State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop
18 Apr 2013 11:21 - 18 Apr 2013 12:32 #47142
by Damnans
V:EKN Website Coordinator
State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop was created by Damnans
Dear fellow Methuselahs,
It has been awfully quiet around the V:EKN so here comes a much awaited and needed update. And there is good news, the project of bringing V:TES back into print through a print-on-demand program with Onebookshelf, Inc. is advancing well. There are and have been a couple of difficulties to tackle: the printing process and quality, as well as dealing with two licensing parties (CCP and WotC).
CCP has agreed in principle to the license. Wizards first required us to demonstrate that the card quality can be achieved. We have now passed this milestone. We now continue to work with Wizards business team to agree in principle to license terms. If Wizards agree, then we will proceed to work through the legal departments at both CCP and Wizards, which can take some time. We are making progress, but it is a slow process.
A lot of the ideas gathered from the marketing teams survey and personal conversations have been gathered from the player base and they have been the foundation of the customer commercial side of the program. As soon as the deal is coming together and financials are more clear we will start leaking details, such as pricing and ordering options to you. I might also add that our rules team is working on many detailed card text updates so all of the POD cards will have the latest text versions on them, many of them incorporating clarifications and errata given by LSJ or Pascal. It seems currently that not all of the 3500 something cards will be available from the get-go, especially since all of the cards will have the same (latest) layout. So it will be a gradual process of adding cards, new to old, as the old cards get re-layouted (a very time consuming and tedious task).
In the meantime we have put the PDF release of Danse Macabre on ice and will wait for the POD program to release the set, which seems to be the preferred option with the majority of players. Nevertheless there will be some previews of cards over the next months and of course you are free to play them yourself at your own discretion, unless playing in a sanctioned tournament of course.
In other news the preparation of the European Championship is going on very well and a venue has been found, more details to come from the organisation team.
Qualifier shirts have been produced in cooperation between the marketing team and vtes.de and can be ordered in qualifier packs .
North American Championship has found its permanent home in Origins so of course this will be the same fantastic and worthwhile experience as in previous years. Kevin Mergen is working on a plan to provide people with the 2013 qualifier shirts on preorder, check out the poll on Facebook
The team working on the new rating integration with Archon upload functionality has now fixed a date for public release, which will be Sunday May 5th. This will not only include the website functionality, but also a (required) new version of The Archon and some detailed use guidelines.
Last but not least there is a new rules update coming, Pascal is currently finalizing it and it should be up by the weekend.
So, again, apologies for the long silence, I promise more frequent updates.
Johannes Walch
V:EKN Chairman
It has been awfully quiet around the V:EKN so here comes a much awaited and needed update. And there is good news, the project of bringing V:TES back into print through a print-on-demand program with Onebookshelf, Inc. is advancing well. There are and have been a couple of difficulties to tackle: the printing process and quality, as well as dealing with two licensing parties (CCP and WotC).
CCP has agreed in principle to the license. Wizards first required us to demonstrate that the card quality can be achieved. We have now passed this milestone. We now continue to work with Wizards business team to agree in principle to license terms. If Wizards agree, then we will proceed to work through the legal departments at both CCP and Wizards, which can take some time. We are making progress, but it is a slow process.
A lot of the ideas gathered from the marketing teams survey and personal conversations have been gathered from the player base and they have been the foundation of the customer commercial side of the program. As soon as the deal is coming together and financials are more clear we will start leaking details, such as pricing and ordering options to you. I might also add that our rules team is working on many detailed card text updates so all of the POD cards will have the latest text versions on them, many of them incorporating clarifications and errata given by LSJ or Pascal. It seems currently that not all of the 3500 something cards will be available from the get-go, especially since all of the cards will have the same (latest) layout. So it will be a gradual process of adding cards, new to old, as the old cards get re-layouted (a very time consuming and tedious task).
In the meantime we have put the PDF release of Danse Macabre on ice and will wait for the POD program to release the set, which seems to be the preferred option with the majority of players. Nevertheless there will be some previews of cards over the next months and of course you are free to play them yourself at your own discretion, unless playing in a sanctioned tournament of course.
In other news the preparation of the European Championship is going on very well and a venue has been found, more details to come from the organisation team.
Qualifier shirts have been produced in cooperation between the marketing team and vtes.de and can be ordered in qualifier packs .
North American Championship has found its permanent home in Origins so of course this will be the same fantastic and worthwhile experience as in previous years. Kevin Mergen is working on a plan to provide people with the 2013 qualifier shirts on preorder, check out the poll on Facebook
The team working on the new rating integration with Archon upload functionality has now fixed a date for public release, which will be Sunday May 5th. This will not only include the website functionality, but also a (required) new version of The Archon and some detailed use guidelines.
Last but not least there is a new rules update coming, Pascal is currently finalizing it and it should be up by the weekend.
So, again, apologies for the long silence, I promise more frequent updates.
Johannes Walch
V:EKN Chairman
V:EKN Website Coordinator
Last edit: 18 Apr 2013 12:32 by Damnans.
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18 Apr 2013 11:44 #47143
by Ankha
Replied by Ankha on topic Re: State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop
That's wonderful news! I keep my fingers crossed now.
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18 Apr 2013 12:20 #47146
by Simidh
Replied by Simidh on topic Re: State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop
That is excellent news and well worth patiently waiting for!
I think it will be something that can greatly bolster the chances of attracting new and old players into the fold, the ability to buy what you want, when you want, to build the decks you want to play, not just the decks you can perhaps scrimp together from a dwindling repository of available cards.
As a fairly recently returned player, who has probably spent far more on building up my newly acquired current collection than I should have, I still welcome this excellent news even if does potentially diminish their worth...
regards,
Simon B aka Simidh
I think it will be something that can greatly bolster the chances of attracting new and old players into the fold, the ability to buy what you want, when you want, to build the decks you want to play, not just the decks you can perhaps scrimp together from a dwindling repository of available cards.
As a fairly recently returned player, who has probably spent far more on building up my newly acquired current collection than I should have, I still welcome this excellent news even if does potentially diminish their worth...
regards,
Simon B aka Simidh
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gangrel-Boy
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18 Apr 2013 14:00 #47158
by DeathInABottle
Replied by DeathInABottle on topic Re: State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop
Great news. I suspect that there are just a few individuals who will be working on uploading and converting old cards to the new format, but this might be an area where you could draw on the wider community: you could almost certainly find volunteers to help out. That would depend on the software being used, among other things, but it might speed things along.
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18 Apr 2013 14:48 - 18 Apr 2013 14:49 #47163
by BenPeal
The current stumbling block with previews (and a PDF release in its entirety) is what copyright notice to put on the Danse Macabre cards. The material is ultimately owned by CCP (White Wolf) and Hasbro (Wizards), and the work we've done is very clearly derived from their property and not sufficiently original and copyrightable on its own for another party to claim ownership. Although CCP has agreed in principle and we're awaiting Hasbro's agreement in principle, no licenses/contracts/etc. have been signed. We don't want to be presumptuous or jeopardize the license negotiations by publicly publishing material we don't have the licenses for. We're discussing the matter with Steve Wieck and OneBookshelf.com to see what our options are. Depending on the state of negotiations and depending on the legal bits, we might be able to put "Copyright CCP and Hasbro" or "Copyright OneBookshelf.com" or such on the cards. Once that's sorted out, we'll get the previews going.
- Ben Peal
Design Team Leader
Replied by BenPeal on topic Re: State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop
In the meantime we have put the PDF release of Danse Macabre on ice and will wait for the POD program to release the set, which seems to be the preferred option with the majority of players. Nevertheless there will be some previews of cards over the next months and of course you are free to play them yourself at your own discretion, unless playing in a sanctioned tournament of course.
The current stumbling block with previews (and a PDF release in its entirety) is what copyright notice to put on the Danse Macabre cards. The material is ultimately owned by CCP (White Wolf) and Hasbro (Wizards), and the work we've done is very clearly derived from their property and not sufficiently original and copyrightable on its own for another party to claim ownership. Although CCP has agreed in principle and we're awaiting Hasbro's agreement in principle, no licenses/contracts/etc. have been signed. We don't want to be presumptuous or jeopardize the license negotiations by publicly publishing material we don't have the licenses for. We're discussing the matter with Steve Wieck and OneBookshelf.com to see what our options are. Depending on the state of negotiations and depending on the legal bits, we might be able to put "Copyright CCP and Hasbro" or "Copyright OneBookshelf.com" or such on the cards. Once that's sorted out, we'll get the previews going.
- Ben Peal
Design Team Leader
Last edit: 18 Apr 2013 14:49 by BenPeal.
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18 Apr 2013 15:22 #47166
by hardyrange
"It was a perfect plan - until it had contact with reality"
---
Hardy Range
Playgroup Tradition Compliance Manager
Replied by hardyrange on topic Re: State of the V:EKN: News from the printshop
Thanks, guys, for this much-awaited update - which turned out to be far better than "Nothing to say". B-)
"It was a perfect plan - until it had contact with reality"
---
Hardy Range
Playgroup Tradition Compliance Manager
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