How will the WOTC PDF decision affect the Old School Renaissance?

[Orius]

I'd imagine the "core books" or other stuff that sold in large numbers will remain cheap, but the harder to find stuff may very well spike. That goes for 1e, the various editions of Basic, even 2e.

 

[S'mon]

I was referring to the 1e core books being cheap & plentiful on Ebay.

Modules vary a lot; and WoTC's action should make OSR modules more attractive to purchase, though many are free on Dragonsfoot and even on Lulu.

 

[Nikosandros]

Do you think it will matter that people can no longer buy any old edition books and modules? Will it push them towards the retroclones? I'd be interested to see the retroclone sales over the next few months on LULU, and see if they increase.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

I think that it will increase the piracy of old edition materials. It might also drive up the average price of printed copies on eBay.

 

[ExploderWizard]

If you need an old school fix and WOTC refuses to let you put money in thier pocket then check out waynesbooksdotcom.

Prices/availability will vary but you will at least get a physical product.

 

[Mournblade94]

WotC is not an evil corporation. I suspect they'll shift online electronic sales of past edition materials to the Wizards.com website. They have announced since 4E the intention to sell 4th Edition materials online for a separate fee. I do not see why older editions wouldn't count.

If someone is really looking for an older D&D book that's took expensive to purchase in hardcover (and there aren't that many), then just be patient. The option should come back relatively soon.

NO they are proving quite the "evil" corporation lately.

There is nothing wrong with WOTC requiring sites that sell PDF's to pay them a royalty. There is something wrong with WOTC making themselves the only outlet for PDF's.

Nothing WOTC has done recently has struck me as particularly friendly to the gaming industry outside of 4e. It makes 4e ring much stronger as $e. This is what I have referred to in previous posts as integrity to the gaming industry. WOTC has lost it.

I will still buy star wars products, but that is about it. Only because I am addicted to the SW IP.

I don't think I even care if they release Dark Sun anymore. I'll probably just ebay my 4th edition books and never look back.

 

[Vanuslux]

I really don't see the sense in barring the sales of PDFs of books that WotC is no longer making...the PDF sales is the only revenue stream that those older edition books are making for WotC as far as I know. It may not be much, but I'm sure it's better than $0.00. I understand, despite not agreeing with, their reasoning for taking down the 4th Edition stuff, but taking down the older edition stuff is plain dumb...unless they're going to bring PDF sales in house.

Fortunately, all this is fairly irrelevant to me since I only buy 3rd party PDFs anyway.

 

[Bigassgeek]

There is something wrong with WOTC making themselves the only outlet for PDF's.

No there's not. It's their product. There's nothing wrong with selling it through their store, at least not ethically. They owe other online retailers nothing.

Nothing WOTC has done recently has struck me as particularly friendly to the gaming industry outside of 4e.

There is no gaming "industry" outside of 4e.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

You know, it's ironic that WOTC, who sell the world's best selling HEROIC fantasy roleplaying game, are becoming more and more like Sauron, eh?

"Hey Frodo, did you know we now work for Wizards of the Eye, Inc? So if we wanna keep eating that lembass bread, we gotta go pillage Rivendell for Sauron! Woot, elf babes n' beer!"
hehe

anyway, it will put off some new users, die hards will pirate. Lose lose for WOTC and D&D. :/

 

[Bigassgeek]

There is something wrong with WOTC making themselves the only outlet for PDF's.

No there's not. It's their product. There's nothing wrong with selling it through their store, at least not ethically. They owe other online retailers nothing.

Nothing WOTC has done recently has struck me as particularly friendly to the gaming industry outside of 4e.

There is no gaming "industry" outside of 4e.

 

[Odhanan]

Do you think it will matter that people can no longer buy any old edition books and modules? Will it push them towards the retroclones? I'd be interested to see the retroclone sales over the next few months on LULU, and see if they increase.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Way too early to say, really.

What I can say without taking much of a risk is state that retroclones had the wind blowing in their favor before all this stuff with WotC happened.

I suspect that now we will see a progressive increase in prices for second-hand books on eBay, particularly AD&D first ed books and everything that preceded it.

I suspect we'll see some (more) gamers going back to other editions of the game (many pirating stuff that wouldn't otherwise have been pirated), purchasing/playing retroclones, going on the Pathfinder bandwagon and strongly supporting the OGL, and so on.

(Many) others will stick with 4e because they will suck it up or not care about this (and previous) issue(s) with WotC. Others still will bite whatever alternative (if any) WotC comes up with in the future. One thing I can tell you for sure is that I will not be among these.