 3.5 urban faux-adventure path concept...huh.  Nice art.  Concept for some of them seem interesting.  And I've got that coupon, after all...

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/t ... rs/3785530

I hate this place.  For a free site it sure is expensive.

Sunrunner44 - poor with green money, rich with blue-mapped cardboard stock maps.

WereSteve wrote:Just to add to your woes ... I find the following to be quite good ...

http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=johnny+rook+games

Steve

Ah...dang it!

And I just got through the first two issues of Fight On!  Almost ready to order more...but I am also getting an issue or two of No Quarter, and am backlogged a few months of Kobold...and maybe Level Up.

And I maybe found a few old misfiled Dungeon magazine and had to re-read those, too.  They're really pretty good, in retro-read.

Sunrunner44 - has an asset bubble of RPG magazines.

FormCritic wrote:Ah...dang it!

Sounds like another victim ...  

Watch out for the continuation of the G-Series. There are about four different versions of G4, each with very little difference, and no clear indication of why there are different editions of it. The author is a member here, so I'd ask which G4 is currently the real one, and which are spinoffs.

These would be a good candidate for a 'supermodule' printing with quality aretwork, maps and typesetting. If a printing of Mad Archmage is a success, then maybe that paves the way for established publishing houses to pick up small press works and bring them to print with the quality and experience needed to have them succeed in print.

On the whole, Lulu product is poor quality because there is no editing or quality control. They literally print whatever the author wants them to, and very few authors have the experience or inclination to polish their works, or the professional detachment to be able to see the flaws in their little  achievements. That is why established publishing houses will always offer better quality product over solo author with lap top and mate with pencil.

So, buyer beware. Lastly, never pay full price for anything. There is hardly ever a time when Lulu aren't offering at least 20% discount. You have to be really desperate if you pay the author's asking price for something.

Fair point. I have no experience of Mongoose stuff, wouldn't touch it with... I have found typos in TLGs stuff, some quite annoyingly obvious that even a basic skim read would throw up. But what TLG get right is their presentation and typesetting. What I find with most small press guy on a sofa type offerings is that the product fail in so many different ways. Poor typesetting, poor editing, bad mapwork (although maybe the best a mate can do from a sofa with a laptop), bad artwork, poor cropping, poor typesetting, lack of alignment, justification and centring, the list goes on.

The problem is, with Lulu you have know way of knowing how sh!te or not what you're buying is, and you have no comeback because no author is gonna say, "Hey, I know my stuff looks like crap, but I just don't understand what the difference is between my stuff and the professional stuff. The words are in the right order, so it's as good as Goodman Games and that's why it's priced accordingly."

There is no way of encouraging authors on Lulu to be honest about their work or right to get your money back if what Lulu sell you is sh!te. ANd more often than not, it's gonna be sh!te (in comparison to what you pay for it) because if it was actually really worth publishing and selling to the public, a publisher would already have done it. Other than the odd publisher that is now using POD as a revenue stream (FGG etc.) ninety-odd percent of the rest is stuff that should be given away free because it's only hobbyist quality.

Occasionally you get something like the G-Series that should be picked up by a publishing house and remarketted, like GG did with LotFP's Esoteric Creature Creator, and that process alone is a learning process that can push an author into self publishing professionally, as it did with Edward Raggi. Problem is, most authors don't understand, don't care' or just don't get it. Lulu panders to them and proffits accordingly, but there is a reason they conduct their store like a discount bargain basement shop with permanent sales and discount vouchers, and that's because what they sell is bargain basement quality cr@p for the most part.

What Lulu needs is a section where buyers can leave undoctored feedback about a product they have bought. You only let buyers leave feedback and you attach it to their ID so it's not anonymous, and hopefully that would deter lying or badmouthing without substance, but at lease buyers could see what other buyers think about something.

RPGNow does this, although for the most part they bias their 'inhous' reviewers or author associated reviews, so you have to take it with a pinch of salt.

Personally, I've never bought something from Lulu that I have truely felt was worth the purchase price. Occasionally there are PDFs that are worth the investment, but those are on the whole substantially cheaper. The problem is authors don't care about producing quality anymore. They just bang out any old sh!te because anyone can do it. And let's face it, most of us can produce work equal to or better than the majority of that on Lulu, so why throw money after other people's garbage?

Those who do produce good quality work inevitably come to the fore, because publishers need good quality product to remain in business and need to scout talent wherever they can find it. If they can't get noticed by a reputable publisher, they're not worthy anyway, either through lack of talent, or lack of interest in doing a good job. On those grounds, they aren't worth buying product from in the first place.

As a buyer, I'm more than happy to throw hundreds of dollars at product from up and coming authors, so I make a point of looking at new works and emerging authors. But for the most part, these authors have the same gaps in their understanding of their market, and they know they are destined to fail, and they know why. They just don't have the desire or the drive to make the changes needed to stand out and progress their works.

The thing is that the tide of technology has create a situation where there is very little difference in the raw capabilities of a Wizards of the Coast and a kid working out of his apartment.

I would have to dispute this. A publisher has at their disposal the ability to write, illustrate, edit, present, typeset and publish a product, and the ability to stand back and objectively view that product in terms of quality, price point and placement in a market that they, on the whole, have a good understanding of.

Timmy The Gamer has all the same tools, but the odds are very low that he has a group of friends that can fulfill all the above functions to the same degree of quality, and I have only ever come across one or two individuals who can stand back, objectively criticize their own product, correct it's flaws, and then correctly place their product in the market.

It is that gap, and more importantly, the sheer ignorance that that gap exists by self professed authors, that creates this torrent of mediocre drivel. They honestly believe their product are worthy of publication in the format they choose to present to the world.

First time authors that are serious need to realize this and send out free products to these sources  to be reviewed and analyzed.

FWIW, there is a company called Black Swan or some such, publishing works on RPGNow. I have no idea who they are or where they are from, but they see the difference. Sooner or later they are going to publish something spectacular.

TheHistorian wrote:You probably don't want me to post a list of all the OSRIC adventures then, right?

I would love to see one.  If you have the list handy or have a link, please let me know.

TheHistorian wrote:
I don't see a Black Swan.  Who are thinking of?  I'm always interested in checking out something worthwhile.

My bad. Raging Swan Press.