Ronin Arts: Expanded Professions #1 for November

[philreed]

Below is the list of Ronin Arts'http://www.roninarts.com top twenty products for November, 2006. Hopefully Thirty Nights, Thirty Crimes, when it's released later this month, will make our #1 spot for December.

I'm honestly surprised at Expanded Professions. While sales at each site were slow and not as high as I had expected the total across all sites managed to push it to #1 for us. Thank you to all that took a chance on it.

• #1. Runic Fantasy: Expanded Professions (RuneQuest)http://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=456
• #2. Ken Hite's Tarot of Cthulhu: Major Arcana
• #3. Behind the Spells: Dispel Magichttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=247
• #4. Future: 13 Gene Therapy Templates
• #5. Future: 13 Vehicle Class Templateshttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=123
• #6. Behind the Spells: Lightning Bolt
• #7. Lion's Den Press: Classes of Legend -- The Cavalierhttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=303
• #8. First Edition Fantasy: Smuggler's Banehttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=17&products_id=73
• #9. Ken Hite's Dubious Shards (Cthulhu/Delta Green)http://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=6&products_id=129
• #10. Superline #6: Hit the Beach!http://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=39
• #11. Behind the Spells: Cure Woundshttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=140
• #12. Behind the Spells: Guards & Wardshttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=145
• #13. Behind the Spells: True Seeinghttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=165
• #14. Firefly Games: The Haunted Castlehttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=378
• #15. First Edition Fantasy: Into the Mite Lairhttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=17&products_id=71
• #16. Future: Starship 16 -- Celestial Defenderhttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=2_9_23&products_id=108
• #17. Future: Starship 4 -- The Livingstonehttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=2_9_23&products_id=98
• #18. Superline #1: Tomorrow's Headlineshttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=34
• #19. Future: Starship 17 -- The Cygnushttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=2_9_23&products_id=109
• #20. Future: Starship 2 -- The Foxhawk-Classhttp://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=2_9_23&products_id=96

 

[Rurik]

That is great news.

But really, when the closest competition has obscure words like Cthulhu, Tarot, and Ken Hite in the title what do you expect?

 

[philreed]

So far Thirty Nights, Thirty Crimes is proceeding very well. Recently, the rough sketch for the town map came in.

I'm expecting to see the cover sketch within the next week.

 

[philreed]

But really, when the closest competition has obscure words like Cthulhu, Tarot, and Ken Hite in the title what do you expect?

I'm honestly amazed that didn't hit #1. I need to go back and try to figure out what went wrong with that release.

 

[Rurik]

My hope is not that there is anything wrong with Tarot of Cthulhu, but that the RQ market is strong enough to encourage publishers to put out material for it.

 

[philreed]

My hope is not that there is anything wrong with Tarot of Cthulhu, but that the RQ market is strong enough to encourage publishers to put out material for it.

We'll see. The second month is the biggest determination in whether or not a PDF was worth the effort. Sales can either double the first month (if people get out there and start talking about their purchases) or completely die.

I'm hoping this will turn out well since I'm enjoying the system.

 

[Magistus]

I wish you guys luck, I quite enjoy the new influx of RuneQuest material and bout this book a short while ago, and like what was added and like having the complete list of professions in a singe location to look up.

 

[soltakss]

I liked the Expanded Professions PDF, except for the layout. Each profession is well described and has a Bonus, which is a very good idea. It also has good internal art. The only thing I hated was that the professions often leached over to the next column or the next page, making them hard to read as a PDF.

A Dozen Free Legendary Abilities had the same layout problems, so I thought it was the way Ronin Arts did things. The Abilities are OK, quite useful in a game and worth getting. The layout is iffy, though. But, it's free and free is always good.

I also got A Dozen Skeletal Foes, which is very good. It has no layout problems, each Foe fits nicley on a single page, there are some very good drawings of various skeletal foes, one on each page and some new Creature Traits. I'd have perhaps liked a few different undead types, for instance Liches, but then it wouldn't have been Skeletak Foes. This is well worth getting and I might even use some of them in my RQ3 campaign.

So, if Ronin Arts can fix their layout problems then their stuff will be even more worth getting.

 

[philreed]

The only thing I hated was that the professions often leached over to the next column or the next page, making them hard to read as a PDF.

It uses a print setup and not PDF setup. I used to create PDFs for on-screen viewing but overwhelming response led me to the current arrangement.

Thirty Nights, Thirty Crimes is also for print but the 30 characters (and 30 adventures) are each presented one to a page.

 

[DirkD]

I like the layout. It's readable and printable and it would really look bad if you have all that white-space on each page, just because you want to prevent column- or pagebreaks.

A lot of pdf-publications with colour and backgroundgraphics aren't made for printing on a normal BW-laser. If you buy a pdf you shouldn't be forced to buy a printed copy, too.

Have you ever thought about using the landscape-format (like they use in the signs & portents) - it's better for pdf-viewing and it's still printable.

 

[philreed]

Have you ever thought about using the landscape-format (like they use in the signs & portents) - it's better for pdf-viewing and it's still printable.

I used it quite frequently four years ago but most people wanted the more normal, book-like portrait layout. These days I usually try to balance easy-to-print with easy-to-read.

I hope you enjoy the material that's in the PDFs (as well as the format).