Quote from: waltshumate;1048573Chaosium admits that they believe the original Masks was racist and is still racist despite the rewrite.

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It'd like history doesn't exist or something. The whole point of CoC is playing in the real world but with dark cults summoning demons. It's not a fantasy world whatsoever.

Quote from: waltshumate;1048573Chaosium admits that they believe the original Masks was racist and is still racist despite the rewrite.

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Sort of. I think it's mostly just her way of taking a shot at the book's critics, but without knowing exactly who she's referring to it's hard to say. Given some of what's been said in the past, though, I don't think anyone should be surprised that there were people working on the campaign that considered it "racist." Claims of racism and sexism get thrown around a lot, especially with games that are set in historical periods throughout real world history. It's a lose/lose situation. Either a game is racist/sexist/whateverist or people slam it for whitewashing history.

Quote from: Dimitrios;1048443My main impression so far, though, is that it's a bit like the Extra Special 43rd Anniversary 19th Director's Cut Digitally Remastered For The Nteenth Time Now With An Exclusive Interview With The Caterer Who Brought Harrison Ford A Sandwich On The Set One Time Collector's Edition of Star Wars. Definitely a boutique item for people with money to spare rather than anything that was really called for. I'm at a stage where blowing $60 on an overpriced pdf if not an issue. But just like  plain dvd will give you the Star Wars experience just as well as an overstuffed collector's edition, I think any post 1996 printing of MoN will serve just as well as this version.

Yeah, I definitely agree that the new edition is far from a necessary upgrade. It'll look nice on the shelf and adds a few bits here and there, but I don't see that it really adds much value over the previous edition. One of the stated goals with this version was compiling information and presenting it in a way to help Keepers run the campaign, but the books are so bloated and information is spread over so many pages that honestly I don't see how it'll be any easier to run than older editions.

Is it seriously $60 for a PDF?!

Quote from: RPGPundit;1048763Is it seriously $60 for a PDF?!

7e Masks and Orient Express are 60$ each for the PDFs
Original Masks PDF is 18$ for the PDF and others like Alone Against the Dark are like 7$ or so.

Quote from: waltshumate;1048573Chaosium admits that they believe the original Masks was racist and is still racist despite the rewrite.

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Do you have a source for this?

Quote from: Omega;10487727e Masks and Orient Express are 60$ each for the PDFs
Original Masks PDF is 18$ for the PDF and others like Alone Against the Dark are like 7$ or so.

That's just ridiculous.

Someone has to pay for the fancy artwork and snazzy layout. People don't work for free (or exposure) you know.

Quote from: Herne's Son;1048912Do you have a source for this?

That is the source it is a tweet from a Chaosium staffer.

Quote from: Herne's Son;1048912Do you have a source for this?

The Pulp genre was racist Masks was based on the pulp genre therefore Masks (before the rewrite) is racist. 19:30 seconds in.
http://blasphemoustomes.com/2018/06/26/episode-133-the-good-friends-try-on-masks-of-nyarlathotep/

Quote from: RPGPundit;1038002From what I heard, that was NOT the only change. There was also change in the way investigations are handled.  Was that not true?

Also, that's still not compatible without adjustment, however small.

AFAICT, the adjustments needed include basically the same or less math than converting some OSR adventures from ascending to descending AC:).
Or did the people who converted their OSR games from descending to ascending AC also pull a dick move that prevents TSR-era adventures from being used;)?

Quote from: rmeints;1039683Let me expand on that just a bit, without hopefully sounding too petty, too trite, or attempting to grandstand.

We at the Chaosium have overhauled all manner of things within the company over the last 3 years. In some respects, almost everything.

We have seriously and intentionally "upped" our game. Our books are now all full color hardcover books. We pay more attention to art, editing, and layout. We have tried to communicate and connect more with the RPG community, which is our family. We listen. We respond. We pay our creatives on time and in full. We reach out to our critics and try to understand what they are telling us. We make mistakes. We are not perfect. We strive to have fun. We have always invested ourselves in our games, as many of you have. In the end, we only wish we had more time to talk with you all more.

I can only commend the goal of your efforts.
I'm still divided on the execution, and some of the specific changes, but your intentions are definitely good ones. At least the changes to the combat chapter of CoC are a welcome thing in my book!
Going for full-on colour art and the associated price increase wasn't especially welcome, though. Especially since I'm trying to get more new people into the hobby (and yes, I'm not doing it via d100 system first, "skipping" the "D&D stage").

Quote from: Nerzenjäger;1047405Divide the stats by a factor (5 I think?). That's about it. Though in-game even that doesn't matter.

Some alarmists on this forum really have exaggerated on the edition change hysteria. It's mostly the same game and highly backwards compatible to 1st ed.

That's what our CoC Referee said as well. I choose to believe him (especially since I'm not planning to but CoC7 any time soon).

Quote from: waltshumate;1048957That is the source it is a tweet from a Chaosium staffer.

Ah, gotcha. Didn't realize the person in the screen cap was a Chaosium wonk. I've not paid much attention to them at all over the last few years.

Quote from: Hermes Serpent;1048956Someone has to pay for the fancy artwork and snazzy layout. People don't work for free (or exposure) you know.

None of which actually sell the PDF. But the buyer has to eat the cost of that glitz.

Quote from: Omega;1049023None of which actually sell the PDF. But the buyer has to eat the cost of that glitz.

I like the price about as much as you, and quite possibly less:).

But let's be fair and admit that there is a market for full-colour big, glitzy books. It's a business decision whether to publish product for it, for black-and-white big books, or for black-and-white small books.
And that decision is Chaosium's to make, based on economic logic. Not you, not me, it's their money, so they have to estimate the likely returns on the investment.

So, much as I personally dislike their current decision, because regretfully leads to prices that don't work for most people in my country, I can only hope it would work out for them;).

Quote from: AsenRG;1049034I like the price about as much as you, and quite possibly less:).

But let's be fair and admit that there is a market for full-colour big, glitzy books. It's a business decision whether to publish product for it, for black-and-white big books, or for black-and-white small books.
And that decision is Chaosium's to make, based on economic logic. Not you, not me, it's their money, so they have to estimate the likely returns on the investment.

So, much as I personally dislike their current decision, because regretfully leads to prices that don't work for most people in my country, I can only hope it would work out for them;).

Except the fact is the expensive as all hell glitz art inside doesnt sell the book, and it especially does not sell PDFs. This has been known since at least the late 90s.

Quote from: Hermes Serpent;1048956Someone has to pay for the fancy artwork and snazzy layout. People don't work for free (or exposure) you know.

Yes, but that's what the print edition is for. PDFs don't have a real print cost.