Almacov
First Post
Loved the 1e reprint covers. These look awful, and its all about the border/ edging design on all three. Get rid of that and they would actually look pretty good. I rather like the decoratiive work on the "leather" part. I think the center circle designs do a fine job job of evoking the originals without the crappy edging.
I agree. As it stands these are just sitting in a really awkward middle-ground between the original look and something completely different.
Ideally, I'd wish the center circles to be physically recaptured/recreated entirely rather than digitally cloned on to the new leather texture.
That would cost more though, obviously.
It just feels like between these 'shopped covers, and the lackluster reproduction of the artwork in the 1e reprints, these books as a whole are stuck in an "awkward middle ground". I have a hard time seeing them as "Premium", but a very easy time seeing the price tag.
I'm sure the teams working on these are doing what they can with the time, budget, and resources allocated to them. Retyping the 1e books must have been painstaking to say the least, and adjusting the typesetting in these books to incorporate the errata likely isn't as simple as it might sound.
Unfortunately though, that makes the areas where the books fall short all the more painful.
If you're looking for a demographic that will pay $49.99 MSRP for nine-year-old content that they paid $29.99 MSRP for the first time around, it should probably offer more than just gilt edging.
If shiny-edged pages are what makes these $50 products, I'd say it's preferable to go without the gilt and have them available at $34.99.
Of course, I'm vastly oversimplifying this. The reprint books are likely being printed in a small enough run that the price point of a typical player's handbook simply isn't possible.
This is really the most effective way to produce them, and the only one that makes business sense.
I applaud WotC for making these products available again (I especially applaud them for including errata), and I do hope they serve as an effective stopgap for the space between now and Next.
(And that they satisfy any who have been searching for affordable copies of the originals.)
I feel badly about the negativity I've voiced for them... I wouldn't have felt it if I didn't deeply wish to feel more enthusiastic about the reprints though.
In reality, I've been moody for all the wrong reasons.
Reasons like "There are just too many awesome books out there I want to get!", and "I've already got a sweet library of 3.5 stuff, and the SRD is also free and convenient online!".
On that note, I'm changing my voice on this subject to:
"3.5 is finally in print again, now with errata, and it should be easily available to anyone who wants it! They also surveyed me with regards to possibly reprinting other 3.5e material a little while ago! 3rd edition D&D is one of the games I've formed the most vivid memories with, and have the most bizarre wonderful stories of, and now a whole new set of people will be able to page through those books, or a reasonable facsimile.
Most importantly, between these and the 1e reprints it seems that WotC is starting to really grasp the value of the legacy the D&D brand encompasses, and who knows? - Maybe that legacy will continue to be spread further open to customers (gamers) in perpetuity.
Is the return of the .pdf on the horizon? Print-on-Demand availability?
It's an exciting time."