Chthonian Stars

[Vargrz]

I know some people have the PDF of Chthonian Stars , but I was planning to buy it when releases as a book.

Any thoughts on if this pending product?

I loved playing Cthulhu, and I love Mongoose Traveller. How does the mix seem to work for those who've had a look?

 

[Treebore]

I've actually played it, twice. Games ran at Neon Con in Las Vegas by who I believe is the lead writer. He certainly was for Cthulhu Tech, since we had him sign those because of that fact.

I think it was great fun. The fear effects added to the tension without necessarily over whelming you, even though that is possible too, and did happen to one players PC.

This year I got to play their new version, and judging by the dice we rolled, etc... I still felt like I was playing a Traveller version.

As for when a print version is to come out, they are working on offering POD via Drivethru RPG, and will hopefully be up soon, if not already. I was told this during the game at Neon Con this year, about 16 days ago.

 

[Vargrz]

Thanks for the information!

I keep looking for news on when it will be available in print. On Amazon.com they say January.

Any input for the Mongoose staff on this question?

 

[SJE]

Dude- Mongoose are no longer publishing chthonian Stars as Matt Grau and the rest of Wildfire decided to do the rest of the line in their own system. As a result only the first book and (maybe) the monster book will be in Traveller stats. They won't be published by Mongoose but might one day be available as Print On Demand at DriveThruRpg.com

Steve

 

[Vargrz]

So...
What exactly does that mean? I don't mind books POD, but who will be taking orders and when?

If anyone at Mongoose is monitoring this thread, please comment!

 

[rust]

So...
What exactly does that mean?

The last I did read, Wildfire intends to rename Chthonian Stars
into The Void and to publish it with another system than Traveller
through another publisher than Mongoose. If a miracle happens,
The Void will perhaps become available in early 2012, but I would
not hold my breath, because the Wildfire people themselves seem
not to know how and when to continue the project.

 

[Treebore]

Wildfire's problem is they got majorly ripped off by a publisher, NOT Mongoose! The one handling Cthuhu Tech. So they are really hurting for funds to actually print a print run. So the Traveller version of Cthonian Stars will hopefully be put up as POD at drivethrurpg, and The Void will likely get the same POD treatment unless they come up with the money to pay for print runs again.

POD isn't bad, I have bought about a dozen books, both hard and soft covers, as POD and I haven't been disappointed yet. In fact I have been pleased. Often premium pricing though, depending. Like the OSR products that they do not sell at a profit have been pretty cheap.

Edit: I think I should day I THINK it was the publisher behind Cthulhu Tech, its been a few months since I read about what happened. So it could have been someone else all together. Bottom line is they took a big financial hit.

 

[captainquirk]

So...
What exactly does that mean? I don't mind books POD, but who will be taking orders and when?

If anyone at Mongoose is monitoring this thread, please comment!

You need to go and ask Wildfire. They are the publisher - it's nothing at all to do with Mongoose.

Good luck getting an answer from Wildfire though. They seem to have money problems, resource problems, and communication problems.

 

[AKAmra]

So...
What exactly does that mean? I don't mind books POD, but who will be taking orders and when?

If anyone at Mongoose is monitoring this thread, please comment!

Unless you can get a response from Wildfire; you can monitor the DrivethruRPG site for when/if the book is offered POD (you could also see if they have a notification service for the product).

This is certainly a valid forum for Chthonian Stars questions since it uses Traveller Rules; Mongoose won't have any answers, but forum members might. I own the Chthonian Stars PDF and am also interested in any news about the product line.

 

[captainquirk]

Indeed. I have the pdf and I'm interested in a POD version too.

But expecting Mongoose to provide information on another publisher's output isn't realistic.

The Wildfire forum has very little going on, and they appear extremely poor at communicating with anyone. My guess is that we will see it if we see it. There doesn't seem to be any actual solid evidence that anything else at all will be published.

 

[Vargrz]

Wow!

Thanks for all the input. It really is a shame that the book might not come out at all.

I really hope it does, as it seems like it would be an awesome addition to any Traveller Library. I'll try to contact Wildfire...

I really appreciate the time people take on this forum to give support and suggestions.

 

[AKAmra]

Your welcome, I wish there was more information to share. Wildfire had poor communication before their current problems, now it's nothing (I do understand that they are a small operation).

Another option is to get the PDF and have it printed yourself; at least the core book was made available as a PDF vs. the many RPG books that remained vaporware.

 

[Vargrz]

I guess I'll have to consider the PDF, although it seems impractical to print and bind it.

I'd really prefer a printed copy to the PDF, I guess I'm old-fashioned that way.

I have sent an Email to Wildfire (taking in mind what has been said in regard to their responsiveness) in hopes I'll hear something.

Perhaps Mongoose and Wildfire might reconsider the option of Mongoose printing the book if there was a petition from those of us who would commit to buy the book?

Anybody think this is worth a shot?

 

[rust]

Perhaps Mongoose and Wildfire might reconsider the option of Mongoose printing the book if there was a petition from those of us who would commit to buy the book?

The probability that you will find enough subscribers to make a
print run profitable for Mongoose is not very high.

 

[Treebore]

Just wait for the POD, hopefully the guy I talked to at Neon Con was right, and a POD option will be up soon. Heck, I'll go see if it is up now.

 

[Vargrz]

The probability that you will find enough subscribers to make a
print run profitable for Mongoose is not very high.

You are probably right about the numbers, but I was still hoping! I wonder what kind of numbers they would need to even consider it?

Just wait for the POD, hopefully the guy I talked to at Neon Con was right, and a POD option will be up soon. Heck, I'll go see if it is up now.

What specifically did you hear at Neon Con (if you are at liberty to say)?

If you find out anything about the POD, let us know (either way).

 

[Treebore]

The probability that you will find enough subscribers to make a
print run profitable for Mongoose is not very high.

You are probably right about the numbers, but I was still hoping! I wonder what kind of numbers they would need to even consider it?

Just wait for the POD, hopefully the guy I talked to at Neon Con was right, and a POD option will be up soon. Heck, I'll go see if it is up now.

What specifically did you hear at Neon Con (if you are at liberty to say)?

If you find out anything about the POD, let us know (either way).

Post number 2 in this thread.

And no, the POD option is not up yet.

 

[SJE]

They said that POD would be out a few weeks after the PDF, but that was what, 4-6 months ago.

Unless there is some huge cost or effort in making a PDF a POD file, i don't know why they haven't acted on it yet- they've already produced the art and text, so that's most of the sunk costs already done.

SJE

 

[Treebore]

They said that POD would be out a few weeks after the PDF, but that was what, 4-6 months ago.

Unless there is some huge cost or effort in making a PDF a POD file, i don't know why they haven't acted on it yet- they've already produced the art and text, so that's most of the sunk costs already done.

SJE

I was told there had been issues getting their document to work properly with the POD software. Guess there are still issues.

Probably doesn't help that these guys do this as "second jobs".

 

[Vargrz]

I sent several emails to Drive Through RPG and got a similar reply regarding the some issue with the layout for the POD.

The good news was their prompt reply and the optimistic tone. It seems they are actively working to get things resolved to sell the POD version!

Still no time frame however...