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What is the difference between Standard Heavyweight and Premium Heavyweight? Is the difference in quality enough to justify a 40% price increase?
For anyone familiar with DriveThruRPG's POD service...
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Nick J
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I'm not sure who the actual printer is (I think it varies by region?), but I've purchased both qualities of books, and no I can't imagine a 40% markup making sense from a cost standpoint.
The main difference I've noticed is that the premium heavyweight makes colors pop a little bit more.
The main difference I've noticed is that the premium heavyweight makes colors pop a little bit more.
The colour in the standard is a bit more washed out compare to the premium. Other than that, not much difference. Binding is the same. Really depends on how important the art is to you.
This DTRPG page shows you the difference: https://support.drivethrurpg.com/hc...nce-between-Premium-Color-and-Standard-Color-
Ladybird
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Premium heavyweight is printed on very nice paper, at least from their UK printers. It's thick and sturdy-feeling. I'm not sure I'd pay the extra for it, mind you, but it reproduces colour well; it's not glossy like FFG's paper, it's not a more matte finish to it.
I don't have a camera that could do it justice, but as an indication of how thick it is, here's two copies of Zweihander - DTRPG standard heavyweight on the left, standard offset on the right. Zweihander is a 700-page tome, so it wouldn't be as noticeable on smaller books, but still... it's significant.
As another comparison, Stars Without Number Revised (320ish pages, premium heavyweight) is about an mm thicker than Starfinder (520ish pages, Standard glossy RPG paper).
I don't have a camera that could do it justice, but as an indication of how thick it is, here's two copies of Zweihander - DTRPG standard heavyweight on the left, standard offset on the right. Zweihander is a 700-page tome, so it wouldn't be as noticeable on smaller books, but still... it's significant.
As another comparison, Stars Without Number Revised (320ish pages, premium heavyweight) is about an mm thicker than Starfinder (520ish pages, Standard glossy RPG paper).
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The actual paper between Standard and Premium is now the same. As mentioned before, the difference is the colors. The colors in Standard look washed out and muted. They look all nice and perty on Premium. Whether or not that's worth the extra $$ to you, is up to you.
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TheophilusCarter
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I can't compare, exactly, but I've always gone with premium for color and standard for B+W, and I've always been happy with the results. I'm not sure I've ever bought anything that had a 40% difference in price, though!
Are we talking about the revised edition of Stars Without Number? I admit, $80 would be hard for me to do ...
Are we talking about the revised edition of Stars Without Number? I admit, $80 would be hard for me to do ...
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20th Anniversary Changeling The Dreaming. Admittedly the classic DiTerlizzi art is a big part of the draw, and it would be a nostalgia purchase overall. But $100 for premium vs $60 for standard makes me hesitate.
TheophilusCarter
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Ouch! Yah, that's quite a markup. For comparison, SWN is only a difference of $60 vs. $80.
CRKrueger
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Wow, that's a crazy markup.
But, since it's you...
Who loves Changeling...
Who loves DiTerlizzi...
Who is an artist himself...
...I'd go for the Premium. I don't know if it will be worth it for me. I think it will be for you.
But, since it's you...
Who loves Changeling...
Who loves DiTerlizzi...
Who is an artist himself...
...I'd go for the Premium. I don't know if it will be worth it for me. I think it will be for you.
zweihander
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As a designer:
My experience after using LuLu and OBS options (b&w, standard heavyweight & premium heavyweight), the best bang for your buck is standard heavyweight. The brightness of colors aside, with the cost of premium heavyweight, you may as well be printing true offset (and it will be significantly less expensive to go a traditional route). Premium heavyweight is far too costly for the inferior spine. OBS's spine is glued to a plank board without smyth sewing in the case binding, which is what you should expect from a printer at that price point.
As a collector:
I would never, ever pay for a premium bound book from OBS because of the poor spine quality. Once again, at that price point, you should expect true offset, clay matte on the paper and a smyth-sewn cover with killer ditches and premium leatherette cover.
As an observer of the industry:
Onyx Path charges way too much for their page count, both in PDF and POD formats.
My experience after using LuLu and OBS options (b&w, standard heavyweight & premium heavyweight), the best bang for your buck is standard heavyweight. The brightness of colors aside, with the cost of premium heavyweight, you may as well be printing true offset (and it will be significantly less expensive to go a traditional route). Premium heavyweight is far too costly for the inferior spine. OBS's spine is glued to a plank board without smyth sewing in the case binding, which is what you should expect from a printer at that price point.
As a collector:
I would never, ever pay for a premium bound book from OBS because of the poor spine quality. Once again, at that price point, you should expect true offset, clay matte on the paper and a smyth-sewn cover with killer ditches and premium leatherette cover.
As an observer of the industry:
Onyx Path charges way too much for their page count, both in PDF and POD formats.
zweihander
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Good example. ZWEIHANDER Kickstarter edition was printed on the best material money can buy, and it still costs significantly less than OBS's cost for print before seller mark-up.
Ladybird
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That's a good point. POD Zweihander feels reasonably robust, but. I'm not sure I'd want to risk carrying it around much, physical size aside. I'm not sure how well it would cope with that. It's pushing the boundary of what feels like it would last; I dread to think what the Stars Without Number Omnibus would feel like, at 1000+ pages.
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The thing is, I not only own all the original books, I also own the big deluxe DiTerlizzi artbook that already reproduces the art in high quality. I think I may have, over the last few days, talked myself out of the purchase altogether, as I don't really care about the changes in rules.
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But, but, but then you won't have the deluxe leather bound limited edition version? How do you people sleep at night?
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If it was deluxe and leatherbound that might be something....but then I can always do that myself with the original books, like I did with my Marvel Superheroes RPG books.
Plus I just dropped around $500 for the complete 3 volumes of Frank Thorne's Red Sonja art editions this month, and I have two Kickstarters coming up I need to start saving for. Luckily tax returns are coming up....the one nice thing about being a student again, I get to write off everything that isn't gaming related.
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Study gaming. Write off everything!
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Student prices for professional software are pretty sweet as well.
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Yeah, I've got the entire adobe suite for free while I'm attending., going to try and get some pdfs together.
Not to mention Amazon Prime free for six months, then half price as long as I'm a student.
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How many credits do you need to take to get the discounts?
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I've no idea, don't know if there's a minimum. I know 4 classes or more a term is considered "full time student," so free health care & free public transit.
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Well, this is in Canuckistan, mind.
I've bought both standard POD and Premium POD before. The standard POD - King Arthur Pendragon - had a slightly warped cover, the pages were a bit thin and the ink was a bit grey. The Premium PODs - the 20th Anniversary Core books for Vampire, Werewolf, etc - were all good quality books that you could easily sell in retail - with more vivid colour and slightly thicker pages. All of the books are bigger and squarish compared to traditional print runs and the binding is just glue (so be wary of any book that has more than 600 pages).
In all though, I can't complain about my purchases at all but I still prefer traditional print wherever possible. On the other hand, if you can't get hold of some books any other way, they are worth it.
In all though, I can't complain about my purchases at all but I still prefer traditional print wherever possible. On the other hand, if you can't get hold of some books any other way, they are worth it.
