Any ideas on where we could find a copy of GURPS: IST? It looks fascinating.
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Locating GURPS:IST
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Cool. I'll have to check that out when I get home and see how much it actually pulls in.
-- Bob --------- There is no spork.
Oh, and on the subject of locating a copy... it used to be that Amazon and Barnes and Noble's online used bookstores had copies, but no more. I guess almost everyone who's got a copy is holding onto it tightly...
I guess this would be a good time to remind folks that they can always write to Steve Jackson Games and urge them to put out a Second Edition... -- Bob --------- There is no spork.
Moonsword, if you aren't already the high bidder on that copy on eBay, you'd best hop to it quickly. It's only $10 right now, and the auction ends at 7:30 PM Pacific time tonight -- about 1.75 hours from the moment I write this.
-- Bob --------- There is no spork.
I am, by the way, flattered by the description text: "A MUST HAVE for serious RPG'ers, especially any super heroic campaign.".
-- Bob --------- There is no spork.
Don't be Bob, you do good work. Also thanks to pointing out the auction. I went and grabbed the book.
 . It was a good deal in my opinion since I saw it before on Amazon for around $50. Shawn Earl Quote:Thanks. However, I feel far less flattered by his description now -- right after I posted that message I browsed around and looked at his other auctions of gaming materials, and they all said that they were a "MUST HAVE". Oh, well... -- Bob --------- There is no spork.
I'm not actually in a position to bid on Ebay. In any case, don't you love advertising?
Yeah, it's just great.
Tell you what, Moonsword, I'll keep an eye out for you -- although honestly, I don't expect to see anything these days. It'll be 13 years in April since the book came out, and there were only about 3000 copies printed, if I remember right. It's going to be hard to find. -- Bob --------- There is no spork.
Well, I suppose I shouldn't even be mentioning this, but I vaguely recall seeing IST on Kazaa. Of course those who download should be flogged and disemboweled and so on... Far better to send whiny emails to SJGames as Bob has repeatedly suggested.
Skitz, no really, don't pirate.
I suppose I should be flattered, that people want it enough to distribute it that way.
Maybe I ought to suggest to the whoever is the antipiracy guru at SJG that they should count how many out-of-print books are being distributed this way, and think of the money they might make by putting them back into print... -- Bob --------- There is no spork.
You and I think alike, that piracy means that theres a demand, but not like the folks at SJG, who's attitude seems to be, well, it's being priated actively now, so that's a strike against a re-print, since we now have to compete with the pirated copy...
Oh well, perhaps Print on Demand will help this along. Skitz
I just wish I hadn't had to contract it as "work-for-hire". I really wish I had the copyright so I could release my own version to take advantage of this market.
-- Bob --------- There is no spork.
Does SJG ever offer that sort of a deal?
Hopefully I'll find out within 24 hours -- I sent an email off to SJ about 90 minutes ago asking if it were possible to buy the rights to IST off him.
If I can, and I can afford it, I'm going to have to look for someone who can do good PDF work... because I'm thinking of selling this thing myself. I just hope SJG still has all the final edit files on the book, because my final draft on 5.25" floppy is missing page x-refs and whatnot. Assuming it hasn't succombed to bitrot in the last 13 years. -- Bob --------- There is no spork.
Well Bob, I'd buy a new copy from you at the very least. Also I know a guy who's a good artist and is current finishing up his degree from Wayne State he might be willing to do some new artwork to help add to his portfolio.
Shawn Earl
Keep us updated Bob. If you manage to get it back 'twould be very cool indeed. Especially if we could then updated and re-release it (I say we assuming you wouldn't mind some help/input, pardon my presumtion).
Skitz
Okay, here's the scoop. SJ and I hammered this out last night in email.
I wrote Steve and asked what it would cost for me to buy back the rights so I could do my own electronic second edition, PDF format. He counteroffered letting SJG actually handle the production and distribution, and I naturally said "yeah". The main complication to this plan is that SJG has several big projects on its plate right now. The primary one actually works in my favor -- that's their new electronic publishing division called E23 -- intended to do this very thing. (I wasn't even aware that they were trying to set this up, so I know that I must have sounded rather stupid and/or uninformed in my emails... oh, well, I can agonize over that later.) The thing is, it's taking longer to set up than they thought, and SJG can't do the project until E23 is up and running. So basically, once E23 starts selling stuff, a PDF version of IST will go into the pipeline, with the caveat that I get to bring it up to date and all that. This isn't graven in stone, yet -- I called it a "non-binding handshake" deal, and Steve didn't disagree. But I'll tell you, things are looking very positive. -- Bob --------- There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.
hey good for you Bob! hope they manage to get E23 up asap!
_________________________________ Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.
Problem is -a lot of people don't buy PDFs on principle (including me).Hero Games has had problems with this:Shades Of Black despite being (by all accounts) a classic Champions adventure with Black Paladin and the evil witch Talisman as the villains,suffered from low sales."There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets""There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets"
The problem with the PDFs that Hero Games put out included some really horrific editing. (I bought Kazei Five because if looked quite cool, but boy howdy did that thing have some serious stinkburger formatting and typos in it.)
Add to that the complete lack of any form of advertising other than "oh, by the way, we sell PDFs in our online store" that the PDFs got, and I can see why they didn't do well. Just as a question, Morgan, what's the principle you don't buy PDFs on? (Full disclosure: I have PDFs of damn near all of the 3.5 D&D books on my computer... but I also OWN them all, and having it on the laptop in PDF means one computer instead of a milk-crate of books to carry to games.)Brazil has decided you're cute.
I have a friend, player in my D&D campaign, who has written a few PDF gaming supplements, and he apparently has no problem selling them. This is what prompted me to consider doing the same thing with IST. That said...
I'm going to be looking very closely at the terms of SJG's e-publishing. PDFs don't automatically have all manner of restrictions activated (although the functionality is there). If SJG is going to insist on turning on these restrictions, I'm going to object. Be aware, though, that I won't have much of a legal foot to stand on. I did IST as "work for hire" -- which means I do not own the copyright. SJG can do whatever the hell they want with the book, and I have no say about it. SJG is remarkably good about making sure authors are happy and well-recompensed for their work -- work-for-hire jobs do not normally get royalties like SJG pays out -- so I have had no complaints about this in the past. But if I object to anything happening with the electronic edition, I really can't do anything about it. And they don't have to sell the rights back to me. However, Steve's never done wrong by me in the past, so I'm willing to trust them until it looks like things are really screwed up. -- Bob --------- There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus.
Bob--
While I obviously would want to see the contract before making an absolute statement, it pretty likely is not a work for hire. That doesn't mean you can't convey the copyright away, but there is a difference. A work for hire is NOT the same as a commissioned work. Instead, a work for hire is either a) one which was made by an employee in the course of his employment, or b) certain types of commissioned works, which IST probably isn't, though I suppose a case could be made given that there's art and so forth. But that second one is really quite limited, and apparently the result of only a few very narrowly targeted lobbies pursuing it. As to whether you're an employee, it depends on the actual circumstances involved. If SJG exerted so much control over it that you were just the hands, if they handled your withholding, paid appropriate taxes, and so forth, then you probably are. If there's just a contract and some cash changing hands, then you probably aren't. What the parties call it isn't determinative. The reason why you wouldn't have a legal foot to stand on regardless (and assuming you didn't sign away the copyright anyway) would probably be because getting into a fight would probably screw up your relationship with SJG pretty significantly, and that's probably more important to you. It's always better to get in legal fights with strangers. Thus, I'm planning on -- one of these days -- publishing my unauthorized Gurps Cliffhangers worldbook, and am not terribly worried about it since I have no relationship with SJG to jeopardize. Anyhow, I wish you luck. I've had a copy of IST since it first came out, and it's a good book.
Thanks, Captain K.
I'm certainly not an employee by any measure -- I'm an independent contractor. In all my contracts with SJG, I specifically turn over copyright to them. I haven't had any problems with it before now, because my works are generally so specific to the system that I couldn't legally publish them on my own, or were licensed properties. But IST is a world background, and doesn't require system-specific stuff at all, so I could do something of my own with it. But yes, I'd like to do that on friendly terms with SJG. -- Bob --------- There's no wrong way to eat a Rhesus. |
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