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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 30, 2014 7:32:12 GMT -6
If you haven’t heard, Goodman Games is going to re-release the original 1E version of Metamorphosis Alpha through a kickstart. I’ve known about this for several months, but it wasn’t made public until it was announced at Gary Con last Friday. (I was there and had a blast!)
While I’ve become a bit unhappy with some kickstarts, this one has the advantage that the material is pretty much all finished and ready to go.
A couple of things to mention.
(1) The rulebook will be oversized. The intent is to replicate the exact rulebook only, since the font size was around 9, the whole thing will be blown up by around 10%. It will be specially stitched, I think in the same process used in the 1E AD&D rulebooks. (The ones that hold up 35 years later.)
(2) A new MA module was released at Gary Con and should hit store shelves in a few weeks. I got to play in that module as it was GMed by its author (Michael Curtis) and it was a blast.
(3) Three additional modules have been commissioned to be released in the next year. (Two are already finished and the third was being playtested at Gary Con.) The modules are to be released in PDF form at first, and then a printed version later. Goodman’s plan was to bundle all three into a single volume, but I’m pushing him hard to get three separate booklets so consumers see more product on the shelves. I suspect some of this comes down to how well the kickstart does.
Anyway, I’m excited that a major game company has picked up the ball and is running with it. MA is a great game and hopefully this will give it the exposure it deserves.
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Post by Zenopus on Mar 30, 2014 14:02:25 GMT -6
Great news! Thanks for letting us know.
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 30, 2014 17:09:26 GMT -6
The hard part was keeping it a secret. I've been looking at files through Goodman for a couple of months now, but couldn't talk about it until the formal announcement at Gary Con.
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machpants
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Post by machpants on Mar 30, 2014 18:03:58 GMT -6
Great news, I am still waiting on the latest version of MA from a kickstarter just under 2 years ago. Maybe the GG version will arrive first!
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 30, 2014 19:51:38 GMT -6
Great news, I am still waiting on the latest version of MA from a kickstarter just under 2 years ago. Maybe the GG version will arrive first! Yeah, I've paid into that one as well. Actually, I put money into that project back when it was a D&D 4E spinoff, about 2 years before it launched as a kickstarter project. I've pretty much lost enthusiasm for that one. I just hope that the other kickstart fiasco doesn't rub off negatively for this one. |
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machpants
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Post by machpants on Mar 30, 2014 20:44:31 GMT -6
I think that one will come, someday. Unlike the Myth & Magic one - well not to me as he has the books but can't afford to ship them I think, certainly not NZ!
But this book like it is going to be great, I just hope they let us add other GG products to the shipment later, to save on shipping. That'll be make or break for me to stay in or not.
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Post by Zenopus on Mar 30, 2014 22:34:14 GMT -6
I didn't look at the Kickstarter link earlier. $80 for the reprint?  |
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machpants
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Post by machpants on Mar 31, 2014 0:07:48 GMT -6
Yeah a giant sized, smythe sewn book on a limited run. Sadly that is what this sort of thing costs.
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 31, 2014 5:00:22 GMT -6
I was talking about it with Joseph Goodman this weekend. He shopped around a lot and was finding it hard to find any place that could print oversized at all, and at any cost. And I think the cost also comes down to the number of units being printed; it's cheaper per unit if you can do thousands instead of hundreds.
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Post by sniderman on Mar 31, 2014 5:10:43 GMT -6
I think this is GREAT news. Having Goodman picking up the ball and running with it is fantastic news, as GG is a gaming company with a great rep that puts out amazing products. Bringing back and supporting MA 1e (and not Yet Another New Edition) is really all the fans want to breath life into the franchise. The new module looks amazing, and Mike does great work. (His DCC module "Frozen in Time" is basically a MA crawl in my eyes!) All around, very welcome news and I'm excited again about MA. (And I think GG addressed the other MA KS fiasco quite nicely in the first FAQ of the KS page.)
I must've missed it though -- what's the physical trim size (dimensions) of the new oversized book?
EDIT TO ADD: Found it. 10.5” wide x 14” Wow, that's Coffee Table Book-size.
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Post by greentongue on Mar 31, 2014 5:42:38 GMT -6
I do hope that will not be the only available size.
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Post by cadriel on Mar 31, 2014 11:35:12 GMT -6
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Post by blackbarn on Mar 31, 2014 11:48:23 GMT -6
Why oversized? This is meant to be some kind of high-cost collectible instead of a book of rules to use at the table?
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machpants
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Post by machpants on Mar 31, 2014 15:04:16 GMT -6
I was talking about it with Joseph Goodman this weekend. He shopped around a lot and was finding it hard to find any place that could print oversized at all, and at any cost. And I think the cost also comes down to the number of units being printed; it's cheaper per unit if you can do thousands instead of hundreds. Morrus over at ENWorld is about to run a Kickstarter for his OLD is NEW rules. So he published some numbers from quotes for standard everyday printing costs (before shipping etc) Hardcover colour 200 units: $43.10 per book 1000 units: $12.07 per book 2000 units: $8.33 per book 2500 units: $7.58 per book Softcover black-and-white 200 units: $12.26 per book 1000 units: $4.22 per book 2000 units: $3.21 per book 2500 units: $3.01 per book Read more: www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?354025-Book-printing-quotes-(transparency)#ixzz2xZntgqpASo yeah, numbers of books printed is the key! I guess it must be part of the agreement to produce such a deluxe book, as you can still get the standard in PDF and print it yourself, and there is only one print run and that's it. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 31, 2014 17:47:06 GMT -6
Why oversized? This is meant to be some kind of high-cost collectible instead of a book of rules to use at the table? Oversized mostly because it is intended to be an exact replica of the original, but the original has such a tiny font size. Goodman felt that an enlargement would make the book easier to read. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Mar 31, 2014 17:48:52 GMT -6
The new module looks amazing, and Mike does great work. (His DCC module "Frozen in Time" is basically a MA crawl in my eyes!) Funny that you should mention that. Michael said that "Frozen in Time" was basically an audition for a job that he didn't know even existed yet ... that of writing a new MA module. |
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Post by geoffrey on Mar 31, 2014 20:32:33 GMT -6
The font size of the original made it unplayable for me. What do you think that is? 6-point font?
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machpants
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Post by machpants on Apr 1, 2014 0:40:14 GMT -6
I don;t have the original but I purchased the PDF and printed it in Legal/A4 size and it is fine. Not huge but perfectly useable. Was the original Digest sized?
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Post by greentongue on Apr 1, 2014 5:58:25 GMT -6
Why oversized? This is meant to be some kind of high-cost collectible instead of a book of rules to use at the table? Oversized mostly because it is intended to be an exact replica of the original, but the original has such a tiny font size. Goodman felt that an enlargement would make the book easier to read. I thought it was the original with the fixes and updates. So it is just a over-sized reprint? = |
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Post by Zenopus on Apr 1, 2014 7:10:09 GMT -6
I don;t have the original but I purchased the PDF and printed it in Legal/A4 size and it is fine. Not huge but perfectly useable. Was the original Digest sized? No, the original is a regular sized rulebook, the same size as the Holmes Basic rulebook. It seems the new version is going to be a 'coffee table' book rather than a usable game book. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Apr 1, 2014 7:13:18 GMT -6
The font size of the original made it unplayable for me. What do you think that is? 6-point font? The fact that the original font is so small is exactly why Goodman wanted to do this as an "oversize" printing. He said it's only a 10% font enlargement, but that is enough to make it readable. I don;t have the original but I purchased the PDF and printed it in Legal/A4 size and it is fine. Not huge but perfectly useable. Was the original Digest sized? No, the original was printed as 8 1/2 x 11" and not the same size as other TSR products of the time. (Boot Hill, OD&D, etc.) Actually, this makes me wonder why they didn't follow their usual format for MA. Hmmm. Oversized mostly because it is intended to be an exact replica of the original, but the original has such a tiny font size. Goodman felt that an enlargement would make the book easier to read. I thought it was the original with the fixes and updates. So it is just a over-sized reprint? I had this discussion with Joseph Goodman at Gary Con. Basically what it comes down to is that he felt that once you start to "fix" something, where do you stop? He wanted an authentic reproduction, warts and all, of the game. Whether this is a popular decison or not, I guess we'll find out as the kickstarter gets funded or not. All of the later fixes and errata are going to be in the book, but at the end along with the other extras. This isn't "just an oversized reprint" because it will also include things like the content of the Dragon magazine articles, some historical stuff by Jon "Playing at the World" Peterson, some hand-written playtest notes from when Jim first ran a game with Gary Gygax, and some other extras like that. |
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Post by sniderman on Apr 1, 2014 7:58:47 GMT -6
I see a new (unopened) Met Alpha forum over on the Goodman Games main forums. With this new forum in place and with an assortment of new modules being released by the company, can we assume Met Alpha will be a new "supported" game line by Goodman Games?
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Post by Finarvyn on Apr 1, 2014 10:14:28 GMT -6
The forum at GG should be open now. If you still can't get in let me know. (I had to tweak permissions there and I think it's all good now.)
I think the level of support by Goodman Games will be based on the level of interest by the gaming community. If folks support the kickstart and buy the modules, more will probably follow.
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Torreny
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Post by Torreny on Apr 2, 2014 3:13:02 GMT -6
...because it will also include things like the content of the Dragon magazine articles, some historical stuff by Jon "Playing at the World" Peterson, some hand-written playtest notes from when Jim first ran a game with Gary Gygax, and some other extras like that. YES! When I picked up the WardCo. reprint, I was happy to see the errata and what in there, but was a little disappointed the Dragon articles weren't as well. It's such a pain keeping a stack of reprinted articles with the book, never mind the magazines, haha! And those notes! Besides that, consider me sold on the hardcover. Larger book or not, I like work that can take some knocks, if it comes to that. It's a shame they made it bigger, as I've never had problems reading the print, but I guess that's just the near-sighted eyes thing. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Apr 2, 2014 8:57:14 GMT -6
Old guy needs larger font size.  |
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Torreny
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Post by Torreny on Apr 2, 2014 15:47:56 GMT -6
Ya' mean you don't fancy desk binoculars?
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Post by Falconer on Apr 3, 2014 13:08:06 GMT -6
Wasn’t there an announcement a few years ago that Jim Ward’s Warden was going to be published? Anyone know the status on that?
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Post by Falconer on Apr 3, 2014 13:11:44 GMT -6
BTW, this oversized reprint looks like exactly what I would want. An unaltered true reprint, meticulously restored scans, quality binding, larger size, magazine articles included. I’d like to see more TSR, Judges Guild, and Chaosium reprints like this. The price tag is fine if I’m actually going to play it; probably a bit much if I’m just collecting for the heck of it.
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Post by Falconer on Apr 9, 2014 10:15:50 GMT -6
This is looking better and better (check out the Updates). I just still can’t justify the cost since MA isn’t anywhere on my bucket list. |
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machpants
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Post by machpants on Apr 9, 2014 15:21:15 GMT -6
Sadly I have had to bow out after a $900 vehicle bill |
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