D&D General Wizards of the Coast releases pay-for-download PDFs of The AD&D 2E Complete Starter Set, Bloodspawn (Birthright) and both Savage Coast books (Mystara)

[Alzrius]

In a major series of releases, Wizards of the Coast has put out pay-for-download PDFs of several old AD&D 2E products! These include The Complete Starter Set: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game 2E for $29.99, Blood Spawn (for the Birthright campaign setting) for $4.99, the Savage Coast Campaign Setting (technically a Mystara 2E product, and also part of the Odyssey line) for $9.99, and the Savage Coast: Orc's Head accessory for $4.99.

Fans who perused WotC's website twenty-odd years ago might remember some of these names. Blood Spawn was the planned Monstrous Compendium appendix for the Birthright campaign, but which wasn't published before the line folded, and was later put out as a free-to-download release on their website. A similar story went for both Savage Coast books, with the Campaign Setting being an integrated re-release of the materials from the Red Steel and Savage Baronies boxed sets, while Orc's Head expanded on what was available for the area. Both heavily retcon the original presentation of the area as it was depicted in X9 The Savage Coast. This marks the first time all three have been made commercially available, and I can only hope that print on demand options will follow!

The Complete Starter Set was one of a series of AD&D 2E introductory sets during the mid-90s, released in 1996. It says it comes with "The Book of Lairs," but I don't have any details about whether that's something new or an inclusion of, for instance, the Forgotten Realms 2E Book of Lairs.

These are the latest PDF releases from WotC, following the Shattered Keeps map pack, the Worlds of Adventure fast-play game for AD&D 2E, the Hexagonal Mapping Booklet, and Quadrille Graph Paper. Other PDF releases have included Outdoor Geomorphs Set 1 - Walled City, Player's Secrets of Muden (for Birthright), The Planescape Conspectus, Midnight on Dagger Alley (AD&D 1E), the AD&D 2E starter set Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game, and the 3.5 Deluxe Character Sheets. Free releases have included Wrath of the Immortals (BECMI), The Book of Regency (Birthright), Three Dragon Ante, Rob Kuntz's To the City of Brass, and the World of Krynn Trail Map and The Eastern Countries Trail Map (Mystara).

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They are charging for what had been a free products, unbelievable.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess they want to test the reaction by the fandom to know these settings should come back. The monster compendiums can be useful even for players who don't use that setting.

Mystara is not in the list of the "alpha" lines but Savage Coast/Red Steel can be a potential cash-cow as multimedia franchise. Today the audence is very used to "Pirates of the Caribean Sea", the mixture of pirates+fantasy. Savage Coast could be perfect for a videogame or a kid-friendly cartoon, close to "Pirates of the Dark Waters".

 

[The Glen]

They released the Savage Coast guides free years ago. You can still find them on the Vaults of Pandius along with the monstrous compendium. No idea why they are charging for what they originally gave away.

 

[Echohawk]

The Complete Starter Set was one of a series of AD&D 2E introductory sets during the mid-90s, released in 1996. It says it comes with "The Book of Lairs," but I don't have any details about whether that's something new or an inclusion of, for instance, the Forgotten Realms 2E Book of Lairs.

The print version of the The Complete Starter Set included a copy of the FR Book of Lairs and so does the scan. Here's the contents of the Starter Set (from the bottom of the box). Note that the scan doesn't include the dice or the figures, but it does have everything else.

 

[Alzrius]

The print version of the The Complete Starter Set included a copy of the FR Book of Lairs and so does the scan. Here's the contents of the Starter Set (from the bottom of the box). Note that the scan doesn't include the dice or the figures, but it does have everything else.

Thanks for clearing that up. The scan from the back of the box matches what's on the DriveThruRPG page, so I wasn't entirely sure if that was the FR Book of Lairs or something else with the same name.

Given the history of including modules like B2 The Keep on the Borderlands in the old D&D Basic Set (B/X), it's cool to know that tradition was kept alive well into the 90s!

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Huh. When I started playing in the mid 90s I obsessive followed everything TSR did and put out - the folks at my FLGS got a little tired of my constantly asking them for product catalogs, etc.

And somehow I never knew there was a 2e starter set until today.

Something new every day!

 

[Stormonu]

The print version of the The Complete Starter Set included a copy of the FR Book of Lairs and so does the scan. Here's the contents of the Starter Set (from the bottom of the box). Note that the scan doesn't include the dice or the figures, but it does have everything else.

Question: do the print versions come as a boxed set or with seperate books or everything combined into one binding? Especially curious about anything that contains what was a poster map. I still have my originals, but I'm curious how they're doing these print-on-demand versions.

 

[Alzrius]

Question: do the print versions come as a boxed set or with seperate books or everything combined into one binding? Especially curious about anything that contains what was a poster map. I still have my originals, but I'm curious how they're doing these print-on-demand versions.

The Complete Starter Set: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game 2E isn't actually offered in a print on demand format (yet, at least). That said, my understanding is that POD options are either a single hardcover or single softcover only, with no boxed set or multiple book options. Maps are apparently broken up and put into the book as pages.

 

[Stormonu]

The Complete Starter Set: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Game 2E isn't actually offered in a print on demand format (yet, at least). That said, my understanding is that POD options are either a single hardcover or single softcover only, with no boxed set or multiple book options. Maps are apparently broken up and put into the book as pages.

Sorry, I'd put this on the wrong thread, but thanks for the answer. Some of my copies are worn, or the box sets are large, taking up more space than I'd like, and I'm now considered whether it'd be worth it to replace some of them with new or slimmer copies. The map situation though, makes me hesitant on some options.

 

[Rune]

Sorry, I'd put this on the wrong thread, but thanks for the answer. Some of my copies are worn, or the box sets are large, taking up more space than I'd like, and I'm now considered whether it'd be worth it to replace some of them with new or slimmer copies. The map situation though, makes me hesitant on some options.

I purchased both the dark sun and planescape boxed sets as pod from dm’s guild. Both came as single soft-sover books that included maps and dm screens chopped up and printed over multiple pages within (on both sides of pages, too) in a fairly unusable format.

Otherwise good purchases, though.

 

[amethal]

They are charging for what had been a free products, unbelievable.

These previously free products have been unavailable for a long time - I think since their website switched to 4th edition?

The cost of making them available on Drivethru isn't zero, so it's reasonable to charge for them. I don't remember WotC making any kind of "free forever" pledge.

 

[The Glen]

These previously free products have been unavailable for a long time - I think since their website switched to 4th edition?

The cost of making them available on Drivethru isn't zero, so it's reasonable to charge for them. I don't remember WotC making any kind of "free forever" pledge.

They've always been available on the vaults of pandius since Wizards gave the site all their Mystara related material after the death of Gleemax. The files are still there plus the Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium.

 

[Stormonu]

These previously free products have been unavailable for a long time - I think since their website switched to 4th edition?

The cost of making them available on Drivethru isn't zero, so it's reasonable to charge for them. I don't remember WotC making any kind of "free forever" pledge.

A lot of the formerly free downloads have been cleaned up, reorganized and otherwise redone. Several of the old downloads were simply text dumps and the ones that were OCRed were done so badly.

I agree they've done a reasonable job of making them available, at a pretty cheap price-point too. Some of the ones that never made it to print (such as the Savage Coast ones and Jade Hare adventure), I'd love to get an opportunity to get them as POD!

 

[Alzrius]

And somehow I never knew there was a 2e starter set until today.

Something new every day!

There were a couple, as I recall. I've still got my old First Quest (affiliate link) boxed set on my shelf.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

These previously free products have been unavailable for a long time - I think since their website switched to 4th edition?

The cost of making them available on Drivethru isn't zero, so it's reasonable to charge for them. I don't remember WotC making any kind of "free forever" pledge.

They have always been free on the official Mystara fan site. These are exactly like the layout a fan produced from the free text files and they are still available for free!

And someone is charging money for them? Did the layout designer of these, Axel Boucher, get a cut?

 

[Ath-kethin]

There were a couple, as I recall. I've still got my old First Quest (affiliate link) boxed set on my shelf.

I remember the First Quest stuff; I guess I never thought of it as a starter set for some reason. All the products I remember thinking of as starter sets were for Basic.

But as we've seen, I clearly didn't know everything!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Strange dupe.

 

[The Glen]

They have always been free on the official Mystara fan site. These are exactly like the layout a fan produced from the free text files and they are still available for free!

And someone is charging money for them? Did the layout designer of these, Axel Boucher, get a cut?

According to Bruce Heard and other old TSR no he hasn't.

 

[RobJN]

If WotC were to release the Savage Coast/Orc's Head material as it was originally released, you'd get .jpgs and .rtf files.