Dias Ex Machina Games

We're wondering how much people would spend on a hardcover of Amethyst Evolution. Would you spend $35 for the next book in color or $20 for it in black & white? Full disclosure, the vast amount of artwork in the book is still in B+W—customers would be paying $15 extra for a few color images as well as color-coded powers. Before anyone jumps the gun, these prices are estimates and referring to the print edition, not the eBook edition.

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“I despise stallions. I ride them as I ride an ugly noble women--smiles for appearances and politics only. Stallions. All personality with no depth. They prance like ponies and trot with arrogance. I always say, respect your mules most of all. A stallion may lead with the king and gather the eyes, but a mule will follow behind…and carry your kingdom.”
Tsarevick Kazaan
Amethyst D20

http://www.diasexmachina.com

<delurk>

I'd gladly pay for the color edition. Color-coded powers are a nice, quick, easy reference and if the art in Foundations is any indication, getting what colors we can would most excellent.

Plus, there are precious few good 3PPs out there for D&D these days and I'm happy to support the ones I like, including DEM.

</delurk>

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Artillery lends dignity to what might otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

That's tough. I would gladly pay the extra money for a color version if the addition of color made the book easier to read and use. However, some of the people who play at my table are pretty cheap - they will spend $20, but balk at $35 ... but they won't pay $20 if there is a cheaper digital-only version available. If you don't mind losing the cheapsters to digital-only copies, I say go with color. If you are trying to ensure a specific number of physical units sold, go B&W.

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The Dude abides.

It's hard to say. I'm kind of borderline on it right now. On one hand, you've already said most of the book was black and white and I didn't have any issues reading Foundations in black and white. On the other hand, the color coded powers are kind of handy. I think I have to say that I would be willing to pay the extra money, but it's most likely because I'm already familiar with the quality of your work. If I was a first time customer casually browsing, well then I think I would be much more likely to pick it up for $20.

If this was 3e, then I would say that color would help it stand out from all the other 3pp material which was typically b&w, but this is 4e, the shelves aren't exactly flooded with stuff from other companies. Another factor of course is how many pages are in the book. Are we talking something the same size as Foundations or something smaller?

Couple facts...

Evolutions is estimated to be about 200 pages. I may still be WAY off on this figure. I am also one that would lean for a cheaper book, especially considering that most of the art is B+W anyway.

When the D20 Amethyst was released in 2008, it was primarily softcover with a limited run in hardcover. We discovered that despite the cost difference, customer always wanted a hardcover.

With Evolution, printing options are for hardcover color or B+W...or so we initially thought. I just recently discovered that the printer won't be offering a color hardcover, meaning we are limited to B+W hardcover or color softcover...and that's not much of a choice. I think given those choices, you guys would all want the hardcover, especially for a large supplement like Evolution.

So in the end, this could all be moot...

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“I despise stallions. I ride them as I ride an ugly noble women--smiles for appearances and politics only. Stallions. All personality with no depth. They prance like ponies and trot with arrogance. I always say, respect your mules most of all. A stallion may lead with the king and gather the eyes, but a mule will follow behind…and carry your kingdom.”
Tsarevick Kazaan
Amethyst D20

http://www.diasexmachina.com

No color hardcover?

That's... odd. In that case, let me switch my vote. I do love color artwork, but I'd prefer the hardcover.

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"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."
-Voltaire... who, if I'm reading most of the rest of his stuff properly, didn't actually appreciate much.

I'd probably but in colour, but I'd prefer the B&W on price, especially if there's a 1:1 conversion rate on $US (or $CN) to £ Stirling as usually happens rather than the exchange rate (which I'd definately prefer).

Given the quality of the product, I would go for color for 35, easily. Hi there, new here.