Hi,

I have some issues with the releasing of multi-part adventures (like the Harlock trilogy or the Frozen Reaches) if they are released with several months between each installment. This makes it difficult to plan a campaign and in fact you have to wait until all installments are released. Now I am sure that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this policy, but I'd like to know why FFG doesn't release a trilogy omnibus instead of three (overpriced) hardcover booklets with 70 pages each.

Regards

Einbau

Because it's a standard that most RPG companies use? White Wolf used to do it all the time, same with several other companies.

Plus, it states that you don't have to run them one after the other,the books previously have given ideas for what can follow them that then allows you to bring the next book in.

MILLANDSON said:

This works in theory, but in practice this means that the group has forgotten most of what happened three months agothat even if you retell them everything you kill the mooddefinitely kill any feeling of urgency.

Really? I find my players adore having things they'd done way back referenced. Shows that they exist in more than a six-month bubble of causality. It's worth pointing out that the adventures, while linked by a metaplot, have little direct connection with each other.

Because FFG makes more money with the way they do it now. And it gives them 3 slots of UPCOMING RELEASES to fill. Personally I dont mind them as they are, but wouldnt mind if they were a bit larger (maybe 100 pages)have the extra 20 some pages be updates, errata, new rulesstuff like that.

Einbauschrank said:

Be happy FFG doesn't release stuff like White Wolf did with Exalted, where to have a complete geography of the world you had to buy 5 books of the geography series1 extra from another series.

Besides, if you don't like something don't buy it, vote with your wallet.

I honestly just wish they were released closer together. I don't mind the multiple installment format as some of the best adventure series have been like that (witchfire trillogy FTW). But yeah, if I wanted to just do the trilogy rather than incorporating them into an ongoing campaign it's a wee bit annoying to wait a yearso before I can run them all.

I'm fortunate in that Rogue Trader is my group's main game for the forseeable future so we have a campaign that can do other things while we wait out the space between installments. I find the adventures here on the website suitably helpful in bridging the gap if I can't come up with some original stuff.

It's because the production of books takes time and money. The reality is a large omnibus edition would take too much resources and not sell enough copies at the price it would need to be. So instead of 3 books spread apart, you'd get none. Paizo is the only place I know of that manages to produce adventure series in such close proximity, and they can only afford to do so because they have thousands of subscribers who have pledged to buy each installment in advance.

If running them in series is important to you, then yes, wait until they are all out. I plan on running Frozen Reaches, but I'm not sold on the sequels until I see them. I think it was worth the purchase as a stand-alone adventure.

But if you don't like the release schedule, either don't buy the adventures, or wait until they are all released to pick them up.

Edit: Weird, all of my ands and ors were removed from the post.

I don't see it as a binary answer buy/don't buy. I think it is legitimate to say "I buy your adventures but I would prefer them to be released closer together/in an omnibus /in softcover". If Frozen Reaches is something to go by the trilogy will cost 3x25$ and cover ~180 pages. That's a lot of money for comparatively few and I am not sure that a 180 pages omnibus being sold for 65$ would sell less copies while at the same time saving production costs. So I am interested in the "hard reasons" for this salami tactic. Is it really the three "upcoming slots" or does it produce cash flow between corebooks or wouldn't anyone buy an adventure for 65$?

Well, they do also have the Three part anthology books (Purge the Unclean, Emperor Protects, Lure of the Expanse, etc) which are $40 for 144 pages each. I wonder if they sell better or worse than the $25 ones.

My guess is a combination of factors. The smaller books are faster to get out, there development can happen on a set of 3 shorter cycles. The price point may be easier to swallow. $25 is closer to impulse buy than $40 or $60. I certainly would consider a larger adventure, but I'm already one of the more hardcore customers with 3 core books, 3 supplements, and 1 adventure on my shelf and plenty more I want to pick up when funds allow.