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The Needle's Eye is out

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Beta

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« on: <05-29-24/2046:12> »
At least on pdf, on drivethrurpg.  I haven't looked for hard copy yet.  No preview page on strong yet

It is another campaign book, like Third Parallel or Whisper Nets.

Aria

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« Reply #1 on: <05-30-24/0434:21> »
Thanks Beta, definitely picking that one up!  Question though, why are the file sizes so damn big?!?!?
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Beta

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« Reply #2 on: <05-30-24/0802:04> »
Aria: great question, that I also have -- I'm worried that my e-reader is going to run out of space soon, with how big all the newer pdfs are.  On the other hand, they seem to move between pages on the ereader better, so my guess is that they are using a lower compression setting or something like that, but purely a guess.

Now I'm kicking myself for not asking that on the AMA they did on Reddit a little while ago.

Maybe I'll make a new thread here, to ask, and see if anyone with connections can find out.

MercilessMing

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« Reply #3 on: <05-30-24/1149:50> »
This was asked of them on their 6th edition Facebook group recently, and the response could be boiled down to "we don't think size is an issue in this day and age".  My reading of it was that they weren't aware that their file sizes were an issue, and after being made aware of it, decided it still wasn't an issue.

FastJack

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« Reply #4 on: <05-31-24/0702:08> »
Hrm... Let me do some checking. I have Acrobat installed, so I was able to save and reduce the file size of Needle's Eye from 187 to 86, I'll check and see if there's something to be done.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #5 on: <06-03-24/0623:43> »
At least on pdf, on drivethrurpg.  I haven't looked for hard copy yet.  No preview page on strong yet

It is another campaign book, like Third Parallel or Whisper Nets.
They sold a significant bunch of hard copies at the UK Games Expo this past week. Technically it's not a campaign book, Final Bets will be. It explains the Grand Tour, has sections on Prague, Lisbon, London, and Paris, explains the various rich arses folks that are part of the Grand Tour, and then has a section on many different plots you could use with your players, involving these multi-billionaires their ongoing stories.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Beta

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« Reply #6 on: <06-10-24/1302:42> »
Having read through it now, yah, about half the pages are for the four cities covered (Lisbon, Prague, London, Paris).  Each of those has varying degrees of focus on what the tour cares about vs general background and locations (mostly it was more general with just some tour notes). 

The rest of this post gets pretty subjective.

About 16 adventure ideas, two of them having some length (6 and 8 pages), the rest mostly just one or two pages.
  • Unfortunately the first long one (also first of the adventures, 6 pages long) confused me (honestly I don't understand what happens at the end, but also on where characters are supposed to be influencing anything).  Seriously, if you understand the ending of that one, could you message me?
    The second long one (last of the adventures, 8 pages) I have mixed feelings about.  The basic concept is pretty good, but stage managing the plot in such a way as to arrive at the rather scripted finale sounds more challenging.  And what happens in that finale felt a bit forced to me, given all the 6e technology available.  I feel like it would have helped to have a few lines about an alternate way for the world to get to the same plot point, should the players find ways to thwart fate (players are good at that!)

Overall I'd say the grand tour background and outlines of some of the key figures on the tour are great if you are interested in the tour, the locations are good if you are interested in those cities, and the adventures are OK, but nothing so special as to say 'force it into your game' if they don't come naturally.  I have no regrets about buying the book, and I'll make use of it for sure, but I would consider it a bit more niche in who it will appeal to.

(and about that first adventure, the one with the Wuxing tie in, I'm serious, if you understand, talk to me please!  I'm running a game where entirely coincidentally, just before this book dropped I created a great set-up for adapting that adventure, but I'm not sure of the intended plot outcome at the end, and have a player who will dig to understand, so I have to understand).