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Raiders & Crusaders Inc.

 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:37 pm 
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Howdy folks,

Since the printed release of Epic: Raiders, a lot of things have been taking place both behind the scenes and on the forum.  The fan-made supplement has met with what I consider to be good success, having been downloaded many thousand times.  In addition, over 100 printed books have been purchased by customers in twelve different countries which to me is remarkable considering the content is free online.

The gross sales from Raiders, however, has put me in a difficult position as the money had to be declared as income.  This had very bad tax consequences for me and could have easily pushed me into a higher tax bracket.  (No good deed goes unpunished as the saying goes).  The result of this 'income' is that I have now had to incorporate under the name "Raiders & Crusaders", a non-profit organization with the same mission as I had set out for the book: to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  The applications for incorporating have not been cheap with state fees running $120 and the IRS 501c filing fee at $300.  This means much of the money that was donated in excess of the book costs will go toward fees instead of going to cancer.  If there was any other way to do this I would have but I either had to incorporate or roll the dice on my own money with the IRS.

Are you writing a supplement? If so, and you want to put it into print, you will be faced with the same obstacles I am faced with.  Ex. The gross income from Raiders is over $3100 which can easily push many people into a different tax bracket, not to mention how your governments will interpret the effort if you are audited.  This combined with the printing fees and upfront costs make it a daunting task.  

I am willing and interested to open up Raiders & Crusaders Inc. to other gaming supplements that the community would like to put out.  This will be mutually beneficial as it spreads the various fees associated with such an effort over several books which will in turn mean more money going to charity.  This will far outweigh any shipping considerations, especially given the exchange rate for the US Dollar right now.:sigh:  At this time I am inclined to stick with Epic and Battlefleet Gothic, but if you have any other ideas just let me know.  I have contacted the ACS and they are excited about this effort.

There are a number of fan-made supplements that are currently in the works and at various stages of completion.  The Mossino Campaign is one that actually preceeded Raiders and will be ready soon.  Black Crusade, Xenos, and a handful of other ideas are just getting started.

If you are making a fan-made supplement for Epic or BFG that you would like to arrange through me, I have some requirements that I think most people will find easy to meet:

1. The publication must be GW friendly. No mixing of Intellectual Property.  No items that might be contrary to how GW sees the 40K universe.  In other words, don't do anything to irritate the multi-million dollar company with an army of attorneys.  You can always contact me if you have any questions.
2. Do not use images from GW in your publication.  Artwork that draws on GW material is one thing, but copying it outright (illustrations, paintings, or model images) is a no-go at this station.  
3. Your publication must indicate that it is fan-made and unofficial in every way.  
4. You must make your supplement free and available for public download.
5. Communicate with me.  If you want to do something, just ask.  Having gone through the supplement building process from beginning to end, I can probably give you some insight.

The benefits of us working together should be obvious.  For anyone who isn't aware, I paid a $395 fee with Mills Press which allows me to print five books with them for five years.  That is a one-time cost that has almost been completely paid off with the sale of Raiders.  I can buy shipping materials in bulk, have shipments from the press consolidated, and customers can order multiple books at one time, reducing costs even further.

A separate website is coming soon which will allow people to purchase the book(s) and make donations.  I look forward to getting some of your feedback and I am excited over the prospect that we could be making these supplements available to gamers world wide.

Thanks,

William Sturtevant aka Moscovian




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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:45 pm 
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While I don't have a supplement planned or anything like that, I just wanted to jump in a say what a great idea this is - and also to say a big thank you to you for all the work and effort you've gone through to get to this point. Fantastic stuff - well above and beyond the call of a hobbyist's duty!

Regards,
Reaver

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:14 pm 
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E&C you are the 40k man, any forums have similar things being made for other systems that could find a home there?

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:41 pm 
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Quote: (The_Real_Chris @ 29 Sep. 2008, 13:14 )

E&C you are the 40k man, any forums have similar things being made for other systems that could find a home there?

I haven't a clue... I'm only tangentally involved in 40k stuff.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:55 pm 
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How about an add in firebase?

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:59 pm 
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Quote: (The_Real_Chris @ 29 Sep. 2008, 16:55 )

How about an add in firebase?

Firebase is *very* high profile, I don't know if we want that high a profile.


In the mean time, I am still working on improving Mossino, but I need more artworks for it.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:08 pm 
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Hena, link is fixed now.  Thanks!

TRC, I think an ad on Warseer is a good idea, although I will probably hold off until there are at least two books available to do that and probably three.  Advertising is hard to justify when a couple hundred bucks can take the company from the black to the red overnight.  To give you some insight, Raiders & Crusaders has turned a profit of about $25 not including the printing and application fees.  When you calculate those things in, I am personally $800 in the hole.   :sus:

I'm hoping word of mouth, posts online, and the notations I placed on the download will bring in more orders.  I also think that once other more popular supplements are put togther (ex. Black Crusade if Chroma decides to work through me) people who didn't buy Raiders will pick up a copy when they purchase Black Crusade.

EDIT: E&C, why would you be worried about 'high profile'?  This whole venture was built on transparency for GW's eyes.  I had a dozen+ GW fellas manhandling my copy at Games Day and nobody has said a word.  GW Legal said nothing and Jervis (and you might be able to correct me here) thought it was fine.  If they want to shut me down they can do it pretty much anytime.  They'd be fools to do it since it is just a giant ad campaign for them, though.  Do you have any inside information into this that I am missing?




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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:25 pm 
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Would it be possible to make also the rules and the Swordwind fit into this? Then I'd say we have something.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:43 pm 
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I wouldn't have thought as a charity you would have to pay to mention yourself on warseer/whatever forum/firebase. Hell if you wouldn't to devote lots of time to charity you could post something up on TMP!

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:43 pm 
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Quote: (Erik M @ 29 Sep. 2008, 17:25 )

Would it be possible to make also the rules and the Swordwind fit into this? Then I'd say we have something.

I don't believe there would be *ANY* way that could happen... those books are specifically GW intellectual property and they will *OBLITERATE* anyone who tried to print them on the side.

This endeavour is only for *new* *fan-produced* works, not old GW stuff.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:53 pm 
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EDIT: E&C, why would you be worried about 'high profile'?


I was more worried for you, but if you're okay with a higher profile, then I am too.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:56 pm 
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The rules aren't really theirs any more, are they?
The amount of changes etc makes them a community effort and also how they let it out of their reach. Baring pure IP that is.

A good printing of the TaCom Armageddon Handbook would anyhow be beneficial for GW. And the GW Epic Armageddon Rulebook is totally outdated anyhow.

But yeah, I got no problem seeing the problems GW would make. And must make. Not sure how Raider got scoot free actually. It's not as if GW has let go of Epic in any way.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:22 pm 
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I appreciate the concern, but if I try to hide anything then it implies that I believe I have done something wrong.  I don't feel that way at all.  I've acted in good faith, published Raiders with their IP guidelines in mind, emailed their Legal Department twice, showed it to every single GW person who stop by the Epic tournament and even gave a copy to Jervis.

At the same time (and this goes to Erik's comments) I fully realize that GW at any time can pretty much shut me down on a whim.  All of the fan-based material we make is still considered derivative IP and can't be 'ours' in any way.  It will always be GW's.  The only thing that makes it 'ours' is the lack of GW imposing their will upon it, usually because they realize that there is more to be gained by leaving it alone than by loosing the lawyers.

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 Post subject: Raiders & Crusaders Inc.
PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 6:49 pm 
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It's a thin line and indeed GW can do *snap* and it all falls down. But I hope that by now they thrive on fan supplements. How many fanzines do their already exist for them? (Firebase, Watchmen, Incoming, Warp Rift, The UnderEmpire (Skaven WHFB), TheConclave, and I bet other SG games have one as well).

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