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Fantasy Express / Re: Coming Soon - Express Additions Table of Contents
« Last post by Fidoric on March 12, 2025, 04:28:13 PM »I like it. Very useful as the number of EA keeps on increasing. 
Anwyn
Fantasy Express
Novus 2nd Edition
Novus 1st Edition
Recent Posts
72
Fantasy Express / Coming Soon - Express Additions Table of Contents
« Last post by Rasyr on March 11, 2025, 05:42:41 PM » Just wanted to let folks know that I will shortly be adidng an Express Additions link in the Fantasy Express section to the site. that link will contain expandale section that contain the Table of Contents for each of the issues of Express Additions, links to the products, and it will grow as I add more issues.
Anybody like this idea?
Anybody like this idea?
73
General Discussion / Re: Potential Price Increases for Print Products
« Last post by Rasyr on March 10, 2025, 05:03:08 PM »Yup, the US prices are increasing more than the UK prices.
Now, if the table of prices I received was correct, it looks like the price increases may not be as large for Fantasy Express as I feared, so I might be able to leave the print prices alone and not have to change them.
Note that right now, as long as the print copy prices do not go up too much (or not much more than what I think will be happening), then I can leave the Fantasy Express prices alone.
Then again, I set my print books at a fixed price and my profit fluctuates based on the actual print costs (which sometimes do fluctuate slightly from day to day).
For publishers like the one you mention, if you look at thier prices, it is obvious that they set it so that they make the same profit on the book on every sale, so their prices fluctuate up and down
Looking at their RMU Core Law -- listed as a 287 page book
Softcover, Standard Color Book $42.75
Hardcover, Standard Color Book $47.32
Essentially, they are getting $25 of margin off each book....
so the Softcover costs about 17.75 to print, and hardcover is 22.32 to print.
The odd number of cents tells us that they are keeping their margins the same, so when the print costs go up, so will the prices automatically....
Where as, Fantasy Express (which is 13 pages more), will remain the same price unless I manually go in an update the prices. because I did NOT check the box that said "Keep the Margin"
PDF + Softcover, Standard Color Book $57.75
PDF + Hardcover, Standard Color Book $62.32
It is obvious that they dropped from $25 to $15 for the PDF on these two....
so for a bundle, they are making $45 per book.
[update: finally found the cost calculator for print product and got the accurate print costs]
Now, if the table of prices I received was correct, it looks like the price increases may not be as large for Fantasy Express as I feared, so I might be able to leave the print prices alone and not have to change them.
Note that right now, as long as the print copy prices do not go up too much (or not much more than what I think will be happening), then I can leave the Fantasy Express prices alone.
Then again, I set my print books at a fixed price and my profit fluctuates based on the actual print costs (which sometimes do fluctuate slightly from day to day).
For publishers like the one you mention, if you look at thier prices, it is obvious that they set it so that they make the same profit on the book on every sale, so their prices fluctuate up and down
Looking at their RMU Core Law -- listed as a 287 page book
Softcover, Standard Color Book $42.75
Hardcover, Standard Color Book $47.32
Essentially, they are getting $25 of margin off each book....
so the Softcover costs about 17.75 to print, and hardcover is 22.32 to print.
The odd number of cents tells us that they are keeping their margins the same, so when the print costs go up, so will the prices automatically....
Where as, Fantasy Express (which is 13 pages more), will remain the same price unless I manually go in an update the prices. because I did NOT check the box that said "Keep the Margin"
PDF + Softcover, Standard Color Book $57.75
PDF + Hardcover, Standard Color Book $62.32
It is obvious that they dropped from $25 to $15 for the PDF on these two....
so for a bundle, they are making $45 per book.
[update: finally found the cost calculator for print product and got the accurate print costs]
74
General Discussion / Re: Potential Price Increases for Print Products
« Last post by Fidoric on March 10, 2025, 04:11:23 PM »Hi Tim,
From ICE site:
From ICE site:
Quote
DriveThru Printing Changes
As we mentioned last time, DriveThru were upgrading all of the older standard colour printed books to use a heavier paper as a precaution. HARP SF Xtreme and nearly all of the Shadow World products have made it through the upgrade process and are back on sale.
DriveThru have been in touch with all publishers to note that Lightning Source printing costs are increasing. For orders fulfilled by the UK Lightning Source plant, which covers UK, European and global orders, the price rise for black&white and standard colour are 3-4% increases on the minimum print price and on the per page count. For orders fulfilled by the US Lightning Source, which covers the USA, the price rises are more extreme, due to increasing supply costs in the USA. For black&white, the price increases depend on the size of the book, hardcover versus softcover, and page count, but range from 20% to 50%+ on the printing costs. For standard colour, the printing cost increase is approximately 12-13%. The printing cost changes take effect in April.
75
General Discussion / Potential Price Increases for Print Products
« Last post by Rasyr on March 07, 2025, 06:50:33 AM »DriveThru's recent announcement to publishers (which I have seen echoed on several Discords and forums) about the impending increase in print prices here in the US come April 1st, 2025, means that if you were thinking of getting a print copy of Fantasy Express, now would be the time to do it. Depending upon how big the increase in print costs, I may need to increase the price I sell the print versions for (will be trying to keep any increases to a minimum if possible, but I won't know for sure until I see how much the POD prices increase)
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Announcements / Express Additions #4 Released!
« Last post by Rasyr on March 07, 2025, 06:26:23 AM »
Welcome to the fourth issue of Express Additions. As always, our primary goal here is to expand the core rules of Fantasy Express with options and/or additional material that we could not fit into the core rules, or that we did not think of before publishing the core rules.
We start off this issue with some additional rules options for characters who do not cast spells. this includes an option that breaks down the 5 core Combat Skills into 19 different skills, based on the type of weapon. This option even includesa guideline for Similar Skill Bonuses for these new Arms Skills.
We then add a couple of new Special Skills, and 5 new Milestones, including several that involve pushing through and fighting while stunned! Fighter types will love these!
Next up, we expand our definitions of Magic, by adding the Arcanum, as two new Schools of Magic. This gives us 5 Vocational Kits to go along with the new Schools of Magic and the Arcanum. We also add Collegium spells, similar to the Universal Spells, but more difficult to cast overall. They are considered to be part of the Arcanum
And we wrap up this issue with 80 new spells. That is 20 Collegium Spells, 30 Astromancy Spells and 30 Umbramancy Spells.
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Fantasy Express / Re: FX v 1.02 - Errata Collection)
« Last post by Rasyr on February 24, 2025, 05:03:10 AM »Page 59, Spell Focus "but solely Abnormal Spell Failure and Spell Fumbles." should it be "but solely for Abnormal Spell Failure and Spell Fumbles"?
Corrected in InDesign files, and added to Errata page.
Just realized that I should actually move this thread to a public forum so that anybody can post to it.
78
Fantasy Express / Re: FX v 1.02 - Errata Collection)
« Last post by Dimirag on February 23, 2025, 11:01:59 PM »Page 59, Spell Focus "but solely Abnormal Spell Failure and Spell Fumbles." should it be "but solely for Abnormal Spell Failure and Spell Fumbles"?
79
Fantasy Express / What am I working on now...
« Last post by Rasyr on February 19, 2025, 09:47:27 AM »Since I do most of my posting in my playtest forum, the more public sections of the forums rarely get much activity. So figured that I would discuss a few of the things I am working on so that folks can realize that there are things going on in the background......
Express Additions #4 -- This will introduce two new Schools of Magic, Astromancy and Umbramancy. It will also introduce, what I guess we could call a College of Magic called the Arcanum which allows for combining spells from more than two Schools . I have a few more things for it, but suffice it to say that I may have to split some of it off to a later issue.
Quickstart #3 -- This is to be the third module in the series that I began with the pre-generated characters. In this module, the characters will be 2nd level, having progressed after their adventure in the Tomb of Aosath Bak.
Sci-Fi Express - one of the things I am slowly working on is a sci-fi version of the rules, including a full-fledged psionics system. I also plan on creating a fantasy version of the psion users and releasing them in their own product as well.
Express Additions #4 -- This will introduce two new Schools of Magic, Astromancy and Umbramancy. It will also introduce, what I guess we could call a College of Magic called the Arcanum which allows for combining spells from more than two Schools . I have a few more things for it, but suffice it to say that I may have to split some of it off to a later issue.
Quickstart #3 -- This is to be the third module in the series that I began with the pre-generated characters. In this module, the characters will be 2nd level, having progressed after their adventure in the Tomb of Aosath Bak.
Sci-Fi Express - one of the things I am slowly working on is a sci-fi version of the rules, including a full-fledged psionics system. I also plan on creating a fantasy version of the psion users and releasing them in their own product as well.
80
Fantasy Express / Simplified Armor Ratings
« Last post by Rasyr on February 18, 2025, 10:34:46 AM »I have this idea where instead of a different Armor Rating for each piece of armor and each creature, that I create a system with only 7 basic types of armor
Those being:
Now, this option would simplyreduce the number of ARs used. But there would still be additional armors.
Each is the equivalent of a Byrnie (covers upper arms, shoulders, upper body, abdomen, groin and hips).
Padded Gambeson (which includes the rest of the arms on down to the knees) would give a +2 to your Defensive Modifier (DM)
Other armors would be similar - basic AR with minor DM adjustments.
Ancillary Armor Pieces would have Hit damage adjustments (basically AR adjustments that apply equally across the board
For creatures, any adjustments would all be DM related. but they would have the same base 7 ARs.
Just wanting Thoughts/opinionson this idea?
Those being:
- Clothes -- AR(B0/S0/P0/E0)
- Quilted -- AR(B5/S4/P3/E5)
- Soft Leather -- AR(B4/S7/P4/E5)
- Reinforced Leather -- AR(B8/S9/P6/E7)
- Chain -- AR(B7/S11/P7/E6)
- Scale -- AR(B10/S12/P7/E9)
- Plate -- AR(B11/S13/P8/E7)
Now, this option would simplyreduce the number of ARs used. But there would still be additional armors.
Each is the equivalent of a Byrnie (covers upper arms, shoulders, upper body, abdomen, groin and hips).
Padded Gambeson (which includes the rest of the arms on down to the knees) would give a +2 to your Defensive Modifier (DM)
Other armors would be similar - basic AR with minor DM adjustments.
Ancillary Armor Pieces would have Hit damage adjustments (basically AR adjustments that apply equally across the board
For creatures, any adjustments would all be DM related. but they would have the same base 7 ARs.
Just wanting Thoughts/opinionson this idea?