[On supporting multiple editions] Here's an idea for you, WotC

[Mercurius]

This new rumor about WotC "allegedly" re-printing the 3.5 core rulebooks got me thinking about the idea of supporting multiple editions. I've never really taken it all that seriously, mainly because it seems not only a chaotic nightmare to be producing material for multiple versions of the same game, but it could potentially damage D&D Next by providing in-house competition. But given the new approach of trying to please as many people and killing as many birds with as few stones as possible, there may be a middle ground between supporting every edition with reprints and ongoing support, and leaving everything before the current edition as OOP.

Here's the idea:

1. WotC reprints errated versions of the core rulebooks of every edition of Dungeons & Dragons, including OD&D, AD&D, AD&D 2E, AD&D 3.5 (although not 3E), BECMI (the Rules Cyclopedia, not the boxes. I don't think it would be necessary to reprint the early B/X box-sets in addition to the Rules Cyclopedia, or 3E, 2.5, etc. Reprinting 2E might also be necessary - I would say, at the least, that OD&D, AD&D, BECMI, and 3.5 should be included. So that's four or five editions, not including 4E, which is already in print, and could continue via Essentials. These are relatively limited print runs, nostalgia pieces, that can be kept in-print if they sell well enough.
2. Next, they print compilations of classic adventures for each edition, especially 1E; imagine a hardcover book that includes the entire Against the Giants/Kuo-Toa/Drow/Demonwebs sequence, another that includes Greyhawk Classics - Tomb of Horrors, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Expedition; another that reprints the entire Dragonlance saga, etc. And so forth.
3. Make everything open. Given people the opportunity to write and publish new material for any edition of D&D.
4. Finally, the PDFs. Put them back on-line for sale. To quote Stan Lee, 'Nuff Said.

All of the above serves many purposes: It creates multiple sources of revenue for WotC; but more importantly, it transforms the way that the company relates to the fan-base, from "business first" to "community first." It creates a feeling of warmth and inclusion. Further, by firmly rooting D&D Next in the fertile soil of a living legacy, it gives it new depth and vitality.

Certainly it would require a lot of resources to get the above up and running. But they are all effectively limited edition products; the focus on new material would still be through D&D Next, but doing this--re-printing legacy editions--also feeds D&D Next, makes it a living game and part of the 40-year legacy of Dungeons & Dragons, because with everything being effectively "in-print" through PDFs, if not the compilations and hardcopy reprints, any book can be mentioned in a D&D Next product, anything cited. So imagine a new player reading the 5E DMG and running across a reference to Tomb of Horrors. He or she could then check one of the appendices that includes the list of every D&D product ever printed by TSR or WotC, then track down the PDF.

What do you think? The only reason not to do this, that I can see, is because of the significant amount of resource allocation. But I figure that if they re-print a "new" legacy edition once every six months, with adventure compilations coming out a month or two afterwards, it wouldn't detract too much from D&D Next or the company's resources. Furthermore, it is a good way to fill the "product space" that has been created between the announcement of D&D Next and its publication - that's probably a year and a half in which product purchases will continue to dwindle as folks decide not to buy in preparation of the next edition.

 

[jasper]

5. mercuris agrees to pay for all the printing/editing/etc cost up front.
6. and he agrees to pay for the continuing costs up front.
Then I would be behind this. Even if I won the lottery I would not pay for an reprint of old editions when I can get them cheaper second hand.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Reprinting a product you've already developed is probably a pretty good economic strategy, if there's a demand. You can charge the full list price, which covered the actual writing and playtesting, while you only have to do errata and such to make the product. PDFs are also probably a low-cost, high-return strategy.

I really, really, wish they would just open up the older editions. Either they should be trying to profit off of the stuff, or they should just let us SRD it all. There's a lot of great 3.5 supplements that I would use if they were SRDed.