An update from Chapters.ca!
Originally preordered and it was to be released in May. Then July. Checked this morning and its now January 2013.
I have no idea if this is only for Chapters orders or a ballpark for everywhere, but thought I'd let you know anyway.
Enjoy!
How can it be January 2013 in some places when I already have my copy? What the Hell is going on? Did "the boat" sink?
If you don't want to wait you should consider buying it from the UK. Amazon has it listed, it's where I got my copy (though the price has gone up since I got mine).
Lionus said:
A lot of it is stuff I can only speculate on - much of it happens and is decided upon before the individual writers get involved, when FFG pitches a book concept to GW. As far as I know, this is the part that defines most of what can and can't be done within a given book… everything after that is a matter of individual details. As this has to be done for each individual book - and because plans, schedules and so forth can change at any point between book plan and print-ready document, there is a fair bit of uncertainty involved (just because you might like to be able to cover another subject in a later book doesn't necessarily mean that the opportunity will arise).
As I see it: the main 40kRP supplements are defined initially by purpose - player's handbooks (the likes of The Inquisitor's Handbook , Into the Storm , Rites of Battle ), setting books ( Disciples of the Dark Gods , Edge of the Abyss , The Achilus Assault ), bestiaries ( Creatures Anathema , Koronus Bestiary , Mark of the Xenos ) and so forth. Other books deal more with broad themes, more closely tied to the particular focus of that game (Dark Heresy is very much 'inside the Imperium', so gets books focussing on different organisations and methodologies; Rogue Trader gets supplements that focus on exploration, profit and starships; Deathwatch gets books on warfare and warzones appropriate for the sorts of things the Deathwatch do, and on the Space Marine Chapters).
An example where I can go into specifics: when originally announced, the second and third supplements for Dark Heresy were going to be The Inquisitor's Armoury and The Acolyte's Handbook - both 128-page books, the former focussed on equipment, the latter focussed on character options. At some point during development (I don't know when), it was decided that the two books should be merged into a single 256-page book - a book now known as The Inquisitor's Handbook .
That sort of thing isn't entirely uncommon, as far as I can tell from my viewpoint, particularly when you're dealing with a licenced product.
Another example: the Xenos Creation Rules in the Dark Heresy GM's kit were originally in the rulebook, but were cut for space. Similarly, the vehicle rules and ship roles were cut from the Rogue Trader rulebook because of lack of space. This isn't done deliberately - sometimes a subject requires a particular amount of space in a book, and there isn't the room to accomodate it in spite of initial plans (similarly, sometimes you have more space - the psychic powers chapter in the Black Crusade rulebook contained only about half as many psychic powers originally… I found that the individual powers weren't taking up as much space as I'd thought they would, so I had room to add more). Where possible, this is avoided, in fact, even if that means not covering everything you might have wanted to cover in the first place, or covering it in less detail. Subsequent books will invariably expand upon the things covered in the rulebook and previous sourcebooks… that is, in part, what they're for (if you could cover everything of note in the first few books, subsequent books would be pointless). Often, this expansion will go in different directions than originally planned, as different writers will come to the table with different ideas.
None of this is an exact science… and a lot of it is informed speculation.
When it comes to GW… they're secretive, in their own way. At no point during my time as a freelancer working on 40kRP books have I seen pre-release material from GW themselves, though it demonstrably happens on occasion (the addition of Toxic to splinter weapons in Into the Storm was prompted by the development of the updated Dark Eldar in 40k, and similarly the new psychic powers in Only War are translations of the psychic disciplines in the new 6th Edition 40k rulebook). Most of the time, we're working from already-published sources, typically those we own ourselves. If GW doesn't want us to work on something, then that's it… and seldom is there an immediately-obvious reason why (sometimes it might be that a particular part of the background isn't currently regarded as valid… it might be that someone is working on something related to the subject and they don't want to reveal it… it might be cross-contamination between different licences… or any of a number of legal or developmental reasons that I couldn't begin to describe).
In short… there are a huge number of factors involved. From my particular perspective, I've seen and experienced some of them, and have enough of an idea of what's going on to deal with it when it directly affects me (which is rarely, thankfully), but I can't see the whole picture.
So every site I've checked either says sometime in July or January 2013 *sigh*
Sarvus von Blod said:
So every site I've checked either says sometime in July or January 2013 *sigh*
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1589948017/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc
Plynkes said:
Sarvus von Blod said:
So every site I've checked either says sometime in July or January 2013 *sigh*
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1589948017/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc
I ment here in America, but the link is still appreciated. Might just buy it from there so my group has it and doesn't wait till Judgement Day
Okay, no worries. Just wanted to make sure you knew there were some places it where it is available. Obviously it isn't ideal, but for those that absolutely must have it now , it is at least an option.
I have done the reverse more than once myself, when things have not been available here but were on sale across the pond.
Alliance Games, a major distributor here in the USA, just posted that they have Koronus Bestiary in stock, so it should be out to stores late this week or early next week.
signoftheserpent
- You asked for a contents listing a few pages back:
Introduction
Chapter I: Beasts & Monsters
Clawed Fiend
Creeping Stalker
Khymera
Killian's Bane
Medusae
Mukaali
Razorwing
Sang Tiger
Shadowkith
Species x-10198.rk
Terrorax
Thornmaw
Unquenched
Ur-Ghul
Void Kraken
Chapter II: Aliens of the Expanse
The Eldar (Dark Reaper, Fire Dragon, Howling Banshee, Shadow Spectre, Striking Scorpion, Swooping Hawk, Warp Spider, Wraithguard, Wraithlord, Autarch, Eldar Guardian/Corsair, Avatar)
The Orks (Ork Nob/Krushas, Freeboota Kaptin, Kommando, Mad Dok, Mekboy, Speed Freak, Ork Boy, Gretchin, Runtherd, Attack Squig, Bomb Squig, Guard Squig, Snotling Mob)
The Rak'Gol (Abominations, Render)
Sslyth Mercenary
The Stryxis (Nomad, Master - Master Raider, Vat Master, TechSight Master, Slave Master, Vat-Labourer/Stryxis Slaves)
The Yu'Vath (Bone Conqueror, Crystalwisp, Fossil Horror, Sandslime)
Chapter III: Denizens of the Warp
Beast of Nurgle
Flesh Hound of Khorne
Fury of Chaos
Screamer of Tzeentch
Veiled Deceit
Chapter IV: Xenos Generator
Random Flora Generator
Random Fauna Generator
Random Xenos Generator
BYE
N0-1_H3r3 said:
When it comes to GW… they're secretive, in their own way. At no point during my time as a freelancer working on 40kRP books have I seen pre-release material from GW themselves, though it demonstrably happens on occasion (the addition of Toxic to splinter weapons in Into the Storm was prompted by the development of the updated Dark Eldar in 40k.
borithan said:
It was always something implied, but I don't think it was outright stated, as far as I'm aware.
HappyDaze said:
Alliance Games, a major distributor here in the USA, just posted that they have Koronus Bestiary in stock, so it should be out to stores late this week or early next week.
I just found that FRPGames is also selling Koronus Bestiary here in the states
Hi HBMC
are the generators for random xenos any good? To give in example: I found the DH GM-Kit generator a little …meager.
How "Rogue Tradery" is this book? If that sounds vague, let me give some examples OTTOMH:
* Rules for exploiting the flora and fauna on new worlds for profit?
* Turning xenos animals into pets/bodyguards?
* Using xenos plants and animals as weapons?
* Potential profit from selling xenos equipment?
* Converting exotic xenos equipment for human use?
* Hiring and using xenos mercenaries?
Or is it just a basic "monster manual", for GMs who want more monsters and NPCs to use against the PCs in tactical battles?
It's a monster manual. Each of the first three chapters ends with a "Using x in your games" section, and the sentient alien races each have "adventure seeds" but that's about it.
The Cold Trade part of your question (profit from Xenos equipment and artifacts) is more covered by a chapter of Hostile Acquisitions , I think.
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Lionus said:
A lot of it is stuff I can only speculate on - much of it happens and is decided upon before the individual writers get involved, when FFG pitches a book concept to GW. As far as I know, this is the part that defines most of what can and can't be done within a given book… everything after that is a matter of individual details. As this has to be done for each individual book - and because plans, schedules and so forth can change at any point between book plan and print-ready document, there is a fair bit of uncertainty involved (just because you might like to be able to cover another subject in a later book doesn't necessarily mean that the opportunity will arise).
As I see it: the main 40kRP supplements are defined initially by purpose - player's handbooks (the likes of The Inquisitor's Handbook , Into the Storm , Rites of Battle ), setting books ( Disciples of the Dark Gods , Edge of the Abyss , The Achilus Assault ), bestiaries ( Creatures Anathema , Koronus Bestiary , Mark of the Xenos ) and so forth. Other books deal more with broad themes, more closely tied to the particular focus of that game (Dark Heresy is very much 'inside the Imperium', so gets books focussing on different organisations and methodologies; Rogue Trader gets supplements that focus on exploration, profit and starships; Deathwatch gets books on warfare and warzones appropriate for the sorts of things the Deathwatch do, and on the Space Marine Chapters).
An example where I can go into specifics: when originally announced, the second and third supplements for Dark Heresy were going to be The Inquisitor's Armoury and The Acolyte's Handbook - both 128-page books, the former focussed on equipment, the latter focussed on character options. At some point during development (I don't know when), it was decided that the two books should be merged into a single 256-page book - a book now known as The Inquisitor's Handbook .
That sort of thing isn't entirely uncommon, as far as I can tell from my viewpoint, particularly when you're dealing with a licenced product.
Another example: the Xenos Creation Rules in the Dark Heresy GM's kit were originally in the rulebook, but were cut for space. Similarly, the vehicle rules and ship roles were cut from the Rogue Trader rulebook because of lack of space. This isn't done deliberately - sometimes a subject requires a particular amount of space in a book, and there isn't the room to accomodate it in spite of initial plans (similarly, sometimes you have more space - the psychic powers chapter in the Black Crusade rulebook contained only about half as many psychic powers originally… I found that the individual powers weren't taking up as much space as I'd thought they would, so I had room to add more). Where possible, this is avoided, in fact, even if that means not covering everything you might have wanted to cover in the first place, or covering it in less detail. Subsequent books will invariably expand upon the things covered in the rulebook and previous sourcebooks… that is, in part, what they're for (if you could cover everything of note in the first few books, subsequent books would be pointless). Often, this expansion will go in different directions than originally planned, as different writers will come to the table with different ideas.
None of this is an exact science… and a lot of it is informed speculation.
When it comes to GW… they're secretive, in their own way. At no point during my time as a freelancer working on 40kRP books have I seen pre-release material from GW themselves, though it demonstrably happens on occasion (the addition of Toxic to splinter weapons in Into the Storm was prompted by the development of the updated Dark Eldar in 40k, and similarly the new psychic powers in Only War are translations of the psychic disciplines in the new 6th Edition 40k rulebook). Most of the time, we're working from already-published sources, typically those we own ourselves. If GW doesn't want us to work on something, then that's it… and seldom is there an immediately-obvious reason why (sometimes it might be that a particular part of the background isn't currently regarded as valid… it might be that someone is working on something related to the subject and they don't want to reveal it… it might be cross-contamination between different licences… or any of a number of legal or developmental reasons that I couldn't begin to describe).
In short… there are a huge number of factors involved. From my particular perspective, I've seen and experienced some of them, and have enough of an idea of what's going on to deal with it when it directly affects me (which is rarely, thankfully), but I can't see the whole picture.
Thanks for letting us know this, it's very insightful.
Gregorius21778 said:
Hi HBMC
are the generators for random xenos any good? To give in example: I found the DH GM-Kit generator a little …meager.
I'd say that these are slightly better for fauna and primitive species, but much better for flora - if you care about alien plants all that much (I do not).
N0-1_H3r3:
Thanks for the crash course on the arch of a project. It provides more new questions than answers, but then most quality explinations do. I appreciate the time and insight "behind the curtain" so to speak. I think that knowing this makes me more forgiving when considering how maddening it is when things are arranged in ways that don't make sense to me. I guess I just assumed that the organization was bad in general due to cultural climate at FFG or that whoever was putting these projects together had some sort of competition, or that maybe it makes sense to them and it's just that we look at the world (both real and imagined 40,000) differently. Knowing that much of it has to do with space limitations brings up a couple obvious new questions, but does make alot of sense. Thanks!
Lionus said:
N0-1_H3r3:
Thanks for the crash course on the arch of a project. It provides more new questions than answers, but then most quality explinations do. I appreciate the time and insight "behind the curtain" so to speak. I think that knowing this makes me more forgiving when considering how maddening it is when things are arranged in ways that don't make sense to me. I guess I just assumed that the organization was bad in general due to cultural climate at FFG or that whoever was putting these projects together had some sort of competition, or that maybe it makes sense to them and it's just that we look at the world (both real and imagined 40,000) differently. Knowing that much of it has to do with space limitations brings up a couple obvious new questions, but does make alot of sense. Thanks!
Please remember that a lot of this is my own perceptions of the matter, and not necessarily the whole truth - there's a lot about the process I don't know, and a lot that I don't get to see, so my previous post contains a lot of educated guesses on my part.
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Please remember that a lot of this is my own perceptions of the matter, and not necessarily the whole truth - there's a lot about the process I don't know, and a lot that I don't get to see, so my previous post contains a lot of educated guesses on my part.
Noted. You have been very clear on that at every point, and as your disclaimer points out, you do not officially speak for anyone other than yourself on these forums. I just appreciate that you are willing to shine a little bit of light on things. Whether or not what you have said is 100% accurate, it's plausible enough and you seem sharp enough to be able to figure things out pretty well.
Cripes,
Anyone in america using an american company got theirs yet?
Mine's still on backorder o_O,
Must be a DAMM good book the people on the ships won't let it off they're so busy reading it.
I know of at least two shops here in the Seattle/Tacoma area that have the book. I purchased mine last week.
Got mine from World at Play Games over Ebay.
Arrived today, slightly disappointed with the xeno-maker.
Spook said:
Oh come now… You can use it to make excellent alien plantlife…
