{Headless Hydra Games] Eldritch Secrets and a question!

[Brekkil]

Time for a bit of news...

I've decided to release the first half of the playtest spells for the contributors sunday, with the rest followin (hopefully) close behind... I have been battling a flu and the lack of glasses, which is not making this work easier :)

So all contributors... expect a pdf soon!

Oh and a related question...

I've been thinking about releasing the playtest edition of Eldritch Secrets for the public. It will cost $2 or $3, but when the final book is released, the early buyers will receive a discount for that very amount. This will hopefully give me a lot of playtesters, and some cash to buy artwork for.

What do you think about that plan? Is it reasonable? Maybe I should offer the early buyers an even bigger discount for taking part in the playtesting... any thoughts on this?

- Axel
Headless Hydra Games

[Stereofm]

Honestly, while your plan sounds generous, I would not try the public preview approach too much. Certainly for a selected group, but not widespread.

I think a public preview (like Paizo is doing with the new classes from the APG) is really difficult to pull off, and judging from the number of threads X is overpowered/underpowered ... it may cause you no end of headache.

Besides : if your preview is good, why would they buy the final product ? If it is bad, why should they buy the final one ?

Since I presume your goals are not as widespread as Paizo, I would suggest you a limited playest, perhaps with feedack from other developers you respect ?

Oh ... and never forget NDAs ...

[Blackerose]

I am looking forward to any changes, was just looking over the 1st version today. And part of me is alreay working on new spells for part 2..lol

[Dark_Mistress]

Public previews can work, but I think it takes a lot of work from the company to pull off. With that said, i would just offer a rebate for the purchase price at most. Most people that will buy it and give you real feedback won't do it for the discount. They will do it to help make a good product.

[Brekkil]

Honestly, I dont mind critique and good ideas... and isn't that the whole reason behind playtesting? That people can tell me what they think is under and overpowered... of course, I'd like some arguments as well.

Here is why they should buy the final pdf...

1) Less (if any) mistakes.
2) Possibly more spells.
3) Colour cover.
4) Interior artwork (possibly colour)
5) A lot of new sidebars, designer's notes, feats, magic items etc.
6) A gallery of spellcaster NPCs (spell creators)
7) Better layout, bookmarks etc.

But sure, if people just wanted the spells and were content with a rough playtest edition without any layout and artwork... they should feel free to just buy the playtest edition.

But yeah, maybe no discount... this will be a fairly cheap pdf anyways, since I'm not in it for the money! :)

Oh, and I just finished the first of the second playtest pdfs :) which has now been sent to the contributors!

- Axel

[Stark Enterprises VP]

Hey, Axel, could you e-mail me off-board? I had submitted some spells for the book, but had not received either of the two .pdfs. Thanks!

[Brekkil]

I dont remember receiving anything from anyone named Stark, so if you use another name, I'm not sure which. Could you please shoot me another email? ([e-mail]) and I'll look into it.

Thanks!

- Axel

[Stark Enterprises VP]

Done and done... I really hope you got my submissions, and I didn't run afoul of the ol' technical difficulties! :)

[Brekkil]

Just sent you an email, and yes, it was a mistake... I have added some of your contributions to the final playtest edition of Eldritch Secrets!

You will be receiving a pdf shortly! :)

- Axel