Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Mayan Calendar Is Wrong... The Universe Ends December 2011... CARCOSA IS AT THE PRINTER!


It's done. At the printer. Coming early December 2011.

Hardcover (thread-sewn binding) with a foil-stamped cover, 288 A5 pages, beautifully designed, generously illustrated... you will bow down in AWE of this thing.

And it's not just going to be a pretty physical item. It's been expanded, reorganized, extensively cross-referenced and indexed. Seriously, Eero Tuovinen has been a damn SUPERHERO preparing this book and making sure it's a thing of both beauty and utility.

I am so excited about this, not only in being able to re-release Carcosa and get it out to a wider audience, but in sparing no expense in making sure it was released in a format that did its contents justice.

Carcosa is a big fucking deal to me. It was the first thing that showed me that this whole old school thing was not only about reclaiming the respect and fan base and not being treated like backward morons for the games we like to play, but that we were going to surge forward and be more than a shadow of days gone by.

The Carcosa controversy was raging when I had the first date with the woman who became my wife. Poor girl had to deal with me taking Carcosa out at the restaurant and ranting to her about how awful and small-minded a lot of people were and that this thing was awesome and those people were wrong!

I feel so excited that this thing is out the door. So full of energy, like this is a weapon that will conquer the world and beyond.

I can't wait to show this thing to you all.

Goddamn I have the best job in the world.

34 comments:

  1. Congratulations on getting the book done and off to the printer!

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  2. Huzzah! I'm looking forward to this updated version of an interesting campaign.

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  3. Dude! It's Christmas Time! I must budget! Prices, man, prices!

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  4. That goes for me too. I need to know how many weeks I'll have to simplify my grocery list to "ramen."

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  5. Assuming no "surprise, this cost more than planned!" from the printer, Carcosa will be 32,11€ and Isle of the Unknown 22,94€ (+ VAT or shipping depending on your territory).

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  6. Is there more/different content in this version?

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  7. congrats on getting this project into production :)

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  8. "Is there more/different content in this version?"

    Yes. But let me be clear: This is the unchanged, unfiltered Carcosa. This is not a different Carcosa. The changes are few and minor. The biggest difference by far is the added content.

    The only changes I can think of are as follows:
    1. AC ascends from 12.
    2. The sorcerer's saving throws and experience table have been slightly tweaked.
    3. The level titles have been dropped.
    4. Ummm.... I think that's it.

    Additions:

    1. 400 ADDITIONAL hex descriptions. The 2008 CARCOSA booklet has one point of interest for each of the map's 400 hexes. The forthcoming Carcosa book has TWO points of interest for each hex. That's 800 total!

    2. The Fungoid Gardens of the Bone Sorcerer module for beginning characters has been included in the book.

    3. A short essay on humanity on Carcosa has been added.

    4. The book is far more cross-referenced than before. It's structured in an easier-to-use way, also.

    5. The art (over 40 pieces, if I'm not mistaken) and layout are awesome.

    6. The maps are also awesome. Remember my sad map in the 2008 Carcosa? This map is far, far better.

    7. Deluxe, foil-stamped hardback instead of a flimsy paperback like before.

    I'm probably forgetting some stuff, but that's off the top of my head. I'm really looking forward to this book. When I get my author's copies, I'm retiring my 2008 printing and using this instead.

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  9. Over 60 pieces of art, by my count.

    I guess we should mention here that the added 400 hex descriptions are the ones done by Chris Robert and have floated around the net previously.

    I can't stress enough how much the reorganization and cross-referencing changes the book. I suppose some will miss the, I dunno, mystique that comes with all these bits of information hidden and unconnected in the text... but I think it's more useful in preparation and at the table now.

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  10. Can't wait any longer, setting coordinates on my Temporal Transcendence Gulf to 1/1/12 to get a copy. I'll come back with bowl scores and share.

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  11. Will this be available in PDF?

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  12. Yes, it will also be available in PDF. I'm not sure exactly when the PDF will be released, but it will be no later than December.

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  13. This is wonderful news! Congratulations to Geoffrey, Jim and anyone else they worked with/corrupted to make this happen!

    I can't wait to see what you've created here.

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  14. Awesome! I'm really looking forward to reading it!

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  15. Think it will be available from Noble Knight or Troll and Toad before Christmas? Shipping from Finland was a killer for your last big release.

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  16. As with all my releases, you get the PDF when you buy the print version. The PDF will be available as a separate product from my store and the usual vendors on December 11th or so.

    ... about availability from US vendors... in June the postal service increased their rates on parcels, so I won't be dealing with stores individually. I will be sending a pallet over once certain contracts are signed, but that'll take about 2 months to arrive, give or take.

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  17. I'll be reporting on both of these upcoming releases in the next News post (in about 10 - 16 hours) so if there's any other info you want me to pass along, let me know here or by email. :)

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  18. Great! Can't wait for it! :D Yeah!

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  19. On ulfire and jale: "We create conditions in which people see images flowing like hot wax and fragmenting like a shattered mosaic."

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=seeing-forbidden-colors

    I read the full article online this morning, but now I can only find that preview.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_colors

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  20. I'll be on the lookout on rpgnow around 11 December then.

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  21. So, we're probably looking at February-ish for physical copies in the US?

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  22. If the pallet goes out promptly, yes. Haven't gotten the quote back for shipping...

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  23. Even though I know I'll almost certainly pay much less for Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown if I wait and buy them from a domestic retailer, I'm tempted to buy them both from the LotFP Webstore as soon as they're available.

    @JimLotFP:

    How would you prefer that people buy your stuff? Would you prefer them to buy your stuff directly from you to maximize your profit from each individual sale? Or would you prefer them to buy your stuff from retailers so the retailers will order more of your stuff from distributors, so the distributors will order more from you, and the greater retail sales will (hopefully) attract more retailers to stock your stuff?

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  24. I, and the authors I work with, make a lot more money off of direct orders.

    (and for those in the Eurozone, paying by bank transfer instead of Paypal makes a difference)

    There will be exclusive limited edition extras for both Carcosa and Isle to encourage people to order direct from me without dragging their feet. :)

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  25. can we pay direct by credit card? I am in Japan, and bpay and bank transfers are a tad tricky over here.

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  26. I don't take credit cards directly, but I understand you can pay through Paypal with a credit card without signing up for their service.

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  27. Sounds awesome, Jim and Geoffrey! Don't forget to send a review copy to the guys over at somethingawful.com; it may not net you more sales but their LotFP review was hilarious, and I honestly think that they'll get a blast out of Carcosa!

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  28. "There will be exclusive limited edition extras for both Carcosa and Isle to encourage people to order direct from me without dragging their feet. :)"

    Evil bastard!

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  29. well James, I'll try that first rather than going to a secondary provider.

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  30. Holy hell I am obscenely excited for this release! Carcosa is amazing and this sounds godlike.

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