Goodman Games 3.5 Revival

[Mark]

From a recent email from Goodman Games -

3.5 PDF E-Books Return

Our 3.5 products are available again! Well, some of them are, and the rest are coming. Recent changes to the 4E license (the GSL, for those of you who follow it) have allowed us to re-release our third edition products with certain revisions. We've begun the slow process of revising prior products to make them compatible. In the past week we made the first wave of revised 3.5 PDF's available! This includes roughly the first dozen Dungeon Crawl Classics as well as our Judges Guild adventures. We'll be releasing the rest slowly over time as we revise the original files. You can purchase them from RPGNow.com, Paizo.com, YourGamesNow, or E23.

So, does this bode well for the 3.5 market? Does a big name like Goodman (with their extensive adventure support) re-releasing their stable of products, speak to their belief that the 3.5 market is still worth troubling over? Any time spent re-issuing 3.XE products (removal of d20 logo and other editing adjustments) takes time away from their 4E support, so this seems to be no small move.

 

[Asmor]

So, does this bode well for the 3.5 market? Does a big name like Goodman (with their extensive adventure support) re-releasing their stable of products, speak to their belief that the 3.5 market is still worth troubling over?

It doesn't bode anything for the 3.5 market.

They'd only pulled them in the first place because the original GSL basically prevented publishers from supporting both 3rd edition and 4th edition. With the revised GSL, they'd be stupid not to put their stuff back out there. It's already done, after all, and not giving people the option of buying it is only costing them money.

 

[ggroy]

Are they going to be reprinting any of them in paper/book format?

 

[Mark]

It's already done, after all, and not giving people the option of buying it is only costing them money.

It requires additional work.

Are they going to be reprinting any of them in paper/book format?

It will be interesting to see if they at least create a Print-on-Demand option.

 

[ggroy]

So, does this bode well for the 3.5 market? Does a big name like Goodman (with their extensive adventure support) re-releasing their stable of products, speak to their belief that the 3.5 market is still worth troubling over? Any time spent re-issuing 3.XE products (removal of d20 logo and other editing adjustments) takes time away from their 4E support, so this seems to be no small move.

I wouldn't read too much into it at this point in time.

Though it would be quite telling if Joe Goodman decides to stop publishing any new 4E modules, and/or starts to publish 3.5E/Pathfinder conversions of the already published Dungeon Crawl Classic 4E modules.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I don't think this should be read as a 3.5 revival. Editing a few PDFs is not a whole lot of work compared to making new products. Also, with WOTC not selling old pdfs this is a no-brainer for Goodman. Minimal editing, and possibly some nice profit.

Remember, it is not like they withdrew these products voluntarily and are now changing their mind. Offering these in pdf form will cost them virtually nothing, resulting (after the firs few dozen or score sales) pure profit.

 

[DaveMage]

Unless they start retro-fitting their 4E adventures to 3.5, then I don't think it's a 3.5 revival.

(Not that I wouldn't mind being proven wrong. )

 

[Mark]

Well, it is literally a revival (the line was dead and is being revived) but I think the question is how much Goodman can expect from this? Are there enough 3.XE players still out there (or new) who have not been previously reached by their products?

 

[Filcher]

It's worth remembering that Goodman Games also publishes AD&D/1e adventures, and actually just announced a deal to do this full-steam ahead:

Goodman Games

 

[ggroy]

Well, it is literally a revival (the line was dead and is being revived) but I think the question is how much Goodman can expect from this? Are there enough 3.XE players still out there (or new) who have not been previously reached by their products?

It was "dead" for a grand total of .... 6 months?