Book or CD?

[Apparition]

Ive been scanning this forum, as I am incredibly interested in picking up T5 due to being slightly dissapointed by many things about Mongoose Traveller. I am confused, is there going to be a hardcopy book for T5.... or is it just going to be a PDF file off of a CD?

 

[Tysis]

It will certainly be PDFs on a CD. I have no idea if there will be a hard copy.

 

[robject]

There will be a hard copy, probably abbreviated (i.e. only 300 pages of 1,000).

CD beta first, though. Then CD release.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Boooo! Hisssss!

There will be a hard copy, probably abbreviated (i.e. only 300 pages of 1,000).

CD beta first, though. Then CD release.

LLB Uber Alles!!!

I want my LLB, hell, I'd take BBB (Big Black Books) if I could get 1000± pages of my all time favorite game!

 

[Tysis]

Well if there is sufficient economic interest (that is, there are enough sales) you could see unabridged hard copies.

We will just have to see. You can always print the stuff yourself. Perhaps a firm such a Kinko's will print and bind a copy? They may not, since it is a commercial PDF.

I do have a piece of advice (which can of course be ignored), if someone can pass it to Marc. Make sure that you use security on the PDFs, and look into whatever it is they use on eBooks (not sure if you can do this for PDFs on a CD).

 

[aramis]

90% of the security can be bypassed.

The DRM versions annoy people so much that it reduces buyers.

Or so say the #1 purveyor of DRM gaming books, DTRPG*. Instead, watermarks are becoming normative.

*Since DTRPG and RPGNow merged, at least.

 

[Tysis]

I would imagine that the watermarks are not difficult to remove. One thing I noticed is that my name and order number are on some of the documents that I purchased off DriveThruRPG.

 

[coliver988]

...I do have a piece of advice (which can of course be ignored), if someone can pass it to Marc. Make sure that you use security on the PDFs, and look into whatever it is they use on eBooks (not sure if you can do this for PDFs on a CD).

Unfortunately DRM only inconveniences the legal users: prirates et al have no problem removing it. There have been several studies (you'd have to search) showing that unencumbered digital products sell better. I do know that you can password encrypt PDFs, but again, there are tools out there to break that for those who want to.

 

[Tysis]

Well I updated my old version of Acrobat 5 to 8 (and now 9 is getting ready grrr) but have not used it much.

I have noticed that some PDFs that I purchased are not protected at all. I did read what Adobe had to say regarding security and it is not encouraging.

 

[aramis]

The way DTRPG is doing them, I can't figure how to remove the watermarks. I CAN hide them, but that's not the same thing. But I'm not trying hard, either.

Now, I AM wishing someone would redo Print-To-Pict... for Mac OSX, instead of Mac OS 7-8.5 (it didn't like 9).... because there are some pages I'd like to be able to pixel pop a few things on before printing.

 

[Tysis]

One of the features on Acrobat 8 Pro was the ability to remove security markings and such. I have not looked either; as long as they are not in the way and I can read the document I do not care.

I am not familar with print to pic; not a Mac user either.

 

[whartung]

I do have a piece of advice (which can of course be ignored), if someone can pass it to Marc. Make sure that you use security on the PDFs, and look into whatever it is they use on eBooks (not sure if you can do this for PDFs on a CD).

Oh HELL no. I can guarantee you that if they're DRM'd I won't touch them with a 10 parsec pole.

The DRMd versions of FF&S I got from DriveThruRPG were a COMPLETE nightmare. They only worked on a single machine (out of 3).

Total disaster. I'll never touch those again.

I have no problem with watermarks.

 

[whartung]

Now, I AM wishing someone would redo Print-To-Pict... for Mac OSX, instead of Mac OS 7-8.5 (it didn't like 9).... because there are some pages I'd like to be able to pixel pop a few things on before printing.

You can Print PDF to iPhoto, it'll render the page and import it in to iPhoto as a JPEG.

 

[aramis]

Whartung:
details, please... I've not been able to find how.

 

[Tysis]

After we started this conversation I started poking around a bit with the PDFs I purchased. A lot of them are not protected at all. And the ones that are may as well be locked with twist-tie.

I feel really sorry for the people writing this stuff; so hard to protect your rights these days.

 

[aramis]

The problem is that electronic media, to be useful, have to be decryptable. Being decryptable means being of reduced security in most cases.

THe three field issue (Encryption, Encoding, and Compression) all obfuscate information; the question is how hard is it to de-obfuscate it. The harder, the more secure, and the longer and less pleasant the useage curve for the end user.

 

[Tysis]

The software I write at my employer is of course commercial. We do not protect it because a number of factors make it impossible to steal it (hardware, service contracts, and so on).

I have found an affordable solution for encrypting .NET assemblies for things that you all may see one day. I will be using this on my personal property to keep people from decompiling my .NET code.

 

[aramis]

I'd lay odds that SOMEONE has stolen a copy, Tysis.

It may not be USEFUL, but .... It is absolutely amazing what is floating about on the net.

 

[Pop]

Please, no crippling "security features"

I would be appalled if the T5 material had some "security" features which compromised its usefulness.

I have most Traveller books in hard copy and softcopy - the softcopies are vastly more portable, and I can extract bits and customize them (e.g. change planet, character, ship names, etc.) as appropriate for my campaign / MTU.

I have no problem with watermarks; I even welcome them, as my friendly local game store might look askance at printed books without one...

I also have had the fun of transporting DriveThruRPG products between machines, and was very pleased when they made them available as unlocked watermarked files.

- Pop

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I'd be *very* surprised if there was any kind of security.