Re: [HOE] Some announcements

["Kai Tave" <kaitave@harborside.com>]

>We've been through this, but you have to look at it from Pinnacle's
>perspective (this is all me pulling stuff out of my ass BTW, but I think
>the points are valid):


I'm just going to play Devil's Advocate here for a minute, if you don't
mind.

>1. There ain't that much more to write about. Other then going into more
>detail Pinnacle's covered most all of the biggies. If they try to put out
>more big books they'll wind up being full of fluff and having no substance
>(try writing up 128 pages on... the Hekants). Now 20-30 pages on the
>Hekants, that's do-able and should cover everything. But you can't publish
>a 30 page book in pinnacle format and make a profit. There's too much
>overhead. I guess they could do it in dime novel format, but then 2-3 dime
>novels would cost the same as an epitath, and you'd have the other end of
>the spectrum "I'm paying too much for all these dribs-and-drabs, can't you
>guys just consolidate it all into one book?"


Well, maybe not for the two established lines, but there's Lost Colony to
consider as well.  A lot of this really hinges on if Lost Colony follows the
same format as the last two games in the Deadlands trilogy.  The Weird West
and Hell on Earth both had, among other thing, at least five "splatbooks"
(four arcane backgrounds and a book on harrowed types), a bestiary, and at
least one important placebook (the Weird West actually had several of these,
none of which was arguably more important than the other).  That's seven
books right there...ASSUMING Lost Colony follows the same pattern.

The argument for and against splats can go back and forth all day.  I'll say
I don't mind them as long as they're high quality, which I find most of
PEG's to be.  If PEG thinks it can make it without them, I'll go along with
that as long as the main rulebook can give us a decent overview of what we
need to know.  That's what I'm really worried about; something like the
Junker rules in the main HOE rulebook.  I seriously wouldn't give Junkers a
second glance without The Junkman Cometh by my side.  The section in the
main book was, in my opinion, inadequate and ill-equipped to give a
potential player the full scope of just what exactly Junkers were all about.
Yes, there are space concerns.  I'm aware of that, and it's why I'm
concerned about the move away from dedicated sourcebooks to general ones.  I
can't imagine someone doing as good a job with TJC in only 20 or 30 pages.

>3. You can have 3-4 people working on different parts of an epitath. You
>can't have 3-4 people working on a sourcebook. People don't agree,
>schedules don't match and the writing style won't be consistent.


Well, the quality/style is STILL going to vary no matter WHAT they're
working on.  You're right in that it's better to split the load for a
compliation book, but you still might encounter these problems when working
on the Epitaph.

>4. This one's pretty minor, but source books are pretty... final. If you
>write up 128pages on the Hekants that's it. They ain't getting anymore
>room. There won't be any time or publishing "room" to go back and add
>something. But what if Phil the Copyguy comes up with a great idea? "Sorry
>Phil, we've already done the Hekants, we're trying to work on the Great
>Maze now. Good idea though."


Well, I always thought that was what the old Epitaph was for; ideas that
couldn't quite fit in the rest of the source material being published, but
too good to throw away.

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea for the new Epitaph with regards to the
Wasted West and Hell on Earth, since we really have reached the point where
PEG'd be reaching too much to publish new sourcebooks.  It's with Lost
Colony that I'm apprehensive.

--Kai Tave