"Much of Older D&D Material To Be Re-Released?"

[Cyberzombie]

I don't see anything wrong with WotC starting to do adventure paths. The more good campaigns out there, the better. I don't know about Dungeon now, but I always found its quality spotty in the past.

As for an in-print Dragon -- I would love that. I subscribed until the end and I'd subscribe again. I don't care if it makes me a dinosaur. Of course, I'd also like a PDF to be *part* of the subscription, so I could read it and then refer to it on my computer. I always hated having a 3' stack of books and a 2' stack of magazines when I was making up an adventure.

 

[delericho]

I think that a print-version of Dungeon is a given, since it's one thing that WotC positively must have in order to compete with Paizo's adventure paths.

Sadly, I suspect they'll find it impossible to resurrect the magazines as such. I think that when the took them online only, that was probably the end... permanently.

Why would WotC do that when paizo has proven you can have a successful monthly delivery model without dealing with the headaches of periodical development? If anything, I think it I'd more likely WotC apes the AP model.

I agree this is more likely, but...

Paizo were able to succeed with the Pathfinder AP in large part because they carried over a big audience from Dungeon subscribers, and because they had an existing reputation for doing quality adventures. Had they not had one or both of these things, I suspect the outcome would have been very different.

WotC have neither of these advantages. Although they have lots of eDungeon subscribers, that's not the same as subscribers for a print product. And while they have shown they can occasionally produce a good adventure, they are yet to demonstrate they can do so with any consistency.

I really can't see them succeeding with any sort of regular in-print adventure book. Their best bet, IMO, would be to focus very heavily on making eDungeon the very best that it can be, and building DDI subscribers using that.

 

[rogueattorney]

The actual quote from Mearls was...

"We are looking at making a lot of that older material available to you..."

That's not a promise to do anything and leaves a whole bunch open for interpretation. For example, what exactly constitutes "a lot?" What is "older?"

I don't think anyone should get their hopes up that whatever particular product they might want will get the same treatment the 1e rule books are getting.

I expect that the more niche and more obscure the product, the less likely the product gets any sort of re-release.

 

[Dausuul]

The actual quote from Mearls was...

"We are looking at making a lot of that older material available to you..."

That's not a promise to do anything and leaves a whole bunch open for interpretation. For example, what exactly constitutes "a lot?" What is "older?"

It's not a promise, but it's still a big thing that they are even looking at it. And "older" evidently goes back at least as far as 1977, since we know they are re-releasing the 1E core books.

 

[Cyberzombie]

The actual quote from Mearls was...

"We are looking at making a lot of that older material available to you..."

That's not a promise to do anything and leaves a whole bunch open for interpretation. For example, what exactly constitutes "a lot?" What is "older?"

I don't think anyone should get their hopes up that whatever particular product they might want will get the same treatment the 1e rule books are getting.

I expect that the more niche and more obscure the product, the less likely the product gets any sort of re-release.

Since you have "attorney" in your name, you should know exactly what he means. I'm sure that they'd love to re-release everything. But do they actually have full rights to everything? You'd think so, but the whole Dragon Magazine archive CD debacle showed that isn't necessarily so. What can they afford to reprint? What will people actually buy? I'd love to find a copy of the Greyspace supplement for Planescape. Could they find even 9 other buyers for such a product?

They can want to give us everything. What they can actually *do* is by no means certain. Thus, by necessity, the waffle words.

 

[Mark CMG]

I'm actually rather amazed by the cynicism of some folks in this thread regarding rumor mills and the like. This is a case where Mike Mearls has opened the door to some reprints in an environment where WotC has just announced a reprint of 1E core books. I think the DFW Roleplayers have good cause to hope that this is a first step that could lead to more. But I fully understand how some of you older gamers can get set in your ways and become cynical, you neo-grogs who have been around since the Eighties and have had your hearts broken a few times. Take it from a true grognard, keep those expectations in check and you'll be happy with what D&D gives you, and if that ain't enough you can either find it from another game company or start your own imprint. Welcome to the future!

 

[Mark CMG]

Hmmmm . . . If we couple this -

We are looking at making a lot of that older material available to you, but we want to make sure we do it right for you guys and for Wizards. We’ll have more news on that.

With this -

http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...-deities-demigods-damned-decent-drawings.html

Then what have we got? Just more speculation, of course.

 

[Marius Delphus]

I don't anticipate book reprints -- I infer from what was said that they're continuing to look into electronic delivery, maybe print-on-demand. "Available" covers a lot of ground.

 

[Number48]

The answer is a solid "I dunno." That's as good as no answer at all. I also suspect that this falls under the heading "not my department." Re-releasing is a slippery slope. From the business perspective, is it a quick way to generate sales or a quick way to shoot the new edition in the foot (or to the knee)? I suspect the decision is up to the money people and the designers are the wrong people to ask.

 

[Mark CMG]

The answer is a solid "I dunno." That's as good as no answer at all. I also suspect that this falls under the heading "not my department." Re-releasing is a slippery slope. From the business perspective, is it a quick way to generate sales or a quick way to shoot the new edition in the foot (or to the knee)? I suspect the decision is up to the money people and the designers are the wrong people to ask.

Well, Mike Mearls isn't a designer by title, he's the senior manager for Dungeons & Dragons R&D, so this would seem to be on his plate, at least in part.