International Availability for Hall of Judgment

Steve Jackson Games just made an amazing announcement. They’re considering a Dungeon Fantasy RPG Bestiary, and hinting that they may also reprint the Dungeon Fantasy RPG boxed set. In the highly-active comments section, a commenter noted that they wanted to buy a copy of Hall of Judgment, but shipping to the UK was nearly $25, doubling the cost of the book. International shipping of Hall of Judgment is always problematic from the USA.

Also, SJG obviously doesn’t control that. I do – it’s my book and my product line. Anyway, two key things for international customers:

• There are still 8 copies of HoJ left in the United Kingdom, which can be shipped to the UK for about $6, the EU for $9, and “rest of world” for about $12; those were the Kickstarter prices and I don’t think Royal Mail has changed their prices lately.
• Once those are gone, I’ve arranged to have the same printer, CPI, do print-on-demand softcovers for me. The quality of paper will be very nearly as good as the original batch (130gsm/86# paper instead of 140gsm/93#).

This is very exciting. The cost per book is competitive with DriveThruRPG. The paper quality is much better. And dealing with the same printer that did my original version means the handling of files is the same; no “surprise” changes due to tweaks in the export.

So: continuity of availability for Hall of Judgment for “not the USA” customers is assured.

What about the USA?

This is, obviously, easier.

SJGames probably has a few dozen copies at Warehouse 23. I’ve got maybe 60 here at home. After that, things will get more complicated, but I’m looking into options. POD runs into the same issues: finding POD companies with heavy paper stock is trickier than I’d like (willing to take suggestions, though!). Offset print here in the USA runs into minimum order quantities; I’d probably have to Kickstart or offer a new HoJ print run as a stretch goal to one of my upcoming projects (that has real advantages in the world of ‘and the Dungeon Fantasy RPG boxed set is reprinting and heading to retail shelves again’).

I’m looking into options, but I’m also in far less danger of running out just yet. Stay tuned.