Release of the Definitive editions (end of 2021?)

[andyc]

Mar 26, 2023 16:43:54 GMT Lucy Van Pelt said:

Mar 23, 2023 15:41:06 GMT spartanroarke said:

The first five DE paperbacks are (finally) in stock at Blackwells with free shipping to the US.

The rules for Sommerswerd sound absurd in the DE. I am selling away my DE1-3 softcovers. I have sold my DE1-5 hardcovers for a profit of 53sgd!

I presume that can't be the only reason for you to sell the beautifully made DE?! The Sommerswerd rules are entirely optional and I personally think they a a good move in making a massively over-powered weapon more sensible. What they do with Zakhan and other artificially difficult fights with the Swerd still remain to be seen however.

[spartanroarke]

Mar 27, 2023 14:01:19 GMT andyc said:

Mar 26, 2023 16:43:54 GMT Lucy Van Pelt said:

The rules for Sommerswerd sound absurd in the DE. I am selling away my DE1-3 softcovers. I have sold my DE1-5 hardcovers for a profit of 53sgd!

I presume that can't be the only reason for you to sell the beautifully made DE?! The Sommerswerd rules are entirely optional and I personally think they a a good move in making a massively over-powered weapon more sensible. What they do with Zakhan and other artificially difficult fights with the Swerd still remain to be seen however.

I’ve played books 2-5 with the new Sommerswerd rules and found it to be an enjoyable experience. I think I rolled a 7 on my base CS, so a strong LW but not ridiculously strong. I’ve played each book a number of times before, but not often enough to have a “best path” memorized or anything like that. Which is just to say that the books can be completed on “hard mode” without having a maxed out character with full bookpath knowledge.

I’m generally skeptical of “difficulty settings” and “advanced rules”, but the Sommerswerd rules, so far, work just fine. They really only serve to make it so LW isn’t at +11 combat ratio in every fight.

[Black Cat]

Latest Newsletter says books 6 & 7 DE hardback will be out April 13th!

[Black Cat]

Books 8 to 10 will be available on April 28th!

[Geralt of Rivia]

Hopefully someone is able to shed some light on my question.

Im looking to have a fresh start on collecting the Lone Wolf collection, namely the DE hardcover version.
Ideally this would be directly through Holmgard Press however as I live outside of Europe and with so many books in the series, the shipping would just end up being prohibitive for me.

I see however the DE hardcovers for books 1 to 7 are also available through various distributers i.e Amazon, Blackwells etc. Books 8 onwards however are not.

Is the intention to release all the DE hardover versions also through distributers? I would expect there is probably a built in delay to release these elsewhere to allow Holmgard Press the majority of sales direct.

I would hate to start collecting the hardcovers and then have to stop

Any advice would be great.

[Black Cat]

I don't know if places like Blackwell's will get hardback versions past book 8, so maybe you could write directly to Holmgard Press to getan answer on that.

That said, I know that Blackwell's offer free shipping anywhere in the world, so you might want to get at least the first 8 books from them. After that, you might want to look around for places that offer cheaper shipping fees to get the rest of the books if Blackwell's doesn't get the rest of the hardbacks.

Finally, you did not specify from where in the world you are from, but in some countries, groups are made to consolidate shipping to lower the costs. First one that comes to mind is the group for Australia/NZ. I'm not sure but maybe there's another one for Singapore. You might want to check the Lone Wolf Gamebooks group on Facebook to get more info on this.

[Geralt of Rivia]

Jan 10, 2024 16:11:12 GMT Black Cat said:

I don't know if places like Blackwell's will get hardback versions past book 8, so maybe you could write directly to Holmgard Press to get an answer on that.

That said, I know that Blackwell's offer free shipping anywhere in the world, so you might want to get at least the first 8 books from them. After that, you might want to look around for places that offer cheaper shipping fees to get the rest of the books if Blackwell's doesn't get the rest of the hardbacks.

Finally, you did not specify from where in the world you are from, but in some countries, groups are made to consolidate shipping to lower the costs. First one that comes to mind is the group for Australia/NZ. I'm not sure but maybe there's another one for Singapore. You might want to check the Lone Wolf Gamebooks group on Facebook to get more info on this.

Actually I am in Australia so I'll see if I an track down the facebook group you've mentioned. Thanks for the suggestion.

[wisestrider]

It's worth noting (because I don't think this is made clear anywhere on the official store website) but the hardback & paperback versions of Book 1 ( and Book 1 only) are very different.

The hardback version is the revised "Mongoose" version of Flight From the Dark with completely rewritten & expanded story, 550 sections, 100% new art (by Nerdgore - none of the original art is included) - this version is not available through Project Aon & you pretty much always meet Banedon due to how some encounters gave been moved around.

The paperback version is the original Flight From the Dark as released in the 1980's, with the original 350 sections of text (some sections of text have been slightly expanded to incorporate details from the "Mongoose" version of the book, and the "Definitive Edition" rule changes - such as the new special rule for the Crystal Star Pendant - but the choices & paths through the book remain as per the Project Aon version of the book - you will need to pick and use the right Kai Discipline to meet Banedon), and, some might say most importantly, all of Gary Chalk's original art.

Depending on how much of a collector you are, you might want to consider getting both versions of Book 1, or base your decision between hardback & paperback editions based on which version of Book 1 you prefer to own.

I personally think both versions are worth owning, but only the paperback version holds great nostalgia for me.

The paperback versions do not have coloured maps - so generally I'd recommend hardback versions of the other books if available/affordable.

But that original Flight From the Dark is a classic bit of gamebook history and I can't recommend the revised hardback edition as a replacement, only an addition.

[wisestrider]

The books have been printed in batches -
Book 1
Book 2 & 3
Book 4 & 5
Book 6 & 7
Book 8, 9 & 10
Book 11 & 12

I think there were some hardback versions of Books 8, 9 & 10 offered on Amazon at one point, so it's possible they've sold out what they had & whether they get a restock of hardbacks is maybe up in the air (maybe they ordered too many hardbacks for the earlier books and refuced their orders).

But it's the also worth knowing that the releases of Books 11 & 12 have been held up by printer issues (recently resolved) - so it's also possible, depending on timing, that the reason hardback versions of Books 8 onwards are not stocked by other retailers is that a restock / reprint of the 8, 9 & 10 batch was impacted by the same issue as delayed the initial stock for Books 11 & 12.

Books 11 & 12 haven't yet been released through other retailers at all yet that I've seen.

Situation might change now the printing supplies have been sorted (in case you can't find an official answer, just check in a month or so and see if Books 8, 9 & 10 are now offered in hardback - if not they probably won't be).

[Geralt of Rivia]

wisestrider - Excellent information there. I had read the book 1 Hardcover is the expanded story and Nerdgore commissioned art. I have a 1980's book 1 but probably will pick up the current paperback version as well.

Hopefully the hardcover books will continue to have a general release. I've emailed Holmgard Press for clarity and if I receive a response, I'll post here.

[bowman]

I've just had a cancellation from Amazon for books 11 and 12 in softback saying they can't secure a source for them. Are the softbacks no longer happening?

G.

[Black Cat]

Nah, it's probably because they are in fact coming in April (2-3 months after the hardbacks, as it was the case with the other books) and they don't have a specific date. I think this is a specific problem to Amazon as other places where you can order the softbacks (Blackwells among others) are apparently still showing them up for preorders.

[bowman]

Phew! that's a relief.