A little more on TSR's strange strategy

[thalmin]

Remember that 1E and 2E were really fairly compatible. We continued to sell 1E books long into 2E. The 1E PHB and UA both increased in sales (at least for us) for 2 or 3 years after the release of the new edition. In many cases this was people wanting an "archive" copy. Most of these customers had already purchased the new books.

 

[Numion]

I don't find it odd at all. If customers want the older books - print 'em!

WotC/Hasbro is sitting on a mountain of older intellectual property, and they aren't doing much with it. If there's a demand for straight-up reprints of older material, do it!

There's always the possibility of cannibalizing your own sales. Dividing your customer base, supporting numerous versions of the same thing .. those can be harmful for your margin in the long run.

D&D is a brand, and all that accumulated, if sometimes seemingly non-sensical, knowledge that goes into managing brands applies to D&D too. When you release a new edition (thats probably been costly to develop), you want to do so with a bang, build a huge initial momentum to ensure wide market exposure and stronger sales down the line. You do not want to hinder that sales campaign by selling to competing products.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

It seems to me that TSR would be filling the demand for 1e books. Though, I am more surprised that there was any demand at all for 1e PHBs and DMGs. It occurs to me that everyone who loved 1e more then 2e* would already have the basic material.






* I am one of those people.

 

[philreed]

Wasn't it the 2e Ranger book that also included rules for 1e games? I always found that a bit strange.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I find this wierd because I remember a story about WotC destroying a warehouse full of old 1E/2E material. Everything from PHBs to modules after trying to sell them for a fraction of their original cost.

WotC has licensed out a few of the more popular settings (Dragonlance, Ravenloft and now Birthright I hear) and will likely do the same for others (Planescape and Spelljammer are the most likely imo). WotC has a business plan to support only a few settings from its own development departmant and this, again imo, is probably a wise move. TSR ruined itself by stretchings its resources (and customer base) beyond the breaking point.

 

[Staffan]

Wasn't it the 2e Ranger book that also included rules for 1e games? I always found that a bit strange.

I don't know about that, but I do know that some Spelljammer books referred to 1e stuff, notably Oriental adventures stuff.

 

[diaglo]

It seems to me that TSR would be filling the demand for 1e books. Though, I am more surprised that there was any demand at all for 1e PHBs and DMGs. It occurs to me that everyone who loved 1e more then 2e* would already have the basic material.






* I am one of those people.

many of my old books are well loved...

they have lasted and stood the test of time. but they are definitely not collector's items.

i would guess some people were still buying them to replace older copies. also in my group, i was the only one to own all the books for many years. so perhaps sales to the old gamer who finally had some expendable income occurred too or who wanted to run their own game without having to borrow a copy.

 

[francisca]

However splitting your own market is seldom a good idea. Especially if one line has been discontinued in regards to new product - folks playing with the defunct 1st ed. were unlikely to buy the new 2nd ed. stuff. Not a great idea marketing wise, and a mistake that they made frequently over the years, splittinhg their market into smaller and smaller shares.

The Auld Grump

Well, such is the logic of SHE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED.

 

[TerraDave]

Remember that 1E and 2E were really fairly compatible. We continued to sell 1E books long into 2E. The 1E PHB and UA both increased in sales (at least for us) for 2 or 3 years after the release of the new edition. In many cases this was people wanting an "archive" copy. Most of these customers had already purchased the new books.

Interesting, so this partially explains why UA was continiung to be produced...

One thing, those books had a lot of the stuff cut for 2nd edition: assasins, monks, half-orcs, theif acrobat, cavaliers, barbarians, UA's nice spell book rules and incredibly broken char gen...

that might partially explain the demand, still leaves open the supply

 

[philreed]

I don't know about that, but I do know that some Spelljammer books referred to 1e stuff, notably Oriental adventures stuff.

I just pulled out The Complete Ranger's Handbook and on p. 6 there's a discussion of the 1e ranger and talk about using the book in 1e games.

And the appendix is written for 1e rangers.