Classic deluxe A4 hardbacks - crowdfunded. Hopeless?

[drmanhattan]

I kind of liked the anniversary WoFTM and Jonathan’s YATH hardbacks are great

i would LOVE to see A4 deluxe hardbacks of eg Deathtrap Dungeon, City of Thieves, Citadel of Chaos, House of Hell. all the classic originals with upscale original art plus some extra maps, perhaps an index / reference of locations, creatures, items plus some background info etc

what would be the biggest obstacles to something like this on Kickstarter or similar, i would go mad for an A4 hardback sorcery series for example

[revenant]

I'm not sure about A4...either the text would be enormous, or the books would need to be laid out again and would have only something like 50 pages.
I did like the 25th anniversary WoFM hardcover, with the foldout solution map and so on. I would go for a small collection of those.

[CharlesX]

Wouldn't there be copyright issues unless you are one of the authors in question?

    It's almost saddening Scholastic and Wizard have been doing reprint after reprint without touching the text and on poor quality paper. As for the artwork, the frontspiece\cover has always been well-below the quality of Puffin (I hate the porthole editions), the interior art often worse, and even the praised newer art, though above-average, has a cartoonish, juvenile feel about it.

   I too liked the semi-hardback version of Warlock - I don't see why they shouldn't do the same thing for other classic FF such as Deathtrap Dungeon, Creature Of Havoc and Citadel Of Chaos.

[pessimeister]

I think this is an excellent idea. I discovered the 25th Anniversary edition of Warlock of Firetop Mountain by sheer luck on a shelf at a local Angus & Robertson bookstore one day a few years back and bought it on the spot. It's absolutely one of the finer treasures in my collection as it felt great to finally pay for a hard cover of the book which had started it all and given me so much joy. The additional information that it contained made it all the more satisfying.

Perhaps contacting Fighting Fantasy royalty such as Jon Green and poking his brain gently on the matter might be the way to go to find out how feasible it is? Certainly the early classics deserve this treatment.

[Peter]

I would buy a hardcover with extras, like the collectors editions of CDs that bands put out (containing demos and previously-unreleased versions of songs) to encourage sales in the era of downloading.

Additions that fit the story, and that fans might want to see, like the map of the maze. Maybe:

Deathtrap Dungeon: profiles of the other contestants (interviews?), a history of previous Trials, maybe a set of mock "live updates" from the media centre.
City of Thieves: a map of Port Blacksand, with details of specific buildings.
Starship Traveller: obviously, fleshing-out some of the civilisations, maybe a map of the galaxy.
House of Hell: details of the cult, a hierarchy of leadership, and a family tree.
Masks of Mayhem, Moonrunner, and probably some others, certainly have scope for an expanded story about "how we came to this situation", what the main characters have done in the lead-up, and so on.

Also, notes and sketches made by the authors during construction of the books (like the demo versions of songs).

A "Gamebook Plus" would appeal to me, something that is more than just another edition of something I already have.

[hallucination]

the Fortean Times interview from last year shows IL with his (apparently neatly kept) folders of handwritten manuscripts (and possibly other materials?) for various FF titles. you can see some hand-drawn maps on boards in the photo. how about some scans, eh!?

this kind of thing would really excite me in a deluxe edition.

[The Editor (Alex B)]

A5 would be a better size.

I’ll note crowdfunding failed when this was tried with City of Thieves.

[misomiso]

I'd like them to do this but with additional content.

So maybe the deluxe House of Hell has a sequal included.

Or DeathtrapDungeon has all three of DD, ToC, and AoD in one Volume.

It seems you need a bit more content for the hardcovers.

Or even all four of the Sorcery! books in one would be interesting.

[Peter]

Jan 28, 2023 22:48:44 GMT The Editor (Alex B) said:

A5 would be a better size.

I’ll note crowdfunding failed when this was tried with City of Thieves.

Too elaborate? Failed because it was too expensive to make.

Interesting ideas, making envelopes and so on. Certainly a work of art, not just a book.

I would settle for a 2D version, with fancy printing, scroll illustrations and other text effects, and some extras. Simple binding would be fine, but perhaps a fold-out adventure sheet, to make it easier to photocopy.

[hallucination]

Jan 29, 2023 15:07:30 GMT misomiso said:

Or even all four of the Sorcery! books in one would be interesting.

Also, Goldhawk?  Haven't even read those... I realise they are more simplistic than standard FF, but they haven't been reissued (to my knowledge?) and a deluxe all-in-one version could be pretty cool

[kieran]

Jan 31, 2023 11:47:10 GMT hallucination said:

Jan 29, 2023 15:07:30 GMT misomiso said:

Or even all four of the Sorcery! books in one would be interesting.

Also, Goldhawk?  Haven't even read those... I realise they are more simplistic than standard FF, but they haven't been reissued (to my knowledge?) and a deluxe all-in-one version could be pretty cool

I feel Steve and Ian should probably just allow for scans of Goldhawk, Warlock Magazine and the 10th anniversary diary to be published online. I assume they own the rights and I doubt there's enough financial incentive to try to publish them in physical form so would be a nice thing for the fans who missed out on them.

[a moderator]

The people who actually wrote the mini-adventures might also have some small share of the rights.