I don't think downloads are the optimal way to produce this information. However, I would like to see the material sooner than next year or the year after. This is no slam at the Issaries staff, who I figure are working as hard as they can to produce the best material they can, but I certainly don't expect more than 3-5 books a year. With TR out and ST coming (soon?), the Lunar book and Sartar Rising in the works, plus Hero's Book and the Complete Grisela all due this year, I don't imagine we'd see more animism rules until, well after Sorceror Knights at least -- sometime late in 2002? It would be nice to have some of the "cut for lack of space" material available before it finds a home in a published product. Zines, although they are great (and I'd love to see more), don't put money (as far as I know) back into Issaries's pockets.
> In order to buy downloads, I'm pretty much going to have to use my
> Credit Card, which is my least favourite method of paying for anything.
> To do so from Issaries further more means I'm going to have to do so in
> US Dollars - Not my favourite currency, which means I'm going to be
> guessing the "real cost" in sterling when I decide to make the purchase.
I can understand this, but won't you have to use a credit card to get most fanzines as well? It's certainly been my experience. There are a number of UK items I've wanted to buy, but I just haven't managed to deal with currency and indirect credit-card systems (I find it hard to give my credit card # to a third-person credit services vendor). Depending on where it's published, many (even most) of us will have to deal with this problem one way or another.
> If what I'm buying is material I might want to refer to during a game
> I'm going to need a hardcopy of it
You're correct here, and I was not thinking of the problems of A4 users at all. Sorry. Not having too much experience with PDF, I'm unsure how much extra work reformatting would be (on the production end; I'm assuming most of us do not have the full Acrobat) to present both 81/2 x 11 and A4 formats.
I don't mean to dismiss your reservations; I wish that Issaries could afford to produce a new book monthly, but I don't think it's going to happen (not anytime soon). Downloads are not the best way to get material, but zines have their problems, too, as does joining the GTA (I'd love to, but I can't really afford it until I have a steady income to repay my student loans) and waiting for Issaries to find room in its schedule. Any publishing venue will have drawbacks; the question is which gives the most (material, flexibility, lack of hassle, access, cost savings, speed of publishing) advantages?
Peter Larsen
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