Old D&D books as print-on-demand is a great idea that will never happen

Marius Delphus · Jun 7, 2012

I'm no slouch myself, and I estimate no less than a week per product on average, assuming starting with paper originals (we don't have any information about what OD&D, 1E, and 2E material exists in electronic form, and whether any of *that* is usable). Multiply by the number of products and divide by 48 (account for holidays and vacations). Five person-years, easy.

dagger · Jun 7, 2012

I will laugh if they put this on DDI because that will kill any excitement I and many others have for getting old stuff easier.

Hussar · Jun 7, 2012

dagger said:
I will laugh if they put this on DDI because that will kill any excitement I and many others have for getting old stuff easier.

Why?

What's wrong with a monthly subscription to gain access to the backlist of products?

It's not like this is a new idea. A number of publishers are doing exactly this.

Alzrius · Jun 7, 2012

Hussar said:
What's wrong with a monthly subscription to gain access to the backlist of products?

It depends on the type of access.

If you're talking about paying to be able to log in to see online, non-downloadable versions of the old products, then I can see a lot of reasons why some people wouldn't care for that.

From issues of connectivity to not wanting to "rent" access to the materials to preferring paper copies to problems with the pricing (especially if you only want access to some specific books rather than indefinite access to them all), there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical of this particular idea.

It might be good for WotC, but that doesn't mean it's good for their customers.

Hussar · Jun 8, 2012

Alzrius said:
It depends on the type of access.

If you're talking about paying to be able to log in to see online, non-downloadable versions of the old products, then I can see a lot of reasons why some people wouldn't care for that.

From issues of connectivity to not wanting to "rent" access to the materials to preferring paper copies to problems with the pricing (especially if you only want access to some specific books rather than indefinite access to them all), there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical of this particular idea.

It might be good for WotC, but that doesn't mean it's good for their customers.

Isn't this what Marvel and DC are doing with their comic book online subs? I haven't been paying that close attention, but, it seems about right.

But, I wasn't thinking of that. I was thinking more along the lines of the way the DDI works now - scads of pdf's that you can download or not if you like.

Alzrius · Jun 8, 2012

Hussar said:
Isn't this what Marvel and DC are doing with their comic book online subs? I haven't been paying that close attention, but, it seems about right.

That sounds right, but I don't think that people would want that for game books. Comic books and other narratives are stories whose main value is in their initial consumption; repeated readings certainly do happen, but they're probably much rarer.

RPG books, on the other hand, aren't narratives. They're tools you use in running a game, and while I suspect that there are certainly some who want to re-read the old game books purely for the enjoyment of doing so, I think that many if not most of the people who want easy access to (high-quality reproductions of) the older materials want to use them in play.

And that means that all of the issues I mentioned previously are not inconsiderable.

But, I wasn't thinking of that. I was thinking more along the lines of the way the DDI works now - scads of pdf's that you can download or not if you like.

Well if you can pay $15 or so for one month's access and then download ALL of the old PDFs in that time, that'd certainly be a deal.

Hussar · Jun 10, 2012

Alzrius said:
That sounds right, but I don't think that people would want that for game books. Comic books and other narratives are stories whose main value is in their initial consumption; repeated readings certainly do happen, but they're probably much rarer.

RPG books, on the other hand, aren't narratives. They're tools you use in running a game, and while I suspect that there are certainly some who want to re-read the old game books purely for the enjoyment of doing so, I think that many if not most of the people who want easy access to (high-quality reproductions of) the older materials want to use them in play.

And that means that all of the issues I mentioned previously are not inconsiderable.

Well if you can pay $15 or so for one month's access and then download ALL of the old PDFs in that time, that'd certainly be a deal.

I'm honestly lot sure that's entirely true Alzrius. There are many D&D books that get read and not used. I don't know about you, but I know that probably half or more of my D&D collection has never seen play at the table. I think D&D books are far more read than used.

Alzrius · Jun 11, 2012

Hussar said:
I'm honestly lot sure that's entirely true Alzrius. There are many D&D books that get read and not used. I don't know about you, but I know that probably half or more of my D&D collection has never seen play at the table. I think D&D books are far more read than used.

I too have a lot of older books that I haven't read in a while (though to be fair, most of them are now hard to get to, since they're boxed in my attic). That said, I think the people who want the older materials enough to pay for them probably want to put them to some sort of practical use (though exceptions surely abound).

Bear in mind that "practical use" may very well consist of nothing more than "lift some material for my game" or even "mine for ideas." Likewise, people may be intent on using them, even if they never actually find an opportunity to do so - I find that there's a pervasive attitude of "I might be able to use this, someday" among gamers.