Hey, been a while community.
Haven't had much to add or say in a while. But recently I've been teaching myself InDesign and playing with Print on Demand websites. Doing personal D&D books so I can have hard copies of my homebrew rules.
Recently I had the idea to send the unpublished 3e product Van Richten's Guide to the Mists to one publisher. After giving it an editing & formatting pass to make it as close to finished as possible.
It turned out pretty decent.
I tried to get all the little details to look "right'. Fiddled with the credits and making my own cover with yellow gem.
I slipped in a few images flagrantly stolen from other Ravenloft products, just to break-up the text and make it look more "official". Plus the little formatting tweaks like the ornate letters at the start of sections.
I even made sure to put all the rules text and the like into sidebars, which was pretty laborious
I did goof on the tables, so there's ugly column and row lines. Crud.
Sadly, the company I used didn't approve of me printing a personal copy and locked my account. But not before they shipped the book.
So while I can't do a second printing to fix a few things I'm less than happy with, it's close enough that I'm still pretty happy with the results and it's a nice addition to the shelf.
I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
- Jester of the FoS
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- tomokaicho
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Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
Looks good. Pity about your locked account.
Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
A lot of companies won't let you print something they think might be a copyvio, even if a good chunk of it is your own original work. Artists run into it all the time with their own work.Jester of the FoS wrote:Hey, been a while community.
Haven't had much to add or say in a while. But recently I've been teaching myself InDesign and playing with Print on Demand websites. Doing personal D&D books so I can have hard copies of my homebrew rules.
Sadly, the company I used didn't approve of me printing a personal copy and locked my account. But not before they shipped the book.
So while I can't do a second printing to fix a few things I'm less than happy with, it's close enough that I'm still pretty happy with the results and it's a nice addition to the shelf.
You might be able to dispute on account of the WotC's open gaming license, if you can get a human by phone or email.
Last edited by Mischief on Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
First, it looks very nice. Quality job you did. If you posted it was a pre-print mock-up that had actually been made before the whole thing was dropped, I'd have believed it.
Second, I love the "You can't have it, but here it is."
Second, I love the "You can't have it, but here it is."
- Jester of the FoS
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Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
It's slightly more complicated than that...Cromstar wrote:Second, I love the "You can't have it, but here it is."
I ordered an earlier book and it arrived after two weeks. I ordered this and two other books; when they hadn't arrived six weeks after the shipping notice, I emailed.
Which caused them to look into the files, spot some of the legal terms I'd cut-and-pasted and ask me what the deal was. I opted to reply honestly rather than try to BS and they kept the account locked. But refunded me for the purchase.
Then, this week, two-and-a-half months later, they arrived.
So I got them. For free. But can't ever use that service again, even for legal purposes and OGL compliant books.
Win/ lose?
Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
Definitely a win/lose situation. But that does make it weirder that you got them at all.Jester of the FoS wrote:It's slightly more complicated than that...Cromstar wrote:Second, I love the "You can't have it, but here it is."
I ordered an earlier book and it arrived after two weeks. I ordered this and two other books; when they hadn't arrived six weeks after the shipping notice, I emailed.
Which caused them to look into the files, spot some of the legal terms I'd cut-and-pasted and ask me what the deal was. I opted to reply honestly rather than try to BS and they kept the account locked. But refunded me for the purchase.
Then, this week, two-and-a-half months later, they arrived.
So I got them. For free. But can't ever use that service again, even for legal purposes and OGL compliant books.
Win/ lose?
- Zilfer
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Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
You mad man. I guess you have something Gonzoron will never have in his collection.
Be sure to show it to him, so he can go cry on the shoulder of his Strahd Cardboard Cutout.
Be sure to show it to him, so he can go cry on the shoulder of his Strahd Cardboard Cutout.
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Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
Rude.Zilfer wrote:You mad man. I guess you have something Gonzoron will never have in his collection.
Be sure to show it to him, so he can go cry on the shoulder of his Strahd Cardboard Cutout.
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
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Re: I had VRG to the Mists Printed on Demand
All in jest my friendly ancient undead.