Gestalt Player's Guide -- Free Dowload Available

[GestaltBennie]

The Gestalt Player's Guide, a free 30-page download, is now available at the Blackwyrm web site, in advance of the release of the Hero System version of Gestalt: The Hero Within, at Gen Con Indianapolis.

The Player's Guide provides an overvew of a unique superhero world where archetypes from the human subconscious come to life, some bonding with people, others creating superhumans out of wholecloth. It describes the nature of superhumans in the setting, gives a summary of major events, a list of some of the significant characters, provides advice for character generation, and concludes with an extensive list of archetypes. The Player's Guide is a systemless overview of the setting.

Gestalt: The Hero Within has been over fourteen years in the making. It is written by Scott Bennie, author of the award-winning Villainy Amok (for Hero), Testament: Role-playing in the Biblical Age and Agents of Freedom (for Green Ronin) and the upcoming Champions of the North (for Hero). It is published by BlackWyrm Games, makers of the Algernon Files. The download is available at:

http://www.blackwyrm.com/Extras/Gestalt/Gestalt_Player's_Guide.pdf

Hope you folks like it.

[mattingly]

And it's total awesomeness!

[SAVeira]

Downloaded. Want more please. :D

[Hermit]

Thank you :)

[TheQuestionMan]

Downloaded. Want more please. :D
What he said.

Thanks

QM

[Enforcer84]

And it's total awesomeness!
I concur

[Mister E]

...the crossroads of all slash fiction... which was initially confused with Hell, except that it was even less erotic.

:lol:


Many long-time comic book creators are a little amused at the world taking on comic book overtones
– when they aren’t frightened by it.

:rofl:


... the one attempt to use the Blood Red King as a Columbia antagonist was stopped when the heroes warned the publisher that a comic book with a Blood Red King portrayal might literally eat the child who was reading it.

:straight:

[Balabanto]

It is really cool.

[Enforcer84]

:lol:



:rofl:



:straight:
Presactly.

[Steve Kenson]

Brilliant, Scott. Very much looking forward to the finished product (and the M&M Superlink edition, of course... ;)).

[Sketchpad]

That's great looking Scott :) Can't wait to see the final book :D

[pinecone]

I've got it on order at the GS...now ship it already!

[Redmenace]

Scott, your name on a product pretty much guarantees I will buy it. That said, every preview has made me anticipate it all the more. Thanks for pursuing the project for 14 years.

[transmetahuman]

Much as I appreciate the free download, the concepts and the ideas involved, I have to complain again about the poor editing. Considering how much uproar the issue of art in HERO products was recently getting, I'm honestly surprised I'm the only one mentioning this. In terms of a professional presentation, I'd much rather find lackluster art than the number of typos, incomplete corrections, and at least one nonsensical free-floating sentence fragment that I've seen in both of the downloads.

I'll probably buy the book anyway, but only because it's such a perfect fit for a project I've been working on. The editing made me literally grit my teeth at times, and that's not something that would normally inspire me to buy the book.

Sorry to be the only negative note in the thread... There is some really cool stuff in there; I just hate to see it made to look inferior by stuff that could so easily be fixed.

[MisterBaldy]

So, my big question for the day (in this thread at least)...

When will the "Print Edition" be available for order? I'd be really interested in getting it. :thumbup:

[mattingly]

We have a few advance copies of the book that we'll be taking to GenCon with us. The printer will start the main production run next week and ship them to the warehouse, so my guess is that they'll be in stores in about three weeks.

[MisterBaldy]

We have a few advance copies of the book that we'll be taking to GenCon with us. The printer will start the main production run next week and ship them to the warehouse, so my guess is that they'll be in stores in about three weeks.Problem is my "local store" where I would even have the potential opportunity to purchase it is about 35 miles away (and I don't drive... long story)... so I would look to purchase online.

So, will it be available as a "hard copy" online?

[Hermit]

A well deserved bump.

[MisterBaldy]

I've read the .pdf preview... very impressive.

By comparison, $49.95 for Gestalt: The Hero Within "print edition" seems a little steep, since it is basically the same price as HERO 5th revised ($49.99).

That price will keep many gamers away from Gestalt.

The .pdf of Gestalt: The Hero Within is $24.95, where as the cost for HERO 5th Revised is $35.00. The prices don't seem to match up.

Although I am really impressed with the preview, I'm probably going to pass on Gestalt: The Hero Within.

Considering the price comparison... it's for me just not a solid value. The "print edition" would be a great value at the $40-45 range, but at $49.95... I just can't justify the purchase.

[SAVeira]

I've read the .pdf preview... very impressive.

By comparison, $49.95 for Gestalt: The Hero Within "print edition" seems a little steep, since it is basically the same price as HERO 5th revised ($49.99).

That price will keep many gamers away from Gestalt.

The .pdf of Gestalt: The Hero Within is $24.95, where as the cost for HERO 5th Revised is $35.00. The prices don't seem to match up.

Although I am really impressed with the preview, I'm probably going to pass on Gestalt: The Hero Within.

Considering the price comparison... it's for me just not a solid value. The "print edition" would be a great value at the $40-45 range, but at $49.95... I just can't justify the purchase.
First, it's not really fair to look at DOJ's PDF pricing compared to most of the rest of the industry. Aside from Wizards of the Coast, most of the companies price their PDFs at half the price of the printed edition. DOJ has always believed in charging more for their PDFs.

Now as for the price of Gestalt, keep in mind that the printed book will be 400 pages. A lot of other gaming products these days seem to max out at around 256 pages. Green Ronin for example, has their Freedom City setting book on sale for $39.95, and it is only 256 pages. Gestalt is almost twice as big as anything else Blackwyrm has published before. Look at their other HERO System books and realize where the pricing structure is coming from. They are much smaller than DOJ or Green Ronin, also is a factor.

The bottom line is the cost of the printed Gestalt is well within the expected price range of such a product. However, if you can't afford it, get the PDF at least.

[MisterBaldy]

That's because you don't understand the situation that I am in.

The problem is, that when you have a really tight budget, with very little "disposable income"... that little bit of price difference becomes a really chasm to cross. So I have to make some hard decisions.

I just recently purchased the Dark Champions Bundle from HERO... and I had to scrimp and save for 6 months to be able to do that one purchase.

So, I can spend the extra $10, and get Gestalt, or... I can put gas in the car.

I think I'll put gas in the car... since I won't be able to get to work otherwise, and then I really won't have any disposable $$$.

I won't buy from FRPGames.com, and I can't really discuss why, other than I cannot/won't purchase from them again.

So... I guess I have to really weigh the issue, and for now... that $10 is a really BIG issue. I don't buy .pdf books (I prefer the genuine "hard copy"), so that isn't really an option. It would cost more for me to have a printed copy using that avenue of media.

So, for now... that $10 difference is an insurmountable one.