Whatever Happened to Classic TSR Downloads?

[Scribble]

A lot of large corporations have charitable matching programs, so it's no suprise WoTC already has a policy in place.

You get to feel all good about donating and having extra money go there as well... they get to feel all good about donating, and having more money to write off come tax time.

 

[M.L. Martin]

Tolena Thorburn, WotC's communication manager, tells me that these requests are going through Corporate Giving at Hasbro. She thinks that the company's efforts to help Haiti may be solidified at this point (which may mean it's a good idea a little too late), but she's going to pass the idea along. So far WotC has had a really successful internal matching program, and has a few other fundraiser ideas planned that aren't yet announced.

I'll point her towards this thread. I wouldn't necessarily expect this to happen due to things moving slowly in larger corporations, but I'll be delighted if it does.

Thanks for passing the idea along, Piratecat. It strikes me as a possibility that would be good for everyone--WotC gets good PR, gamers get stuff they may have missed out on (there's numerous things I meant to buy but never got around to before they pulled the PDFs last year), and it all goes to a good cause. Plus, overhead would probably be minimal--I imagine the items and the DriveThru infrastructure are still hidden away on the servers or could be restored with a minimum of hassle--and it would probably take away few if any sales from their existing product lines, as anyone who's buying this stuff has made their decision regarding 4E anyway, with no impact based on the PDFs.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

-and it would probably take away few if any sales from their existing product lines, as anyone who's buying this stuff has made their decision regarding 4E anyway, with no impact based on the PDFs.

If by "made their decision regarding 4E" you mean don't play it and are buying the old pdfs to play in old editions, incorrect. I love 4E and it has rekindled some nostalgia in me (even though not everyone is feeling that same connection between 1E & 4E). I want the old 1E pdfs to convert them and enjoy them all over again in a new system.

 

[M.L. Martin]

If by "made their decision regarding 4E" you mean don't play it and are buying the old pdfs to play in old editions, incorrect.

Actually, what I meant was "has made their decision whether or not to play 4E without regard to the availability of previous edition products in PDF." If you're interested in older D&D products, you're almost certainly aware of 4E. Those in the audience who play 4E and want the older downloads will still play 4E even if older products are available, and those who don't play 4E won't adopt the new system whether or not the PDFs are available.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

eBay is illegal?

You can get pdfs on ebay?

 

[catsclaw227]

eBay is illegal?

You can get pdfs on ebay?

I am guessing that anyone trying to sell PDFs on ebay would get their account closed right quick. I don't think an individual has a right to sell PDFs of copyrighted product on ebay.

I could be wrong though.

 

[the Jester]

Well let me just state for Tolena Thorburn that if she is truly interested in getting any kind of donation from ME through WotC, that providing 1E rules PDF's in exchange is about the only method I'd consider as opposed to simply making a donation through my usual institutions.

Dude. This is neither the time nor the issue to try to use as leverage to get your toys. You are talking about people who are starving, who need clean water, who need help.

Edited to remove inflammatory language.

 

[(un)reason]

I am guessing that anyone trying to sell PDFs on ebay would get their account closed right quick. I don't think an individual has a right to sell PDFs of copyrighted product on ebay.

I could be wrong though.

Only if someone who cares reports them. I've certainly seen plenty of ebay auctions that are just selling e-books. Sometimes they're not even proper auctions, just a thing saying "mail this address for XYZ cool stuff!" Stopping illegal auctions on ebay is like removing music videos on youtube, a persistent game of whack-a-mole where you can last months unmolested openly doing illegal stuff if you're lucky.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Bullying threats work awesomely well. Good thinking. That strategy is guaranteed to succeed. Mind you, I'm a little unclear why WotC should care if you donate through them or someone else, but that's okay.

The impression of bullying threats is NOT what I had actually intended with that post but rereading it I have to agree what I wrote sounds rude.

Please excuse me everyone.

 

[JohnRTroy]

Thanks for passing the idea along, Piratecat. It strikes me as a possibility that would be good for everyone--WotC gets good PR, gamers get stuff they may have missed out on (there's numerous things I meant to buy but never got around to before they pulled the PDFs last year), and it all goes to a good cause. Plus, overhead would probably be minimal--I imagine the items and the DriveThru infrastructure are still hidden away on the servers or could be restored with a minimum of hassle--and it would probably take away few if any sales from their existing product lines, as anyone who's buying this stuff has made their decision regarding 4E anyway, with no impact based on the PDFs.

The only negative from my perspective is all this time waiting for this to happen people could just donate and be done with it. And my bet is there would be overhead and delays--for all we know, the original PDF masters might even have been destroyed per the terms of agreement with WoTC and the shops, so they might have to be rescanned/recreated.

Plus, consider that there are a lot more fans of the current edition than any previous ones, at least from the sales of WoTC are concerned. If that's the case, why would they want to worry about reproviding access to the real old catalog as opposed to doing a promotion for 4e. From all economic terms, they could do a lot more with the largest target market, maybe having a direct sale on book where x gets donated to Haiti. After all, if your doing a charity promotion, you'd want to focus on what would raise the most money, not just the niche markets.