The OOTS Reprint Drive at Kickstarter: Pledge now to get exclusive rewards!

[Tanuki Tales]

Originally Posted by WampaX

Ravenloft got a 3.X update from Sword and Sorcery, officially licensed by WotC.

That's right; I keep forgetting the license ended up reverting solely back to Wizard of the Coast.

Ah, that would be the first sign of the coming reign of the Rich Baker.
Be careful what you wish for my friend . . . very careful indeed.

[WampaX]

Originally Posted by Troll Brau

That's right; I keep forgetting the license ended up reverting solely back to Wizard of the Coast.

Which was the reason they crafted the Ravenloft issue of Dragon and Did Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.

When two worlds collide
Amidst the fire
Of creation myths
Born from ire.
Spires rise
Above the plane
Aside figures drawn
somewhat plain.
When art and majesty collide
The end begins
Apocalypse's bride.

Taken from the Addentorium to The Dawn of the Playground: War of the Rich Baker, transliterated from the mad ravings of the dark beast's prophets discovered in a particularly tenacious cell of cultists.

[The Succubus]

Hehehe - I have a full set of signed books from DCF to DStP coming my way when the drive ends!

Also, the Dim Sun parody - dare I ask what Haley is wearing? Oo

[Topus]

Originally Posted by The Succubus

Also, the Dim Sun parody - dare I ask what Haley is wearing? Oo

It seems to be the classical female adventurer athasian outfit, like sadira.

Spoiler

Pretty good world, for the fashionista :P

[WampaX]

Originally Posted by Mir

What about a Psion V? Opens up a few new jokes...

This would be my assessment too.
V as the psionicly powered androgynous bug fits perfectly.

Durkon is more of a mystery as there are no direct divine classes in Darksun.
Possibly an Elemental priest or even more humorously a druid?

[Topus]

Originally Posted by WampaX

Durkon is more of a mystery as there are no direct divine classes in Darksun.
Possibly an Elemental priest or even more humorously a druid?

The real issue is that on Athas plants are dangerous for real as they mostly have aggressive psionic powers ;)
An earth cleric seems to fit, or a rain cleric if he wants to keep a bonding with Thor's lightning. A druid will be very ironic, indeed :)

[Forbiddenwar]

the kickstarter has made me dig out all my oots books. It is more fun than reading the strips online. Much more fun. And although I've read them many times, they are still laugh out loud funny.

For anyone thinking, why should I get the books when they are online, trust me, you should get the books. You save your eyes from screen glare, save your internet from downloading every image, and save your brain.

Reading strips (or anything) online is vastly different from reading strips in print. We read differently when seeing text on a screen vs in print. The books break up the strips into chapters of great material, making it easier to mental grasp and digest 600 strips of material.

And then there's the bonuses. the character introductions, the bonus strips you didn't even know the story needed until you read them, and the commentary. Rich's commentary is amazing, as he pokes fun at himself and discusses who this whole thing came to be.

In fact, I don't re-read the strips online anymore. I read each once, I chuckle and move on. But a lot of plot, character and humor is lost when reading one strip once a week or less. So I buy the books and will always buy the books. It's by far the best investment I've ever made.

[Capt Spanner]

I have a question about the rewards:

Can I actually kick Belkar? He's had it coming.

[Kobold-Bard]

Originally Posted by Capt Spanner

I have a question about the rewards:

Can I actually kick Belkar? He's had it coming.

If you bought the 5k reward I'm sure it could be worked into the cameo you get.

Otherwise you'd have to do it in real life and you'd just be paying to kick a dwarf/child in a costume, which is probably illegal.

[factotum]

Originally Posted by Troll Brau

A comment on the update is right:

I too would enjoy seeing an Eberron style OotS!

I'd be more interested in seeing a Planescape or Spelljammer one, myself...

[Forbiddenwar]

Originally Posted by factotum

I'd be more interested in seeing a Spelljammer one, myself...

You just broke my brain.

[Brahamut]

I've just had an idea for a premium reward, hopefully it hasn't been mention already (and shot down). If The Giant does GenCon, maybe he could host a table and sell seats.

[Porthos]

Originally Posted by Brahamut

I've just had an idea for a premium reward, hopefully it hasn't been mention already (and shot down). If The Giant does GenCon, maybe he could host a table and sell seats.

Unfortunately at the moment "travel is not an option" for Rich.

[silversaraph]

This is just me, but I'm predicting that if the money gets so high the giant could reprint *all* the books, and there turn out to be enough mystery prizes...

Mystery prizes turn into a book! Wouldn't that be great? :)

[Porthos]

Originally Posted by silversaraph

Mystery prizes turn into a book! Wouldn't that be great? :)

Depending on just how big the individual stories are, it's already at/near that point:

How the Paladin Got His Scar: approx 20 pages.
Short Story About Character #1: 8 to 12 pages.
Short Story About Character #2: 8 to 12 pages.
Short Story About Character #3: 8 to 12 pages.
Julio Scoundrel Comic: approx 8 pages (the comic in SS&DT was 7 pages, bonus material not included)
"Dim Sun". No idea. Lets say approx 10 pages.

That's already around 60 to 70 pages or so. OtOoPCs is 72 pages.

Which is why commenters on the Kickstarter site have been kicking around the idea of "Book K". It'd probably cost quite a bit to print though. And who knows if Rich even wants to commit to printing it right now. Or what the demand would be like since, right now, appox 3900 people are already getting it in digital form as part of their package.

Would enough people pledge to get it in print form? Probably given the reaction we've seen so far. But I suspect that it might only happen if Rich feels he can get all of this done in a reasonable time frame.

Though given how many people are asking for a print of "Book K", Rich may decide to try to raise funds for a print of it at/near the end of the drive just to shut people up.

[The Succubus]

Originally Posted by Porthos

Depending on just how big the individual stories are, it's already at/near that point:

How the Paladin Got His Scar: approx 20 pages.
Short Story About Character #1: 8 to 12 pages.
Short Story About Character #2: 8 to 12 pages.
Short Story About Character #3: 8 to 12 pages.
Julio Scoundrel Comic: approx 8 pages (the comic in SS&DT was 7 pages, bonus material not included)
"Dim Sun". No idea. Lets say approx 10 pages.

That's already around 60 to 70 pages or so. OtOoPCs is 72 pages.

Which is why commenters on the Kickstarter site have been kicking around the idea of "Book K". It'd probably cost quite a bit to print though. And who knows if Rich even wants to commit to printing it right now. Or what the demand would be like since, right now, appox 3900 people are already getting it in digital form as part of their package.

Would enough people pledge to get it in print form? Probably given the reaction we've seen so far. But I suspect that it might only happen if Rich feels he can get all of this done in a reasonable time frame.

Though given how many people are asking for a print of "Book K", Rich may decide to try to raise funds for a print of it at/near the end of the drive just to shut people up.

Hmm. Based on previous targets, I'd probably say around 100k to get into print, although that is just a rough guess....

[CDP]

Originally Posted by Porthos

Would enough people pledge to get it in print form? Probably given the reaction we've seen so far. But I suspect that it might only happen if Rich feels he can get all of this done in a reasonable time frame.

Though given how many people are asking for a print of "Book K", Rich may decide to try to raise funds for a print of it at/near the end of the drive just to shut people up.

Considering how many people have expressed interest in buying something like that, I suspect it may get printed anyway. The problem is that Rich can't give us a firm monetary goal because he doesn't yet know how long it's going to be and thus can't know how much it would cost to print. I suspect that 'Azure-o-Vision' might cost more than gray-scale at any rate.

The big question is: What will he start saving towards after DStP gets a full reprint? It's easy to say that he'd start saving up for Book 5, but the same problem as printing the PDF exclusive arises. There is no way to know how much it will cost.

The way I see it, the possibilities are: Print runs of DCF and/or SoD, A second limited edition printing of SS&DT, re-making things like the past magnets and ornaments in a limited edition re-run for those that missed them.

There may come a point where Rich says that he's out of things to re-print and that any further funds are going towards future projects, meaning that the only things that will be left for us to shoot for are mystery prizes.

[Unisus]

Originally Posted by Porthos

...That's already around 60 to 70 pages or so. OtOoPCs is 72 pages...

Not to forget about the graphs - i totally could imagine a book with these graphs as dividers between the stories - with the picture of Belkar being kicked as the first page of the book, followed by the O-Chul story, then graph #1, first 1250$ story, graph #2, second 1250$ story, graph #3, third 1250$ story. Graph 4 is ideal between those stories and the Julio story. But now there would be three graphs before the Dim Sun story - maybe we should find something to mix in *smile*

[MoonCat]

So if we reach another 20,000 by Monday, we should see a large spike from the new rewards added, that'll quickly get us to full print. Then I see slow progress to the final mystery prize until we reach it, then, if it is one where everyone donating 10 will have to up slightly for, we'll get another, smaller boost. Then I have no idea.

Spacing goals closer together keeps things moving faster it seems.

Also, why is Haley's bow furry? I thought she had pigtails at first.

[Porthos]

Originally Posted by Troll Brau

There was no official Dark Sun update for 3.5, but I don't see how that'd affect this alternate OotS though..

No, but there was an Official Fan Conversion over at athas.org (though that might technically be 3.0 and not 3.5).

In fact, athas.org was one of the place I was thinking about when I mentioned Dark Sun fansites.

Originally Posted by MoonCat

Also, why is Haley's bow furry? I thought she had pigtails at first.

It's probably just jagged edges on the bow. Dark Sun, much like Planescape has it's share of Kewl Xtreme Armor, with unnecessary spikes and edging all over the place. Though in Dark Sun's case it's a sort of Conan vibe rather than a Dungeon Punk vibe.

I should have given this earlier, but here is the TV Tropes entry on Dark Sun which should describe the "feel" of Dark Sun more than the Wikipedia entry linked to earlier.

And, of course, what sort of concepts are ripe for parody.

[Gwynfrid]

Originally Posted by Porthos

Though given how many people are asking for a print of "Book K", Rich may decide to try to raise funds for a print of it at/near the end of the drive just to shut people up.

That would get a pledge upgrade from me in a minute, but the problem is, that book wouldn't get printed until next year, according to Rich. That's a long time from now. On the other hand, it doesn't have to be that way. There's nothing to stop Rich from running another Kickstarter drive next year when everything is ready for printing.

[Unisus]

That would be nice - a new Kickstarter pledge drive with the fifth book, the print version of the K1-pdf and a nice Haley magnet *smile*

[factotum]

Originally Posted by Forbiddenwar

You just broke my brain.

I wondered what the popping noise was. What can I say? I actually liked the *concept* of Spelljammer--I have no idea how well it ever played because I never played D&D using that setting, but the idea of dwarfs flying around space in hollowed-out asteroids just appeals to me.

[The Giant]

Just so you guys don't go nuts on wacky theories, "Book 5" is absolutely, positively, in no way shape or form going to be included in this Kickstarter drive—not as a goal, and certainly not as a reward option. As I said on the other thread I just locked, I don't know the exact length, the printing cost, the cover price, the likely release date, what the cover looks like, or even whether or not it will be the next book I publish. There are simply too many variables for me to take anyone's money.

If we pass Mystery Prize #3, the next likely goal will be reprinting Start of Darkness; while it is currently "in print," this drive is going to take a huge bite out of my stock, possibly even leaving me without enough to provide to retailers when they reorder the other titles. I'll probably add it as a goal alongside some sort of additional prize (since I don't think anyone will pledge extra to reprint a book they can already order otherwise).

[CDP]

Originally Posted by The Giant

Just so you guys don't go nuts on wacky theories, "Book 5" is absolutely, positively, in no way shape or form going to be included in this Kickstarter drive—not as a goal, and certainly not as a reward option. As I said on the other thread I just locked, I don't know the exact length, the printing cost, the cover price, the likely release date, what the cover looks like, or even whether or not it will be the next book I publish. There are simply too many variables for me to take anyone's money.

If we pass Mystery Prize #3, the next likely goal will be reprinting Start of Darkness; while it is currently "in print," this drive is going to take a huge bite out of my stock, possibly even leaving me without enough to provide to retailers when they reorder the other titles. I'll probably add it as a goal alongside some sort of additional prize (since I don't think anyone will pledge extra to reprint a book they can already order otherwise).

Nice to know.

Not that I suspected any different on the Book 5 front, mind you. It's still nice to hear it straight from the source in any case.

[Connington]

So does this mean we should immediately start baseless speculation on what books might be published before "Book 5", and how long the current arc will take to wrap up?

I don't think we've exasperated the Giant enough yet.

[ti'esar]

Count me in as saying I'd love to see the rest of the more... distinctive 2e settings get an OOTS parody someday.

Just to be clear, Dim Sun will be available to pledges from the ten-dollars up (like all the other e-stories), right?

[k_bukie]

Originally Posted by ti'esar

Count me in as saying I'd love to see the rest of the more... distinctive 2e settings get an OOTS parody someday.

Just to be clear, Dim Sun will be available to pledges from the ten-dollars up (like all the other e-stories), right?

Correct. It looks like there was to be a different mystery prize initially for book orders only that was regarded as economically unfeasible, so instead every 10$ pledge gets Dim Sun as well as the O'Chul and three OOTS character stories and Julio Scoundrel.

That bonus PDF is getting as large as the Snips, Snails and Dragon Tales book.

[keldorn]

Originally Posted by Connington

So does this mean we should immediately start baseless speculation on what books might be published before "Book 5", and how long the current arc will take to wrap up?

I don't think we've exasperated the Giant enough yet.

Well, if it's uncertain what comes next, I have two ideas for squeezing money out of online OOTS readers.

One is that about a week before the drive ends, a message should go up saying that the online comic will be quiet for several weeks after the Kickstarter whilst Rich works on the creative material for the OOTS drive but How the Paladin got his Scar is already written and will be sent out as soon as Kickstarter passon the contact details of everyone whose payment has fully gone through. I'm sure a number of people who haven't yet forked out will be persuaded to pay up by the threat of going cold turkey.

As far as getting extra money out of those of us who have already paid, then my idea is a voucher scheme. As an example, it could be to spend $5 or more above the cost of everything you are already paying for (including postage etc) to get $10 off an OOTS order of $20 or more from Ookookdook. This would be limited to one voucher per person. The vouchers would expire at the end of 2013.

It would leave Rich not having to commit to what the next book is or when it comes out. We would hope that some new book would appear in that time but would know that there was always the option of buying something else as a Xmas present at the end of next year. And he can even adjust the price of the next book if 100,000 people sign up for the voucher. If it were added as a $5 option, it would even give something for the people who already have all the books and don't want knickknacks something to sign up to.

[Whiffet]

Bad news: I found out I can't pledge as much money as I would like. I'm sorry if you notice the amount drop a little; it's my fault!

On the other hand, if someone is quick enough they may grab a signed NCftPB.