MasterCraft

[Aldus Vertten]

So if you want to play a lighter rules game in a espionage setting you will have to buy a non-espionage setting?

Heheheh... We didn't say that. I suspect we'll have more to say about an espionage-oriented Mastercraft book in the future ...

SFA MasterCraft!?!?!

[Gundark]

So this means that Henchman is no longer going to be a book on it's own?

[Mister Andersen]

That is correct.

[Crafty_Pat]

Turns out that if you shift away from the 20/80 rule (20% is used 80% of the time, the other 80% comes up 20% of the time) and more towards an 80/80 rule (most of the rules are used most of the time and a few specialty rules are used every once in a while) the core game system becomes very compact. Very compact.

Considering the FantasyCraft page estimate has gone from 288 to only 320 (yes I'm sad enough to monitor this stuff) it is incredibly compact. Skills, feats, character generation, combat, NPCs, traps, basic gear and all that gubbins which I understand wasn't going to be included before, in just 32 pages.

You've done a mighty job indeed.

It's slightly more complex than that. We also cut a couple things to gain some space - two settings and the mass combat dram-con, all of which will appear in PDF. In the latter-most case, this will be a major boon as it sets us up for a new PDF series that's gonna rock the house.

[Crafty_Pat]

Personally I'm with you on preferring the core+splat model -- to me a more elegant approach where you don't feel like you're buying stuff you already paid for -- but Crafty are responding to an apparant demand for the self-contained model.

I'm not responding to Andersen directly here but rather to the "pay for something you already have" sentiment, as it's almost entirely a non-issue. The amount of space we're talking about is very small - a couple signatures or so (thats ~32 pages for the uninformed) - and at the typically size we're looking at it'll amount to, at worst, a $5.00 difference in price. At worst. Most of the time I'd bet the prices would actually be the same. It's an economy of scale thing.

Just wanted to get that out there before people start thinking we're charging by the page or some such nonsense. It doesn't work that way.

[Krensky]

Just wanted to get that out there before people start thinking we're charging by the page or some such nonsense. It doesn't work that way.

Except that you indirectly are. The FC book will be more expensive (a few cents to a few dollars) because it's longer, will have less in it for those uninterested in the lighter rules, and we'll need to buy the PDFs of the stuff you cut out to make room for the lighter rule set.

[Crafty_Pat]

Another question, won't Spycraft Henchman Edition be released?

With what would have become Henchman folding into all our future books there isn't really a need for a separate release. If there's enough demand, or if the stars line up just right, we may eventually release a Mastercraft espionage book or a standalone Mastercraft PDF. There's very little chance at this point of an independent Mastercraft print product, however.

[Crafty_Pat]

Just wanted to get that out there before people start thinking we're charging by the page or some such nonsense. It doesn't work that way.

Except that you indirectly are. The FC book will be more expensive (a few cents to a few dollars) because it's longer, will have less in it for those uninterested in the lighter rules, and we'll need to buy the PDFs of the stuff you cut out to make room for the lighter rule set.

It won't necessarily be more expensive. Like I said, at worst it'll be up to $5.00 more at 320 pages than we would have charged at 288 pages. More likely based on what we're seeing so far, though, it'll wind up being the same price.

Sure, you can make the argument that the ~32 pages of "core rules" are getting in the way of some new thing we might develop otherwise but since that core rules bundle will actually be custom-built for each genre it's not entirely true. Each bundle is basically a new product, offering a whole different way to play Mastercraft, and by extension Spycraft. It has value in and of itself every time we put a new version out.

I'm almost certain that will cause confusion, so let me elaborate. The Fantasy Craft skill list, for instance, will be different than the Ten Thousand Bullets skill list. They'll have the same fundamentals and do (largely) the same things but in different ways. This is critical as it lets us skew the skill lists a bit to balance out what's actually important in each genre. That's one example. There are others.

Everything is portable but unlike most "house systems" out there Mastercraft is fluid - and responds to the needs of genre, setting, and more.

[Crafty_Pat]

Of course Crafty hasn't seeked out to convert a popular property yet...

Yet. 

[Crafty_Pat]

Submitted a scoop to enworld. Did my best to compress it to one paragraph.

I remember a few locals were pretty miffed that Fantasy Craft wouldn't be stand alone.

Thanks! I posted something to the Press Releases forum but I don't know how much play it gets.

BTW, anything any of you can do to get the word out is appreciated. Keep us apprised of your efforts and we'll do everything we can to support you.

[Crafty_Pat]

SFA MasterCraft!?!?!

If we were to release the new SFA anytime soon, it would be Mastercraft, yes.

We're not quite there yet, though. Not quite...

[Krensky]

It won't necessarily be more expensive. Like I said, at worst it'll be up to $5.00 more at 320 pages than we would have charged at 288 pages. More likely based on what we're seeing so far, though, it'll wind up being the same price.

Which then means someone along the line is eating the (likely tiny) cost difference. A 500 page book costs more to make then a 450 page book regardless of how the economies scale. Large print runs can smear this out, but there's still more paper and more ink per book.

Sure, you can make the argument that the ~32 pages of "core rules" are getting in the way of some new thing we might develop otherwise but since that core rules bundle will actually be custom-built for each genre it's not entirely true. Each bundle is basically a new product, offering a whole different way to play Mastercraft, and by extension Spycraft. It has value in and of itself every time we put a new version out.

Only if you are interested in Mastercraft. Otherwise it's either waste or lost opportunity depending on the angle you wish to look at it.

I'm almost certain that will cause confusion, so let me elaborate. The Fantasy Craft skill list, for instance, will be different than the Ten Thousand Bullets skill list. They'll have the same fundamentals and do (largely) the same things but in different ways. This is critical as it lets us skew the skill lists a bit to balance out what's actually important in each genre. That's one example. There are others.

Everything is portable but unlike most "house systems" out there Mastercraft is fluid - and responds to the needs of genre, setting, and more.

I understand that. That's part of why I'm... I believe you used the word antsy which isn't right but let's go with that. Those tweaked skill lists and different feat trees and different systems means that those parts don't snap together smoothly anymore. Reshaping and hammering will be required.

[Crafty_Pat]

Which then means someone along the line is eating the (likely tiny) cost difference. A 500 page book costs more to make then a 450 page book regardless of how the economies scale. Large print runs can smear this out, but there's still more paper and more ink per book.

At this scale it's honestly pretty marginal. Chances are we'll wind up eating the cost but we don't have those details yet so we can't say for sure. 

Sure, you can make the argument that the ~32 pages of "core rules" are getting in the way of some new thing we might develop otherwise but since that core rules bundle will actually be custom-built for each genre it's not entirely true. Each bundle is basically a new product, offering a whole different way to play Mastercraft, and by extension Spycraft. It has value in and of itself every time we put a new version out.

Only if you are interested in Mastercraft. Otherwise it's either waste or lost opportunity depending on the angle you wish to look at it.

Well, if someone's only buying these books to complement Spycraft 2.0 then maybe, but we're betting the number of people in that camp is fairly small - and that most of them will eventually wind up porting bits and pieces of Mastercraft into their games to taste.

I'm almost certain that will cause confusion, so let me elaborate. The Fantasy Craft skill list, for instance, will be different than the Ten Thousand Bullets skill list. They'll have the same fundamentals and do (largely) the same things but in different ways. This is critical as it lets us skew the skill lists a bit to balance out what's actually important in each genre. That's one example. There are others.

Everything is portable but unlike most "house systems" out there Mastercraft is fluid - and responds to the needs of genre, setting, and more.

I understand that. That's part of why I'm... I believe you used the word antsy which isn't right but let's go with that. Those tweaked skill lists and different feat trees and different systems means that those parts don't snap together smoothly anymore. Reshaping and hammering will be required.

Mild reshaping, sure, but chances are anyone buying Fantasy Craft to expand Spycraft already wants to tinker. That person's gonna change the rules to suit his particular taste anyway.

[Desertpuma]

SFA MasterCraft!?!?!

If we were to release the new SFA anytime soon, it would be Mastercraft, yes.

We're not quite there yet, though. Not quite...

This of course means Psionics on a greater scale .... potentially ... which may convince a particular other game company, which already has a Powered by Spycraft license, to utilize the Psionics for their own fantasy campaign.

[Morgenstern]

Which then means someone along the line is eating the (likely tiny) cost difference.

To simplify this discussion, we're not saying this decision to make the book stand-alone - with the resulting requirment to spend some page space explaining the essentials of building characters and running a game - will cost you nothing, we're saying it'll cost you so little that the books should remain a valuable purchase. This exact value calculation varies from individual to individual, but we are mindful of filling the book with content that will stack the deck in favor of "Buy" rather than "Pass" as much as possible .

Does the new direction for Fanstasy Craft make the book less valuable for you personally? Undoubtedly. Does it make it not worth buying for you? I hope not, as there is a lot of cool, portable stuff in it even for a person who will never play with the slimmed down system. At the very least I hope you can wish us well so that we can continue to thrive and put out products that are more in keeping with your interests.