Re: Re: [HOE] Epitaph Opinions...(The commentators)

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

>Well, since you asked so nicely...  I play and Marshal both HoE and
Deadlands, so the combined format doesn't bother me so much, though I would
admittedly prefer dedicated sourcebooks.  I can understand Shane's reasoning
behind the new format  What I don't want is fiction or comic strips like in
the past Dime Novels and Epitaphs.  I don't have any use for them and
they're a waste of space, in my opinion.  I think Shane already said they
aren't going to have fiction in them, which is good, I hope that doesn't
change.  Otherwise, I'm only concerned about the quality of the material
that will be presented.  They've covered so much already, I'd rather not see
books that have just anything in them.  Hawaiian Tiki manitous I can do
without.


Since the discussion seems to be progressing normally again, I'd like to
continue it in a more polite manner.

The biggest problem I see with a combined Epitaph format is that not
everyone is going to collect/play all three Deadlands lines.  It's going to
be harder for them to justify the purchase of such a product when the
effective useable pagecount for them is much lower than other products.

For instance, let's say that someone just plays The Weird West.  Nothing
wrong with that; some folks have all the post-apocalyptic and frontier space
they want, but they have a serious shortage of supernatural western in their
diets.

The information we have on the Epitaph says that it's going to be 128 pages
per "issue" and that it'll cover all three lines.  Let's assume that each
line will recieve an equal amount of coverage per "issue".

Reserving two pages for title page and credits page, that leaves us with 126
pages divided three ways, which gives us 42 pages per game line.

Assuming that the 128-page Epitaph costs the same as most 128-page
sourcebooks released by PEG ($20.00), that is, in my opinion, a bit of a raw
deal.  $20.00 for 42 pages is a hefty sum to pay.  Even if someone plays two
of the three lines, that's only 84 pages for $20.00, which is STILL a low
pagecount/cost ratio by most industry standards (WotC is the worst offender
I've found with their classbooks, and even those are 96 pages for $20.00).
Only if you play/collect all three lines do you recieve full value for your
$20.00.

Would I pay for that?  Possibly.  Would LOTS of people pay for that?
Eh...that's a toughie.  I know a lot of folks who'd be rather offput by such
a scheme.  Bad word-of-mouth could help worsen any financial situation PEG
is trying to alleviate.

Now, this hinges on two things:

1). That the Epitaph costs $20.00 U.S.

2). That each Epitaph is a 42/42/42 page split.

I think that one possible idea which might work better is to devote each
Epitaph to a different gameline entirely, switching off each issue.  For
instance, one issue is all miscellaneous Weird West material, one is all HOE
material, one is all Lost Colony material, and it goes back to Weird West
again.  This method would mean a longer wait between new material per game
line, but it would mean that those people who only play one or two game
lines don't have to pay for material they don't want or can't use.  The
problem with this method is that it may fall under the heading "dedicated
sourcebook", which Shane says he doesn't want.  This is why I'd like the
discussion to endure at least until his return; so we can hopefully get some
more answers from the man in charge.

The magazine format idea intrigues me as well.  Sorta like a Dragon Magazine
for Deadlands.

At any rate...

--Kai Tave