D&D 5E When do you expect that we will start seeing the 2nd printings of the 3 core books?

[Stormonu]

OK. I owned a 3.0 PHB once upon a time but don't really remember anything about it. I stopped playing D&D for a few years and when I got back into it, the 3.5 PHB I bought was the deluxe, errata'd version without the faux leather cover.

I should add that WotC did release an updated, errata'd version of the SWSE core rulebook without it being a deluxe edition or anything.

The softcover 3.5 PHB that came with the Player's Kit and subsequent non-SE printings of the 3.5 PHB use the errata'd version of the PHB. They all did the same thing with the MM and DMG after those special editions came out. The recent 3.5 reprints also use the special edition errata'd text. Essentially, if you bought the special faux cover editions for the errata, you got screwed because they became the "common" book a short time later, and considerably cheaper.

Back in 2E, they reprinted the core rules with errata in a series of black hardcovers with new art, but they were not special edition versions. 1E quietly incorporated errata in later publishings - I know the Elmore cover ones I had incorporated them.

I'm pretty sure within 18 months we'll see the core 3 reprinted with errata.

 

[mach1.9pants]

1E had ELMORE covers?????

 

[Henry]

1E had ELMORE covers?????

I believe that was Easley, not Elmore, wasn't it?

 

[mach1.9pants]

I believe that was Easley, not Elmore, wasn't it?

Yeah I knew that, should have put a smiley on the end, rhetorical question

 

[painted_klown]

Hello all, I was out picking up my DMG over the weekend and looked at the copies of HotDQ and TroT and saw all of the copies in stock were 2nd impression. Most of the PHBs were also 2nd impression. My guess is that the 5E books are selling quite well, assuming the adventure books have/had the # of copies printed for each impression as the 3 core books. Not too shabby...

 

[painted_klown]

Quick question for the collector crowd.

When buying the starter box, is there a way to determine what print impression you're buying, by looking at the outside of the box?

As far as I am aware, the only way to tell is by opening the box and looking at the numbers on the included rule book.

Any ideas all?

 

[Zaran]

Quick question for the collector crowd.

When buying the starter box, is there a way to determine what print impression you're buying, by looking at the outside of the box?

As far as I am aware, the only way to tell is by opening the box and looking at the numbers on the included rule book.

Any ideas all?

I didn't get the impression that the starter box needs a lot of revisions. Even if they will make revisions it hasn't happened yet. Go ahead buy the box now.

 

[Ricochet]

Starter box doesn't have a lot of errors. It's a remarkably good product actually, and the price is great too!

 

[painted_klown]

It's not errors or errata that I am worried about. I am a bit OCD when it comes to collecting, and I like to have the first run of a product, if possible.

If you look on any of the 3 core books, you will see a series of numbers (under where is says the first print date) that reads 987654321. That number determines how many times it has been sent to the press for additional printings. It doesn't indicate 2nd printing or anything like that, it's (what I found out) is known as the impression number. The lowest number in that sequence will tell you what impression you have.

Once I discovered this, I checked my copies of the PHB and MM to verify, and was happy they were both first print, first impression. I was OCD about it and searched around town for my DMG to make sure I had a 1st impression DMG as well. IMO, it was worth the extra cost buying at a FLGS, just to have the piece of mind.

With the starter set, the way to determine the impression is by looking at the included rulebook.

The problem is that I am not able to open the boxes up at the local FLGS to check them prior to purchase. That is why I was wondering if anybody had ran across a way to determine this by any markings on the outside of the box.

I hope that makes sense.

As an aside, I have also been looking at the HotDQ and TRoT books at a couple places and all that I have seen were on their 2nd impression. I plan to search more extensively this weeeknd to see if I can track down older copies of them as well.

I know that is CRAZY sauce OCD, but the collector in me, likes to have them all match.

 

[BoldItalic]

Quick question for the collector crowd.

When buying the starter box, is there a way to determine what print impression you're buying, by looking at the outside of the box?

As far as I am aware, the only way to tell is by opening the box and looking at the numbers on the included rule book.

Any ideas all?

On the Starter Set box I'm looking at, there is a small white serial number of some kind overprinted on the black area, just above the red flash on the left side of the lid. It looks like "ELM 273 14" although that M might be a V or a Y, it's a bit smudged. It could be meaningless, or it could be some sort of stock code added by the retailer. This particular box came from the Book Depository. Does anyone else have anything similar on their boxes?