To go with the upcoming Way of the Tiger Kickstarter campaign, here's a message from Megara's US CEO, Richard S Hetley:
"We at Megara Entertainment are giving away a free download of nearly half of the first Way of the Tiger book. Get the Avenger demo here. (That's the small version; there's also a much larger full-quality PDF here.) It's fully-playable and is a great way for today's gamers to see why this series was a classic. There is also lovely colour art and plenty of edits and clarifications that old fans should appreciate. Among other things, there was a section missing from the 1985 publication which has now been restored, and so fans can look forward to getting killed when they fail to punch out the young magician. See? Something for everyone."Some folks on the Kickstarter page have been querying what may seem like a high price for the Megara WOTT books, but you have to remember that the campaign is to produce a deluxe collector's edition set of hardbacks with full colour throughout, printed on high-quality art stock with lots of really striking new illustrations. (I don't have shares in Megara, honest - I just think they are offering an outstanding product which, though expensive, is good value for money.)
To give a bit more background to all this: Fabled Lands Publishing has the rights in the Way of the Tiger. We are licensing those rights to Megara just for the limited edition set of hardbacks being offered in the Kickstarter campaign. After the campaign closes, Fabled Lands Publishing plans to follow up with a paperback edition of books 1-6, but those will only have black and white illustrations and there is no definite publishing schedule for them yet. "Sometime next year," is all I know at the moment, and that most likely won't be all six books at once. The paperbacks will be cheaper (probably around $9.99 each) but if you are a real WOTT aficionado you need to take advantage of the Kickstarter because it is a once-in-a-lifetime deal to get a truly beautiful set of books.
We've also been asked about digital versions. All I can say at this stage is that Fabled Lands LLP is in talks regarding a series of WOTT apps, and I'll reveal more as soon as I know it myself.
So, as Richard said, there really is something for everyone.
Thank you for this welcome news regarding paperback versions of Way Of The Tiger. I definitely see both the deluxe hardback and b&w paperback versions as very much complementing each other. With a fair wind the Way Of The Tiger Kickstarter will be a success, and shine a richly deserved spotlight on the epic WOTT!
ReplyDelete9 out of 10 cheshire cats say that Way Of The Tiger is awesome - and they are never wrong.
Well, I should emphasize that the paperbacks are still a good way off - though anyone who can't afford to back the Kickstarter campaign can always buy the original paperbacks second-hand on Amazon for $15-$20 each.
DeleteI've never played Way of the Tiger myself (nor I suspect have Mark and Jamie read Blood Sword) but it does seem to have a very strong following among gamebook fans. I hope there are enough dedicated enthusiasts to repay all the hard work being done by Mikael Louys and his team.
In one sense I have no problem with the price, because even as originally presented the cost of one hardback copy was less than the average that I have pledged per gamebook on Kickstarter; but in another sense I’m not at all surprised that people have been complaining, because for all of the choice of pledge-levels, what I think most potential backers would think (on the grounds that collectors always want to buy a complete set) is: “So I’m funding the publication of seven, possibly eight books, how much is it going to cost for me to receive those eight books”, and then it’s difficult to see anything other than a request for $520 (as it was), or $400 (as it is now). That *is* a lot, in total, simply as a quantity of money, even if it works out very reasonably per book.
ReplyDeleteMaybe... I haven't seen the figures, but I suspect Mikael is shaving the "profit margin" very low. (I put profit in inverted commas because, once you consider how much work there is in editing, layout and new artwork - and once the authors have received a royalty - I think this is truly a labour of love.)
DeleteIt seems like some of the fans would rather have been offered only one or two books. The complaint is that buying 7 (or 8) books in one go is too much. But if Megara had set up the titles individually, it could take until 2020 to complete the series. And there would be no guarantee that prices could be kept down to $50 per book.
Richard Hetley said that he didn't expect most people to pledge for a complete set. Probably the majority choice will be to pledge for just the prequel and book 7 in hardcover, then to buy the rest either in paperback or to wait and hope that Megara will still have some hardbacks in stock. They may go up in price, though, as the licence doesn't allow them to print any more.
I agree with all of that. If I had an answer, I would have suggested it in my original comment. I think even the original pricing represented a good deal that any gamebook fan ought seriously to consider, given that what are on offer are high-quality hardbacks, and it’s an even better deal now. It seems more an issue of marketing (not my strong point): a way should be found of presenting the campaign without at some point provoking the knee-jerk response: “So I’ve got to pledge $400?!?”… and yes, I suppose it is possible that, upon calm reflection, potential backers who can’t afford $400 will just go for the prequel+sequel option. The collectors’ instinct is strong, though.
DeleteOne suggestion I *will* make is that if you ever decide to go down this route for FL 7+, six months’ notice would be appreciated, just so I can start saving up.
Lol. Well, we would only be able to do one FL book at a time, so that should spare us from collectors' ire :-)
DeleteUnfortunately, I just can't see a way for an FL kickstarter to generate enough to pay for all the work needed for new books - writing as well as art, editing, typesetting, etc. It's too big a task to be funded by the tiny number of Fabled Lands fans... Though I'd be happy to be proved wrong!
It's an interesting conundrum. Kickstarter is, fundamentally, about "kickstarting" something that then goes forward. And so people will launch theatrical events, product lines, building renovations, whatever else they can think, and those very things thereafter exist in the world. You would not expect someone to say "well, I can't buy ALL of your product line, so I won't pledge." Instead, you'd expect people to buy what they can and then feel confident that the rest will be out there if they want it.
DeleteThat's the point of kickstarting a series. If you can afford books 1-3 today (or in October . . . ), you could pledge to make the series exist and then feel confident that the rest will be out there in a few months. Maybe you'll have the cash to buy 4-6 when that comes. It's only "Kickstarter-exclusive" stuff that you lose if you don't pledge, and we aren't planning on much of that.
The project video is still in-progress, but I hope to emphasize how just picking up a .pdf of the prequel is enough to ensure a brighter future. That's how any Kickstarter works: big and small pledges help bring something worthwhile closer to reality.
Hello Dave - just to clarify, will Fabled Lands LLP obtain the rights to books 0 and 7? Or will those be locked in with Megara? Just wondering whether 0 and 7 will ever appear in basic paperback
ReplyDeleteHi Drake - we only control the rights to books 1-6. What happens to book 0 and 7 onwards is up to Megara and Mark Smith, so I can't guarantee there'll be paperback editions of those. We will try to get permission, but that's all I know at this stage.
Delete