2016 Holiday Ornaments (and 2017 Monster Calendar) are on sale now!

Small error: the back page of the 2014 calendar pdf is actually the page of the 2015 calendar.

Huh, I don't think I ever realized that there were runes in the April 2016 calendar.

*checks thread*

Never came up. As I check the physical calendar, I can see them now, but they were way too tiny to make out. Looks to be that same font Rich has used before.

Now that we can blow it up, anyone want to take a crack at decoding it?

Hey guys, could we keep the spoilers down, please?
There are people who don't want to know what's on the picture of a given month before the month has come.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by One Skunk Todd

Do CafePress promo codes not apply to OotS merchandise?

---

Frustratingly, no.

CafePress only allows its promo codes to work in the "Marketplace" on the CafePress main website, and I would need to opt in to having my stuff displayed there. The problem is, I would have to agree to give up control of how the artwork is applied to items—meaning they could slap it on items for which a given piece of art isn't properly sized or colored. And they set all the commission rates for stuff in the Marketplace, paying content creators between $0.50 and $1.00 per item sold. It's a terrible deal that basically uses people's artwork as cheap content fodder for their own benefit, which is why OOTS stuff isn't in the Marketplace in the first place. But it does mean that their promo codes won't work on my stuff. Sorry about that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Armitage

Hey guys, could we keep the spoilers down, please?
There are people who don't want to know what's on the picture of a given month before the month has come.

---

Yeah, let's put discussion of the calendar's content into spoiler tags, please. I'll go back and spoil-tag a few posts now, too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lissou

Thank you so much for putting the PDF on sale, Giant. I got overconfident because previous years always had extra calendars and when I went to order mine (later than usual), they were out of stock. I bought the whole bundle even though I already have the first 3, and I'll see if I can get this one printed somehow. Thanks so much for all your effort, even including a notice so that we can print our own calendar :)

---

Turns out my husband predicted that I would drop the ball and ordered the calendar for me on time! It arrived today, and I couldn't be happier. I'm still very grateful to you, Giant, and still very glad I got the PDF bundle, but I was wrong about not getting the (officially printed) calendar this year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Porthos

Huh, I don't think I ever realized that there were runes in the April 2016 calendar.

*checks thread*

Never came up. As I check the physical calendar, I can see them now, but they were way too tiny to make out. Looks to be that same font Rich has used before.

Now that we can blow it up, anyone want to take a crack at decoding it?

---

Deciphered it back then:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dr. Gamera

With the help of the solved cryptogram in OOTS #1020 (Scroll Left), I have solved the cryptogram on the April 2016 calendar page.

---

For the sake of convenience, here's the solution again, heavily protected by spoiler tags:

Spoiler: April 2016 calendar cryptogram solution

Show

The Monster in the Darkness is

Spoiler: continued

Show

not

Spoiler: continued

Show

a toaster. He is

Spoiler: continued

Show

also not

Spoiler: continued

Show

a very large

Spoiler: final cryptogram spoiler

Show

heirloom tomato.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Show

But he could be a colossal heirloom tomato!

Still no tracking number, but it doesn't matter much anymore since it just came in!

Question for the Giant concerning May...

Spoiler: Just in case

Show

Was the diacritic in "Scoundrél" left out intentionally?

Ack, after shelling out the money for international shipping, now there's a dirt cheap pdf version?:smallmad:

Oh well, does not matter, I guess I'd have bought the paper calendar anyway. After all, I bought all 4 pdf calendars, even though I have them all on paper as well. Download is complete, yay, I'll check it out immediately.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Giant

Frustratingly, no.

CafePress only allows its promo codes to work in the "Marketplace" on the CafePress main website, and I would need to opt in to having my stuff displayed there. The problem is, I would have to agree to give up control of how the artwork is applied to items—meaning they could slap it on items for which a given piece of art isn't properly sized or colored. And they set all the commission rates for stuff in the Marketplace, paying content creators between $0.50 and $1.00 per item sold. It's a terrible deal that basically uses people's artwork as cheap content fodder for their own benefit, which is why OOTS stuff isn't in the Marketplace in the first place. But it does mean that their promo codes won't work on my stuff. Sorry about that.

---

Appreciate the info, thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rogar Demonblud

Spoiler: Monster Identification

Show

In the background, you have a blink dog, a satyr, a lillend and a centaur.

At the table, you have Julio, some elf, a titaness, a pixie and what looks like a red slaad.

I'm still trying to find and ID everything in September. I'm up to ten monsters.

---

Thanks!

Spoiler: Response about a different month

Show

Wow, ten in September?! Way ahead of me. I'd be interested in those identifications as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dr. Gamera

Thanks!

Spoiler: Response about a different month

Show

Wow, ten in September?! Way ahead of me. I'd be interested in those identifications as well.

---

Spoiler: Clearly, September is Best Month

Show

The only ones I could instantly identify were the mimic and darkmantle (well, and invisible stalker, but had to have that pointed out to me by the text)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Peelee

Spoiler: Clearly, September is Best Month

Show

The only ones I could instantly identify were the mimic and darkmantle (well, and invisible stalker, but had to have that pointed out to me by the text)

---

Spoiler

Show

There's a Bag of Devouring as well, as identified by the text

As well as a bonus monster in the calendar month itself! :smalleek:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Peelee

Spoiler: Clearly, September is Best Month

Show

The only ones I could instantly identify were the mimic and darkmantle (well, and invisible stalker, but had to have that pointed out to me by the text)

---

Spoiler: Answer

Show

There's also a goldbug, a cloaker, a lurker above and what I think is a corpse candle. The thing in the calendar portion would be the aforementioned invisible stalker.

Don't forget:

Spoiler

Show

The Trapper (monster pretending to be the floor).

All right! Just got mine in the mail yesterday! It's now hanging in my cube at work.

Great calendar!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Joerg

Small error: the back page of the 2014 calendar pdf is actually the page of the 2015 calendar.

---

I noticed this as well. Fortunately, this doesn't really cause any problems.

Also, thank you, Giant, for making these available in pdf.

Was there a battle ornament in 2012?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GreyTraveller

I noticed this as well. Fortunately, this doesn't really cause any problems.

---

Are you sure about that? The current 2014 calendar pdf has a wrong copyright statement, since that's on the back cover, and that could be a problem. Anyway, I'd like to see the contents of the text box of the actual 2014 calendar's back cover.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Porthos

Spoiler

Show

As well as a bonus monster in the calendar month itself! :smalleek:

---

Spoiler

Show

The real monsters...ARE HUMANS!

just got my calendar and... it's awesome!!
I think my favorite months are February (CPPD) and September (Haley)

Did anyone who ordered this year's battle ornament think it was kind of off?

No fault of Giant - the artwork on the CafePress site looks great - it's why I ordered it. It's just that the entire print on the finished product looks pretty muddy, "There must" got cut off by the hole, and the year is nearly invisible.

I have had some issues with non-OOTS CafePress ornaments in the past, but before I go jumping through the hoops of returning, explaining why the gift isn't here, etc. I wanted to see if it was a one-time bad print, or if all prints of this ornament came out like that and an exchange would be a waste of time.

There is a pic below of the ornament with the CafePress envelope so you can see the muddiness isn't just a crappy picture.

Spoiler: Photo of ornament

Show

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1...XIwNXpPZFRBblk

EDIT: So it doesn't like my Drive link, and I can't post a Photobucket link until I get up to 10 posts. So if you're interested, open that spoiler link in a new tab and that should give you the picture.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spunk115

Did anyone who ordered this year's battle ornament think it was kind of off?

No fault of Giant - the artwork on the CafePress site looks great - it's why I ordered it. It's just that the entire print on the finished product looks pretty muddy, "There must" got cut off by the hole, and the year is nearly invisible.

I have had some issues with non-OOTS CafePress ornaments in the past, but before I go jumping through the hoops of returning, explaining why the gift isn't here, etc. I wanted to see if it was a one-time bad print, or if all prints of this ornament came out like that and an exchange would be a waste of time.

There is a pic below of the ornament with the CafePress envelope so you can see the muddiness isn't just a crappy picture.

Spoiler: Photo of ornament

Show

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1...XIwNXpPZFRBblk

EDIT: So it doesn't like my Drive link, and I can't post a Photobucket link until I get up to 10 posts. So if you're interested, open that spoiler link in a new tab and that should give you the picture.

---

I don't have an issue with the clarity of the print, but my Belkar oval ornament also had the ribbon/hook hole punched through the text, rather than above as in the sample image (do note that I consider this an insignificant flaw, but if Rich is so inclined, prodding CafePress about quality control).

(Funnily enough, my Monster-in-the-Dark and O-Chul round ornament from a few years back has a printing error where it seems to have not printed one of the colors. That color, you ask? Blue. :smalltongue: I should buy a replacement/duplicate tonight in the hopes of getting a correct print.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grey Watcher

(Funnily enough, my Monster-in-the-Dark and O-Chul round ornament from a few years back has a printing error where it seems to have not printed one of the colors. That color, you ask? Blue. :smalltongue: I should buy a replacement/duplicate tonight in the hopes of getting a correct print.)

---

It's a rare collector's edition!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Spunk115

EDIT: So it doesn't like my Drive link, and I can't post a Photobucket link until I get up to 10 posts. So if you're interested, open that spoiler link in a new tab and that should give you the picture.

---

Try this one:

Spoiler

Show

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wY...w2047-h1062-rw

You were linking to the page that contained the image, not the image itself.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by littlebum2002

Try this one:

Spoiler

Show

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wY...w2047-h1062-rw

You were linking to the page that contained the image, not the image itself.

---

That one doesn't work for me either.

Likewise for me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by littlebum2002

Try this one:

Spoiler

Show

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wY...w2047-h1062-rw

You were linking to the page that contained the image, not the image itself.

---

Looks like Google is making a random link each time we try to access that image, which means it might not show up for everyone as time passes.

Just click on this link to see it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1T...pPZFRBblk/view

Huh. Well that's weird.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Porthos

Just click on this link to see it:

---

Much appreciated...and I can't quote the link. Ha!

Ugh, that is awful. They have a clear template that shows where the hole is, and I follow it the same every year. And suddenly, the hole is somewhere else. CafePress continues to do themselves no favors in the Should I Take My Business Elsewhere department.

Prodding them about quality control is a wasted effort; you get some vague customer service boilerplates and that's it.

I would not take it personally if you need to return it, that's not really an acceptable product. Sorry about that.