LotFP Grindhouse Edition

[Deleted]

I was reading Grognardia (one of my favorite blogs, by the way) and found a review of the "Grindhouse Edition" of LotFP.

grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/05/review-lotfp-wfrp-grindhouse-edition.html

I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but when WotC released 3.5 just a couple of years after 3.0, or when they released Essentials just a couple of years after 4E, people were screaming about it.

But when LotFP releases a "deluxe" edition and less than a year later a "grindhouse" edition, everyone thinks it's a cool thing.

I have the deluxe edition. Bought it last summer. It's nice, but after reading the Grognardia review I wish I'd waited to get the "better" one.

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood. It just ticks me off.

[geoffrey]

When James originally released his game, he had 600 copies printed. He was surprised that these 600 copies sold out in a matter of something like two months. Thus he needed to print some more, and he decided on printing 2,000. He had two choices:

1. He could do an identical printing to the first, or

2. He could fix what he thought needed fixing (which is not a lot), plus put a lot of even more awesome art in the game.

James opted for the latter option, and I think doing so was a good idea. One of the things that impresses me about James is that he risks a BIG chunk of his own money to make what he feels are the best RPG products possible. He isn't a subsidiary of a multi-million dollar corporation (like WotC). He's just a guy living in an apartment with his wife (who is also his editor). If James's stuff were to not sell well, then he would take it right in the pocket and go out of business.

I don't have the guts to risk five figures on my hobby, so I'm especially thankful that James does. He's walking the talk. I'm also thankful for his driving ambition and passion for the hobby. It seems that every time he makes money on a RPG product, he pumps all that money back into his business to make his next product even better and more audacious.

He's the polar opposite of the stereotypical millionaire corporate "suit" who has a scheme to regularly release new editions of something to milk money out of people who basically buy the same thing over and over.

;D

[James Maliszewski]

May 26, 2011 19:11:24 GMT -6 @keltset said:

I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but when WotC released 3.5 just a couple of years after 3.0, or when they released Essentials just a couple of years after 4E, people were screaming about it.

But when LotFP releases a "deluxe" edition and less than a year later a "grindhouse" edition, everyone thinks it's a cool thing.

That's because the Grindhouse Edition isn't really a new edition at all, at least not in the sense most RPG companies use the term. Its rules are probably 99% identical to that in the Deluxe Edition; most of the changes are small or esthetic. Honestly, if you have last summer's release, there's no good reason to buy Grindhouse, unless you've got money to burn. The comparison to either v.3.5 or Essentials isn't really a fair one in my opinion.

[jasmith]

May 26, 2011 20:20:48 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

He's the polar opposite of the stereotypical millionaire corporate "suit" who has a scheme to regularly release new editions of something to milk money out of people who basically buy the same thing over and over.

;D

The basic rulebooks are available for free download as well, so those who bought the earlier edition can get those updates, if desired.

[jasmith]

Also, the Deluxe edition was marketed as a limited print run and never intended to be re-printed, as Mr. Raggi specifically stated. A straight re-print of the same edition, would have been bad form, at the very least.

Originally, it was his stated intention to do a HC reprint, if there was a demand.

Of course, there was a demand. At that point, being James Raggi, he decided to make the most awesome edition (in the sense of that word used in the publishing and collecting world) he was capable of.

[Finarvyn]

Well, I haven't seen the grindhouse edition but I'm also one of the folks who bought the deluxe one last summer. I'm glad to hear that they are essentially the same.