TSR Am I The Only One Buying Up the DMs Guild Reprints?

Voadam

Legend
What would be your top recommendations then for someone that started playing when 3E came out?
I would recommend focusing on lore heavy stuff then adventures.

So campaign settings and monster books are often evocative and I have referred to them in my 3e-5e games.

2e Monster books spent a lot of text on descriptions in the main monster books so you get more to work with than stats and art. 3e was a real step down for that. I'd recommend the monstrous compendium appendices in particular for themed collections. Until the end of May the D&D and Monsters of the Guildverse sales overlap a bit for double discounts on some D&D monster books so now is a great time to grab a bunch.

I am a big fan of the original 2e Ravenloft campaign setting for gothic horror D&D. Great advice for DMing and a cool setting. 5e has a version that is just isolated realms, 2e started off with a whole setting where there was politics between realms and darklords.
 

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Darrin Drader

Explorer
I would recommend focusing on lore heavy stuff then adventures.

So campaign settings and monster books are often evocative and I have referred to them in my 3e-5e games.

2e Monster books spent a lot of text on descriptions in the main monster books so you get more to work with than stats and art. 3e was a real step down for that. I'd recommend the monstrous compendium appendices in particular for themed collections. Until the end of May the D&D and Monsters of the Guildverse sales overlap a bit for double discounts on some D&D monster books so now is a great time to grab a bunch.

I am a big fan of the original 2e Ravenloft campaign setting for gothic horror D&D. Great advice for DMing and a cool setting. 5e has a version that is just isolated realms, 2e started off with a whole setting where there was politics between realms and darklords.
Yeah, I used to have most of the monster books, and I agree they're quite valuable. I actually own a good number of them on PDF, but I'm looking for the reprints.

As for setting material, again, I own most of the PDFs that interest me, but there's just something you can't replicate about holding a physical book in your hands. I still have the 2nd edition Forgotten Realms CS, City of Splendors, and The North. I want to get a more of the regional sourcebooks.

In the case of both the setting books and the monster books, most are still not offered as reprints.
 

no, you're not the only one. By my count, I have 22 of the ones on your list, a few others that aren't on the list, and PDFs of several more. I'm so very weak....
 

the Jester

Legend
I've got a couple- Return to the Tomb of Horrors and Expedition to Castle Greyhawk. Bought by one of my players, both are pretty nice.
 

glass

(he, him)
Does anyone have any experience of ordering these things in the UK? Do they have print facilities over here (and therefore reasonable shipping)?

(Not going to be ordering anything right now, but hopefully there will be a time in the not to distant future when I have a bit more disposable income.)

_
glass.
 

Scottius

Explorer
Definitely not! I've been picking them up at a heavy pace myself including various modules, the Gazetteer series for Mystara, and various campaign settings.
 

CleverNickName

Limit Break Dancing
Nope, you aren't the only one. I'm buying all of the BECMI books that they offer. My goal, since I was a 6th grader, is to have all of the Basic D&D books, and now with Print-On-Demand services it looks like it might finally be possible!

They aren't offering the boxed rulebooks yet, but I was able to grab a reprint of the Rules Cyclopedia. I have the originals, which I collected slowly and at great expense over the years, but I would like to have a clean POD copy of all four.

I have acquired all of their Gazetteers (except for "Orcs of Thar," which I'm not interested in).

The modules are the next major push for my collection:
  • I have all of the Basic modules except for B2, "The Keep on the Borderlands" (I had ordered it, but had to return it because it arrived damaged and I'm waiting on them to reissue it), and B3 "Palace of the Silver Princess." So close!
  • I have all of the Expert modules except for X1, "The Isle of Dread" (seriously?! It's probably the most popular adventure ever published, in any edition. How is this not available in print-on-demand?! -ahem. Sorry.) X3 "Curse of Xanathon," and X9 "The Savage Coast."
  • For the Companion modules, I just ordered CM4 "Earthshaker," and I still need CM5 "Mystery of the Snow Pearls" and CM6, "Where Chaos Reigns."
  • I have all of the Master modules except for M2, "Vengeance of Alphaks" and M3, "Twilight Calling."
As for the Accessories, I have barely started. I've only gotten AC10, "Bestiary of Giants and Dragons" so far. I'd love for them to reprint AC9, because it's my favorite...

I have PC3, "Creature Crucible: The Sea Folk," but it is the only Creature Crucible being offered in POD at this time.

I'm not super-interested in the Immortals set; in my opinion it was more of a superhero RPG than a fantasy RPG, and that's just not my thing.

...anyway. You're definitely not alone. :)

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Darrin Drader

Explorer
Nope, you aren't the only one. I'm buying all of the BECMI books that they offer. My goal, since I was a 6th grader, is to have all of the Basic D&D books, and now with Print-On-Demand services it looks like it might finally be possible!

They aren't offering the boxed rulebooks yet, but I was able to grab a reprint of the Rules Cyclopedia. I have the originals, which I collected slowly and at great expense over the years, but I would like to have a clean POD copy of all four.

I have acquired all of their Gazetteers (except for "Orcs of Thar," which I'm not interested in).

The modules are the next major push for my collection:
  • I have all of the Basic modules except for B2, "The Keep on the Borderlands" (I had ordered it, but had to return it because it arrived damaged and I'm waiting on them to reissue it), and B3 "Palace of the Silver Princess." So close!
  • I have all of the Expert modules except for X1, "The Isle of Dread" (seriously?! It's probably the most popular adventure ever published, in any edition. How is this not available in print-on-demand?! -ahem. Sorry.) X3 "Curse of Xanathon," and X9 "The Savage Coast."
  • For the Companion modules, I just ordered CM4 "Earthshaker," and I still need CM5 "Mystery of the Snow Pearls" and CM6, "Where Chaos Reigns."
  • I have all of the Master modules except for M2, "Vengeance of Alphaks" and M3, "Twilight Calling."
As for the Accessories, I have barely started. I've only gotten AC10, "Bestiary of Giants and Dragons" so far. I'd love for them to reprint AC9, because it's my favorite...

I have PC3, "Creature Crucible: The Sea Folk," but it is the only Creature Crucible being offered in POD at this time.

I'm not super-interested in the Immortals set; in my opinion it was more of a superhero RPG than a fantasy RPG, and that's just not my thing.

...anyway. You're definitely not alone. :)
This will likely sound like heresy, but I've never been sold on the Gazetteer line. I'd put in an order for them right now if I saw a reason to, but pretty much every B, X, C, and C module can be fairly easily adapted to the Forgotten Realms, and frankly, that's where my heart has always been (full disclosure - I worked on some FR books in the 3.5 edition, and Ed Greenwood has personally recommended me for work on other settings since then). Many of the adventures themselves are top shelf though. B4 and B5 were my introduction to D&D back in 1984, and I've run both adventures multiple times. Some of the others I'm just now seeing for the first time since I was a kid back then and couldn't buy them all up like I wanted to.

My ultimate goal is to have all the titles I lost in the basement flood as well as the ones I wanted to buy back in the day but couldn't afford. They have a lot of reprints to go before that becomes a reality.
 

Retreater

Legend
Of the DMs Guild reprints, I've purchased a few.
1) The Rules Cyclopedia (to see what the hubbub is all about)
2) The Gamma World rule book and adventures (it was priced to move, and I had enjoyed the 4E version of that game)
3) The Night Below (I have the original boxed set, but I wanted to preserve my copy and get a reading version and a PDF copy)
The quality and prices were all good.
 

Darrin Drader

Explorer
Of the DMs Guild reprints, I've purchased a few.
1) The Rules Cyclopedia (to see what the hubbub is all about)
2) The Gamma World rule book and adventures (it was priced to move, and I had enjoyed the 4E version of that game)
3) The Night Below (I have the original boxed set, but I wanted to preserve my copy and get a reading version and a PDF copy)
The quality and prices were all good.
I should really pick up the Rules Cyclopedia since it has all the rules (or at least a fully playable set of rules) encompassing the Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortals sets.

I had The Night Below back in the day - it was one of the casualties of the basement flood. I've never been overly excited about that one for some reason. I'm also not a huge fan of mega dungeons, so that might have something to do with it.
 

Retreater

Legend
I had The Night Below back in the day - it was one of the casualties of the basement flood. I've never been overly excited about that one for some reason. I'm also not a huge fan of mega dungeons, so that might have something to do with it.
I'm sorry to hear about that flood.
I never really thought of it as a megadungeon (even though it's on the box). It feels more like a subterranean sandbox with several factions involved. Lots of overworld stuff going on too.
My interest in it is mostly academic, since it's considered a classic adventure - sometimes put up there with The Enemy Within. I was trying a 5e conversion of it until COVID stopped our group.
 

cfmcdonald

Explorer
Also, Dragonlance Classics Vol. 1, 2, and 3.
How's the print quality on these? There are quite a few complaints in the comments about poor scans for these, but sometimes the scans are updated later.

I have bought a lot of the PoDs, with mixed results. The Planescape products in particular seem to suffer from the PoD process, because it can't reproduce the light yellow header text very well. Also poster maps are effectively unusable in bound printed form. It would be so cool if they could PoD a 22x34 sheet. In a sense I feel like the flaws of the PoDs have whetted my appetite for real secondary market items.
 

Darrin Drader

Explorer
How's the print quality on these? There are quite a few complaints in the comments about poor scans for these, but sometimes the scans are updated later.

I have bought a lot of the PoDs, with mixed results. The Planescape products in particular seem to suffer from the PoD process, because it can't reproduce the light yellow header text very well. Also poster maps are effectively unusable in bound printed form. It would be so cool if they could PoD a 22x34 sheet. In a sense I feel like the flaws of the PoDs have whetted my appetite for real secondary market items.
I agree, the map situation is annoying. For example, with Spelllammer - War Captain's Companion, they just reprinted the parts of the big poster that came with it in sections. They also reprinted the hex map - page by page by page. Obviously, this stuff should be formatted differently or just left out altogether.

The reason this doesn't bother me much is because independent map makers have created their own versions of practically every map ever made by TSR and posted them online. If I need a better map, I just use Google.
 

GreyLord

Legend
How's the print quality on these? There are quite a few complaints in the comments about poor scans for these, but sometimes the scans are updated later.

I have bought a lot of the PoDs, with mixed results. The Planescape products in particular seem to suffer from the PoD process, because it can't reproduce the light yellow header text very well. Also poster maps are effectively unusable in bound printed form. It would be so cool if they could PoD a 22x34 sheet. In a sense I feel like the flaws of the PoDs have whetted my appetite for real secondary market items.
I'm not super picky, so I may not be the best judge.

I don't think it is as crisp looking as a copy from a printer, but it is readable and the pictures are discernible.
 

Darrin Drader

Explorer
I'm not super picky, so I may not be the best judge.

I don't think it is as crisp looking as a copy from a printer, but it is readable and the pictures are discernible.
Exactly. As long as it's a reasonable facsimile of the real thing, I'm happy. It's also worth noting that these are done by Lightning Source, which is the same company that does a lot of first-runs for the various RPG companies who do print on demand through DrivethruRPG. The prints also seem to be better on the whole than the PDFs of the same titles.
 

Musing Mage

Pondering D&D stuff
I have been quite happy with the PoD copies I've received. My only complaint, is that in the case of maps, Especially larger foldout maps, like in Night Below, I wish they'd actually print up a poster sized map. It would probably add to the cost - so perhaps an option to do so in the very least... :unsure:

But the quality of text, especially for the price in many cases, aren't disappointing.
 


Voadam

Legend
I got the 2nd edition PHB back in January. Was disappointed it was the 1996 one with the horrible orange color scheme and the lesser art.
I really wish they had the earlier version too. The fact that they recently came out with the 1e Legends & Lore PDF in addition to the 1e Deities & Demigods version gives some hope on that front. Their slow pace of putting out any new ones and the fact that they still have not put out the 3.0 core books means I won't be holding my breath though.
 

el-remmen

Moderator Emeritus
I’ve gotten a few to fill some gaps in my collection of originals that were too expensive to get earlier printings of. However, I am holding off on getting more until after my current face to face group chooses the theme/setting of our next campaign (probably near the end of the year), at which point if they choose a War of the Lance redux I will be getting the DL classics volumes 1, 2, and 3.
 

Darrin Drader

Explorer
I really wish they had the earlier version too. The fact that they recently came out with the 1e Legends & Lore PDF in addition to the 1e Deities & Demigods version gives some hope on that front. Their slow pace of putting out any new ones and the fact that they still have not put out the 3.0 core books means I won't be holding my breath though.
Is that Deities and Demigods with the Lovecraftian and Melnibonian mythos, or is it just Legends and Lore with the earlier cover?

I managed to acquire a copy of the Deities and demigods that has the forboden material in the mid-90s, but I'm sure it would be of interest to some people.
 

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