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Post Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:51 pm 
 

I bought Adobe Acrobat recently so I could remove the watermarkings and such from purchased PDFs.  I hate that when I buy a legit PDF from a company (such as Goodman Games), they put my personal info on every page.  OK, I get that I'm not supposed to share - does that mean you can treat me like a criminal just in case I might be?  It looks really ugly to have my name & order number print out on every page.

As for sharing PDFs, I don't see it as much different than sharing the physical product.  If you printed out a PDF, would you loan it to a friend?  If so, why not loan them the PDF?

As for piracy, my view has always been thus:  If I would never pay money for a legit copy of a pdf/mp3/video/etc, then the company loses no money in my having a bootleg. There are a number of things I simply don't care enough about to pay even a few dollars, but I'm interested in enough to flip through it.  Plus, I lost count of the number of times I didn't think i'd ever spend money on a product, downloaded a bootleg, loved it, and then went out and bought a legit copy.  That's the other side of my view - if it turns out the product is worthwhile, then give the company their money.
My most recent example was the D&D 4.0 players handbook.  I didn't think I'd be interested in 4.0, but after looking through the PDF, really liked it, and soon ordered a physical copy of the book.

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Post Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:23 pm 
 

tekmanmike wrote:Hello, I was checkng out a few websites and noticed that they were selling Tsr modules in a downloadable pdf. Anyone have any experience with this? Is it even legal?
Thanks

Paizo and RPGNOW.com are among internet stores that have old modules available for a modest price. It only makes sense for WotC to make them available as it's positive cash flow for virtually zero effort. One of the modules I bought was a fairly poor scan, so don't expect the crispness of documents designed in the post-.pdf age.

  

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:42 am 
 

I have reached a time where I must find a way of culling my current collection, most of which has been easy. But on looking at a brand new copy of Rappan Athuk Reloaded, a limited edition, and fantastic megadungeon, I pose a question which this dungeon has brought up:

Why the nead to own the physical copy?

I have the PDF from RPGNow and it's very high quality, and the odds of me ever being able to DM it are slim unless my partner and I have kids that I can entice into RPGs. So why do we feel the need to own the physical products when there are different ways of owning the actual information therein?


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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:08 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:I have reached a time where I must find a way of culling my current collection, most of which has been easy. But on looking at a brand new copy of Rappan Athuk Reloaded, a limited edition, and fantastic megadungeon, I pose a question which this dungeon has brought up:

Why the nead to own the physical copy?

I have the PDF from RPGNow and it's very high quality, and the odds of me ever being able to DM it are slim unless my partner and I have kids that I can entice into RPGs. So why do we feel the need to own the physical products when there are different ways of owning the actual information therein?


Even if I can't run an adventure I love reading through them. I just can't get the same depth of enjoyment reading from a PDF and witht he cost of printing some of these up it is cheaper to have the original.

Then the collectable aspect is about having that paper talisman like that single sheet for $18,000 (Me I'd rather have $17,999.90 and a photocopy)

  

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:31 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:I have reached a time where I must find a way of culling my current collection, most of which has been easy. But on looking at a brand new copy of Rappan Athuk Reloaded, a limited edition, and fantastic megadungeon, I pose a question which this dungeon has brought up:

Why the nead to own the physical copy?

I have the PDF from RPGNow and it's very high quality, and the odds of me ever being able to DM it are slim unless my partner and I have kids that I can entice into RPGs. So why do we feel the need to own the physical products when there are different ways of owning the actual information therein?


I've amassed quite a few pdfs the last few years, and have been culling my collection at the same time. Particularly at lot of the 3E stuff; I really just want to read it or glance through it, or use a map, but I won't ever run it.  No point in owning the hardcopy.

Mike B.


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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:23 pm 
 

That's how I feel about stuff now as well, and it's easy with the Goodman Games stuff. I just have a folder with all the PDFs in it, and the odds are I'll only ever draw on them as source material and never play any of it.

But I notice the last Rappan Athuk sold on eBay for $175 BIN, and it is a tremendous piece of work. I doubt I'll see another dungeon like it in my remaining years unless we see a really good rendition of Castle Greyhawk. RA is a masterpiece. I just don't know whether to sell on my boxed set and keep the PDFs, and it raises the whole 'I'm never gonna use it so why do I need to keep it' issue.


This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:58 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:That's how I feel about stuff now as well, and it's easy with the Goodman Games stuff. I just have a folder with all the PDFs in it, and the odds are I'll only ever draw on them as source material and never play any of it.

But I notice the last Rappan Athuk sold on eBay for $175 BIN, and it is a tremendous piece of work. I doubt I'll see another dungeon like it in my remaining years unless we see a really good rendition of Castle Greyhawk. RA is a masterpiece. I just don't know whether to sell on my boxed set and keep the PDFs, and it raises the whole 'I'm never gonna use it so why do I need to keep it' issue.


I'm not familiar with this Rappan athuk. What is it?

  

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:01 pm 
 

JasonZavoda wrote:
I'm not familiar with this Rappan athuk. What is it?


Blurb:
This may not be the world's largest dungeon, but its certainly the deadliest!

The granddaddy of all dungeons returns! From the lair of Zelkor to the lair of Orcus, intrepid adventurers have crawled these halls for decades. Treasures and monsters abound, but can you find your way out again? Lost in the red mists, you wonder. The Bloodways await.

Kill them all, Orcus will recognize his own!

Rappan Athuk Reloadedâ„¢ contains the entirety of the original Rappan Athukâ„¢ series, along with many new levels and a massive wilderness expansion, all updated for the revised rules. Not just a rework, this expanded version contains tons of new material, detailing 36 dungeon levels and dozens of wilderness areas.

* Endless adventure in the most challenging dungeon ever devised.
* The most difficult puzzles, traps, riddles and quests to solve.
* Years of adventure for your characters.

The boxed set contains three books:

Book 1: The Dungeon of Graves - 232 pages of dungeon crawling
Book 2: Servants, Slaves and Food - 96 pages of monsters and NPCs
Book 3: Pathways to Damnation - 56 pages of maps.

ISBN: 1-58846-795-3


Personally one of the better 3.x products out there that can span any edition (if you know how to convert things that is :) )

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Post Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:14 am 
 

Plaag wrote:
Personally one of the better 3.x products out there that can span any edition (if you know how to convert things that is :) )

ShaneG.


It's also one of the few (at this time) 3E collectibles, having been limited to 1000 copies.  It's a super dungeon very old school in design, which is understandable as apparantly it first appeared as the "house" dungeon for the writers, and was originall either a 1st or 2nd edition item for their camapaign.  It originally cost $75, but I bet it's running twice that now due to it's scarcity.

However, the original 3 module set for Necromancer games still turns up a lot and can be found much easier, running you about $50 or so (with R3 being the harder to find).

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Post Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:12 am 
 

Rappan Athuk Reloaded is a must have for any collector. It's much more old school than anything I've seen since the mid-90's. And as I recall, Reloaded is more than just R1-2-3 added together. The artwork is much more professional, the printing quality is a lot higher, and there is additional materials from the original campaign.




http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250252827217


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Post Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:14 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:Rappan Athuk Reloaded is a must have for any collector. It's much more old school than anything I've seen since the mid-90's. And as I recall, Reloaded is more than just R1-2-3 added together. The artwork is much more professional, the printing quality is a lot higher, and there is additional materials from the original campaign.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250252827217








Wow, I'll have to keep my eye out for it. I did just pick up Rappan Athuk 1-2-3 and five other modules tonight on ebay. R3 seems to be the expensive one.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:32 am 
 

R3 is hard to find, but the compilation Reloaded is much more than the sum of its parts. Having just flicked through it again and then repacked away safely, I'm leaning towards keeping it unless I have a serious reason to sell it. Every time I read parts of it I am impressed at how well it is put together.

At the other extreme, The Worlds Largest Dungeon is completely shite and I'd sell that without hesitation, except the world seems to be swamped with overstock of that doorstop.

Does anyone know if The Worlds Largest City is as bad as Dungeon?


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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:02 am 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:At the other extreme, The Worlds Largest Dungeon is completely shite and I'd sell that without hesitation, except the world seems to be swamped with overstock of that doorstop.

Does anyone know if The Worlds Largest City is as bad as Dungeon?


No idea on City, but what is the current going price for Dungeon?  I know someone who's looking for it, but I think his budget may be below market value.  And yes, I've already warned him that it's complete and utter crap.


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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:31 am 
 

g026r wrote:
No idea on City, but what is the current going price for Dungeon?  I know someone who's looking for it, but I think his budget may be below market value.  And yes, I've already warned him that it's complete and utter crap.


One seller on ebay continually has them for $60 shrinkwrapped.

  

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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:34 am 
 

There aren't many pdfs I want, but I do have a few, simply because it is easier, say, to print out the pre-gen characters of a module than to scan it in, fold the book to do so, and then print it out... also, I can modify the contents of a pdf, if I want, through text editing. I can even strip the images and change them should I feel the need. Also, a very few things only come in pdf...


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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:50 am 
 

g026r wrote:
No idea on City, but what is the current going price for Dungeon?  I know someone who's looking for it, but I think his budget may be below market value.  And yes, I've already warned him that it's complete and utter crap.


I have a theory that World's Largest City will be collectible someday....

Due to the price, and people getting burned on WLD (which yes was crap), and lower print run, and lower profile (definitely don't see as many of these) I think it will be tough to find in the future.  Definitely tougher than WLD which you should be able to get for half price at LEAST if you nose around a bit.

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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:25 pm 
 

I have seen WLD go as low as $40 second hand near mint. Someone must have paid $60, took off the shrink, realised they'd been screwed and cashed in their chips.

So, Mike. Do you have WLC? Is it any good?


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Post Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:55 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:I have seen WLD go as low as $40 second hand near mint. Someone must have paid $60, took off the shrink, realised they'd been screwed and cashed in their chips.

So, Mike. Do you have WLC? Is it any good?


No, don't have it, and I haven't seen it near as much as WLD.. That's why I figure it's harder to find, I never pay full price, and I can't find it cheap.

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