Annuals

Old Guy

Are there any plans to reduce or have sales on old annuals?

I've never seen one (other than the free one with Joe Sweeney's battle tiles and I see that there's another free one for download now as well) but it sounds like they have loads of great stuff.

Unfortunately, even $40 a year is beyond my means and, with 2011 coming to an end, there are now five years of back-issue annuals out there. I don't foresee ever being able to raise $200 to buy them all, so I would certainly be excited to see occasional sales on them.

Just thought I'd put the suggestion out there.

Cheers

Ralf

There is always the Annual bundle available which currently has a 12.5% discount.

At the moment there are indeed two Annual issues available for free download
December special issue 2009 (Joe Sweeney's dungeon tiles
June issue 2011 (Jon Roberts' dungeon style)

It's likely that we'll make about one issue per year available for free in the future.

jaerdaph

You guys should consider putting a few older single installments of the annual up for sale as an experiment. Maybe the first couple of years worth at $6 (US) bucks a pop? In a year add another year and so on, staggering it so that it doesn't compete with the sales of the most recent annuals and the current subscription. I'm not sure how the Profantasy storefront back end works, but it certainly would be very easy to distribute single issues that way from say RPGNow.
Just a thought. I occasionally have good ones.

jaerdaph

By single installments I mean a single month's offering, in case that wasn't clear. So 12 single installment purchases (the whole year's worth) at $6 each would be $72, much higher than the cost of buying the whole year at once, but affordable to those who want to cherry pick.

Sven

Because of a mugger sticking a knife through my left eye some years back (which may have had some connection to my divorce from a woman who blamed me as opposed to her cigarettes for her cancer & looted me of all my savings) I've been below the poverty level & living on my military disability pension. Even with that, I find the money to keep current with the annuals because........ they are worth it. Even if the particular issue is not something I would directly use (like dungeon tiles since I'm more of a historical gamer) I've learned something from each and every issue. It is worth the investment whether you're a casual mapper or a professional. And for that matter even if you're an accidental professional like me. I highly recommend that you get them rather than cherry pick because you'll be a better mapper for it.

Sköl,
Sven

Monsen

Excellent point there Sven. The annuals are excellent for learning new stuff, and since CC3 and it's add-on is one coherent suite, and not several stand-alone programs, what you learn from one annual, can often be applied to something entirely different.

JimP

Even if I don't use a particular issue, I read the pdf. Invariably I learn something new.

jaerdaph

I would certainly recommend getting the full annuals for the PDF content alone rather than cherry pick, definitely. It's certainly been my preference. But I still think providing individual issues might still be a good option for folks who still prefer to cherry pick for whatever reason. Not everybody's priorities, wants and needs are the same. Anyhow, just a suggestion.

Sven - I truly hope things get better for you man. Good thoughts and positive vibes coming your way!

Eranthius

Sooo.... who's a noob? This guy!! I just found the concept of "annuals." Awesome. Now, once installed - how do I access them in CC3?

Monsen

That depends a little bit on each issue. Some of them add map styles which are available from the new map wizard, while others add symbol sets that either gets associated with the catalog buttons for a particular style, or which you must load manually. Others are example maps which you must simply open.

Generally, the best idea is to read the accompanying PDF files that comes with each. It can always be found in the CC3\Annual\Issue XX folder. It should explain how to access that issue.