Print-on-demand

By Boris_the_Dwarf, in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Dear Fantasy Flight:

You guys are already doing this with "The Massing at Osgiliath," why aren't you doing it with player sets of cards? I would love to have a second set of player cards for deckbuilding purposes but I am not shelling out the money for a useless encounter deck, when I only need one to run against. However, I would be more than happy to spend something like $20-30 for a second set of printed player deck cards from the first encounter block, and possibly an additional $10 for the Kazad-Dum set as well. 3 copies of each card is great for solo play but when there are 2 people in my house we have to split the player cards between us. If nothing else, a reprint of things like the Rivendale ally that lets you get song cards and some of the stuff from the core set - even with different artwork - would be helpful. However, you are going to make a larger profit if you expand your print-on-demand program.

I think the reason is the quallity difference. Otherwise I would be all up for it (or would have been - before having had spent for the core extra sets for our playing group).

Because of quality differences, you can't mix Print On Demand cards with 'normal' cards. As such, they are only viable if they sell you a whole deck, and that almost certainly means encounter cards..

What those guys said. ;) They can't do print on demand player cards because the quality (while sometimes not too noticeable) can be different than the regular cards. I do wonder why they don't put out more Print on Demand encounters though...

im not sure i understand the point of pod.....i mean they are releasing their core quest packs at regular amount....so what is pod for? for those who want to spend more than £10 a month on new cards? i want more cards, but a pack a month is about right for me...anymore and the new-ness would loose its 'oooh' value when its released....i still get excitable as a 5 yr old when new cards are released and i think thats becuase theyre not over doing content

mmmm...not quite sure i get it, id rather they spent the time making some great quality core packs (which is what they seem to be doing)

The argument about card quality is pointless.

The only "risk" of having varying level of quality is that you have some marked cards that you can identify. This is only an issue in a tournament environment, which we don't yet have and won't have at least until next fall.

Also, in these days and age, any card game player has easily access to opaque sleeves, which eliminates the issue.

One would think that it would make sense for the company to offer more PoD products. Even if these come up more expensive for the consumer, they'll be attracted to it if it's an exclusivity or if it offers combination of products that are really saving them money. And the company can easily adjust it's print run based on the demand.

I think the main reason they aren't more active with the PoD feature is to protect their distribution network. If they were to become an online-only store, who's to say all these FLGS would keep on buying FFG's products?

Would love to see more adventures distributed this way. I can understand you do not wish to add new hero's, ally's, etc. this way :)

Laiyna

It is not pointless to me by any means, I would hate to have cards of different quallity in a deck. And I am pretty sure I am not the only one. I also find this entire POD quite useless.

lleimmoen said:

It is not pointless to me by any means, I would hate to have cards of different quallity in a deck. And I am pretty sure I am not the only one. I also find this entire POD quite useless.

about the marked cards- it would annoy me if i could tell what was coming, you cant un-see something and be satisfyed you're playing a fair game- whether it be competative or not, it still counts for me

also i wouldnt want to pay money for a pod, then extra to sleeve them when i havnt done this with any of my current collection due to the cost side of it

exactly...

richsabre said:

im not sure i understand the point of pod.....i mean they are releasing their core quest packs at regular amount....so what is pod for?

It's basically the logical extension of the LCG model: There won't be any 'chase' cards, not even limited, formerly exclusive cards.

i see. that makes sense. however it doesnt make sense to pod card sets out of the blue when ffg could be releasing proper content

jhaelen said:

richsabre said:

unless one of the participants decided to offer them via ebay for insanely inflated prices.

Like many did. Once it came out at GenCon, there were a ton of them going for up to 100 bucks. Either people who bought it were morons, had a ton of money, or really didn't know that the pack was going to be available a month or so later.

When I went in to my FLGS today to pick up my copy of Rivendell, I noticed a few copies of Osgilianth sitting on the shelf, so it's not only a print on demand, but can be picked up in a store as well.

I think it is the best ideas FFG has had in ages for the community. It has allowed many games they make that are not popular enough to have massive expansions to get additive releases. The Death Angel packs for example are a great example, as are the Mansion of Madness story sets. The great ting about PoD is that they do not have to satisfy bulk ordering, allowing them to release much more "fan orientated" sets, sets that they know will not sell well enough to justify a proper expansion. PoD is awesome and it is my hope that they make many many more.

In LoTRs case the POD that has been released is a stand alone deck, it doesn't mix with other cards in any way. So comments about quality are meaningless, as you nvr place the cards with any others. The quality are very good anyway, there is thread after thread here talking about it in this forum and many people have said that they can not really even tell the difference, others do. Just place the encounter deck on the far side of the table and there is no way you can tell.. no way. You can, sleeve them and use the double card trick so they have an "official card" for a back. and now they are 100% exactly the same, this is how most people play the 100s of fantastic community made quests. But wait.. none of that is needed as the PoD is a stand alone deck that doesn't mix with any cards in any way.

I hope they make more PoD releases, not just for this game but all their games

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