D&D General DMs Guild Classics POD & PDF Wishlist

[Voadam]

Getting two new free ones per month is far superior to the prior status quo of nothing for long periods that they were doing.

 

[Stormonu]

I kinda wish they would make each of the older edition's PHB's free. I think that'd go a long way towards garnering interest for DMs to pick up older edition material because they could get their players involved "for free", but they could still make money on other products and sucking both players & DM's into having a wider experience with more book options.

 

[Zaukrie]

I kinda wish they would make each of the older edition's PHB's free. I think that'd go a long way towards garnering interest for DMs to pick up older edition material because they could get their players involved "for free", but they could still make money on other products and sucking both players & DM's into having a wider experience with more book options.

That's how I feel about publishers and ebooks....that are decades old. Give me book 1 in a series free......or not. But that's what I'd do, occasionally. Especially for books that don't sell much.

 

[CleverNickName]

Every six months or so, I go out to DM's Guild to look for print-on-demand copies of classic BECMI modules, gazetteers, and rulebooks. I've already bought what few POD books they have for sale in this edition (there wasn't many), and there hasn't been anything new offered in years.

Sure, they have the watermarked PDFs, but those are pretty hard to display on my bookshelf and they are unsatisfying to share with my nieces and nephews. I want the hardcopies, and I'm standing here with cash in hand ready to buy them. I wish I understood what the holdup was, or how I could formally request them.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

More surprises! MV1 is definitely not one I ever thought we'd see given the weird "magic viewer" gimmick. While MV1 does not continue the trend of free stuff, the other offering this week does, the 1999 equivalent of the Basic Set, and one of my personal favorites.

MV1: Midnight on Dagger Alley
Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game (1999)

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Another free item popped up today...

3.5 Deluxe Character Sheets

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

The 3.5 character sheets and the D&D Adventure Game are no longer free. $12.99 seems awfully expensive for character sheets, especially given how many arguably better free options are out there in internet-land.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

A couple of weird curiosities for today...

Palace of the Vampire Queen
The Planescape Conspectus

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Huh, weird. Looks like Palace of the Vampire Queen was taken down.

 

[R_J_K75]

Sure, they have the watermarked PDFs, but those are pretty hard to display on my bookshelf and they are unsatisfying to share with my nieces and nephews. I want the hardcopies, and I'm standing here with cash in hand ready to buy them. I wish I understood what the holdup was, or how I could formally request them.

I'm assuming POD isn't the same quality as the original hardcopy books, I've never bought a POD book. I didn't buy them either but from what I understand the 1e and 2e and maybe even 3e reprint core books that came out about 10 years ago were scanned and of pretty poor quality. I wonder if somethings from the original printing process from all those old pre WotC books was lost along the way and they just cant do new print run? Just speculating. I remember years ago when WotC started offering old 2E and older books in .pdf in the early 2000s they put out an open call asking if people were willing to submit copies of their books to be scanned, with the understanding that they'd be destroyed in the process. I'd suspect that there is at least some demand for older print books to warrant at least a minimal print run. I think most aren't willing to pay inflated prices on the secondary market for used books.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

The POD books I have purchased are all very good quality. The Rules Cyclopedia, in particular, is gorgeous.

 

[Nikosandros]

I'm assuming POD isn't the same quality as the original hardcopy books, I've never bought a POD book. I didn't buy them either but from what I understand the 1e and 2e and maybe even 3e reprint core books that came out about 10 years ago were scanned and of pretty poor quality.

The premium reprints were composed anew, they are not based on scans.

 

[R_J_K75]

The premium reprints were composed anew, they are not based on scans.

I thought they were guess I was wrong. Perhaps I read a review years ago that was incorrect, IDK?

 

[Stormonu]

Huh, weird. Looks like Palace of the Vampire Queen was taken down.

Looks like Vampire Queen is owned by Precis Intermedia - doing some research, it looks like TSR did distribute it for a short time, but it was originally owned/published by Wee Warriors, who was purchased by Precis.

For those still interested, looks like it can be purchased here, off Precis's website: Palace of the Vampire Queen (Classic Reprint)

 

[darjr]

Looks like Vampire Queen is owned by Precis Intermedia - doing some research, it looks like TSR did distribute it for a short time, but it was originally owned/published by Wee Warriors, who was purchased by Precis.

For those still interested, looks like it can be purchased here, off Precis's website: Palace of the Vampire Queen (Classic Reprint)

Thanks!

 

[Nikosandros]

I thought they were guess I was wrong. Perhaps I read a review years ago that was incorrect, IDK?

Perhaps the reviews were referring to the somewhat large number of typos. The books was re-composed, but most likely the text was based on a scan and not typed from scratch.

 

[R_J_K75]

Perhaps the reviews were referring to the somewhat large number of typos. The books was re-composed, but most likely the text was based on a scan and not typed from scratch.

After it was pointed out that they werent scanned I looked on Amazon and a reviewer said that they were recreated from the old books and the typos were intentional. Whether thats true, IDK.

 

[Stormonu]

I’d be curious to know how they were recreated, if not from a scrutinized scan. I’m not even sure that the original 1E books were laid out on computer, and I’d be shocked if someone had access to the original/revised 2E files or that they’d load on a modern PC.

 

[R_J_K75]

I’d be curious to know how they were recreated, if not from a scan. I’m not even sure that the original 1E books were laid out on computer, and I’d be shocked if someone had access to the original/revised 2E files or that they’d load on a modern PC.

I wouldnt doubt if the old 1E stuff was type on an old typewriter word processor perhaps.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

We have one new item today...

Birthright: Player's Secrets of Muden