Marcus may be a hardhead, but that's not a crime.  "Dickhead" is kind of strong.

From Marcus' article:

Now, let me be clear.  I will still be ordering White Wolf’s Exalted, True20 and Pathfinder.  I am not boycotting anyone's products, or dismissing their efforts.  All of those companies, and those products, do well in my store(s).  But, I am insulted that my friends, my business "partners" or "publishing suppliers" value another sales channel so much that they would make a special effort to support that channel over the one I have worked in for 20+ years, and hope to work in for another 20.

Can discounted PDFs be made available for a FLGS to sell?  Surely some publisher or FLGS can figure out a way to sell PDFs to online or walk-in customers.

Can discounted PDFs be made available for a FLGS to sell?  Surely some publisher or FLGS can figure out a way to sell PDFs to online or walk-in customers.

Legally? Not sure. Probably need a resell license for it, or some other cockamamie ritual complete with sacrifice and monkey fling.. but, the entrepreneurship is strong, so I would not hold it past some to start selling "rare pdfs" on "even more rare USB thumb drives, CD and DVD ROM, and the all-powerful, most rare thing of all... paper!" Yeah, I can see that now, in fact. "To get this, you have to buy $100 in books" (which used to sound like a lot -- now it's two items.) Yep, easy way for the inclined store owner to entice... its like Free RPG day, but everyday.

Heh.  Well, if they want to cower back into the 20th century that's their business (or lack thereof).  The djinni is out of the bottle and they can't cram it back in.  They can certainly go after pirates, but with this give-and-yank-back they've created a market of honest buyers who are hooked on their .pdf products, who now have no legal outlet for their preferred medium of information.

Personally I think nothing beats the hardcopy for nostalgia and tabletop play.  That's why I started collecting.  But these days I prefer the .pdfs for my adventure writing and projects.  For example I've created a resource that unifies all mentions of a monster (bugbear, drow, etc.) in each product, and pulls all of the info on tactics, armor, variants, etc. into a "super monster manual" (1972-1985) for true AD&D flavor.  Online indices are inferior for such purposes and that project never would have happened without searchable .pdfs.  Same with my current magic item resource.

But I'd really like to see them sell D&D.  WotC is not a bad company, but I feel that no one in charge there has really "gotten it" since Peter Adkison (who had a good heart but may be lacking in the delivery and politics).  Seeing AD&D2 never come to pass because the game was sold as a gag license for HackMaster made me sick to my stomach.  It's time for the fans to become invested in the industry again.

But there's no going back again.  The future is electronic.  If WotC doesn't see that (head in the sand), they'll find their sales dwindling as players head to .pdf-suppored properties, home brews, piracy or just the big bad ogre they don't want to think about ... MMOs.

Their failure to see a quality experience in D&D Online will ultimately prove to be their downfall.  The audience has changed, the world has changed.  The people who still love pen and paper don't need WotC or their products, they already have everything they need and imagination.

Adapt or die.

mbassoc2003 wrote:I hear the faint chimes of a death knell for 4E and WoTC. I'd be willing to wager a change of ownership is coming, followed by 'D&D Original' or some such revamp to sever ties with WoTC's line; medium term.

Well, if you listen to the latest conspiracy theorists, this is all a part of bringing in D&D's assets in-house to make a nice, neat package to sell off. You could have said the same when Paizo lost the license to Dungeon and Dragon, but as we saw, they simply changed the format. I wouldn't be surprised if they went to a similar digital (non-.pdf) service to access the back-catalog of TSR/WotC products.

mbassoc2003 wrote:Anyone think WoTC made the right decision killing Dragon and Dungeon? On any level?

No.

But then we got Pathfinder out of it so some good has come from that decision.

ShaneG.

mbassoc2003 wrote:What 'non-PDF' digital format options do they have?
Microsoft's bundled Vista bollocks? HTML? Adobe have that entire market well and truely stitched up.
If they're gonna go digital, they have to talk turkey with Adobe about DRM. And if they're gonna go back down that route, their only viable choice is PDF.
It'd be like watching babies learning, wouldn't it?

Anyone think WoTC made the right decision killing Dragon and Dungeon? On any level?

I am not sure if the file format is the issue, but they may restrict availability to DDI or another subscription program.

mbassoc2003 wrote:............... What we're seeing here is knee-jerk reactions from a company that is failing at management level.
No longer having leadership or direction, they flail around wildly in the hope of escape.

I think that there is no escape for them as they seemingly always fail to see the many traps they have blundered into over the years.
Or....
If they DO see those blunders, then they are too corporate minded bean counting stupid to realise that this latest action is yet another of those crippling traps.

SoulCatcher78 wrote: I wonder what it would take for Hasbro to release the liscense?

Still at p.1, and reading through this entire thread, but sometimes I just lose it and start to daydream.

Yes, me, the head honcho of TSR (sorry, 20 minute pause while I go out for an inspirational walk and .... what a difference a 40 minute walk can make. a technique highly recommended for all writers!) ....

The first thing that I had thought of would have to wait. Roll back the clock a few years, and Gary gets a phone call. "Hi, Gary? Is it OK if I call you Gary? I'm the president of TSR now, and I would hope that you would like to write the next edition of AD&D. You've got total artistic control with that one, and final say on what goes and what doesn't, everything down to the last detail. Umm ... I hope you say yes ... I don't know if you realize how much this means to millions of people out there, but if you're not into it right now, the offer, well, plea, is always open!"

Cool. 1st and most important thing done. Then, I find 4 women who have nothing to do with D&D, to serve as financial managers / PR experts. 4 women for each of the cardinal directions, all dressed in Caldwell/Frazetta 'clothing' of their own specifications. (As long as they show a lot of skin and carry extremely deadly weapons, then I'm a happy man). Sorta like caryatid columns, except that they have unlimited mobility and other options. All that taken care of, it frees me up for the more important creative work (while at the same time having 4 reminders that there are more important things in life than gaming).

That done, I get a nice mattress for my room (with a balcony, either that, or on the ground floor near the herb garden, yes appendix J), so I can sleep at work, instead of wasting time commuting to some kind of a home in the suburbs.

Then I would ensure a source of clean water, redo the cafeteria to something like a tavern (out with the pop and junk food), provide sleeping areas for those who would want them (see below), and hire a permanent doctor with naturopathic training to ensure that everyone's health needs are taken care of (yes, we can get aches and pains from sitting in front of these computer machines too long).

For staff, I would send out invites to everyone, artists incl. from the early 80s period. Then, I would send out invites to one person from DF, one from Canonfire, one from Candlekeep, one from DL, at a minimum. At the very least, lines of communication would have to opened and maintained with the sages of the other settings as well.

Creative staff would work on 6 hour days, 4 times a week. If they want to work overtime, unpaid, on their projects, then it's up to them. In the meantime, they have a roof over their head and credit at the tavern.

Above done, I would turn to some of my projects of interest:
* ressurection of UA/Gold Box (DOS graphics and all), making fullest use of new possibilities that technological advances have made possible since then.

* an 'edition' that compiles all the most complex and detailed rules from earlier editions. not as something to play, but something to read, and think about (yes, there a lot out there who take great pleasure and satisfaction from merely reading the books). Maybe of interest to philosophers.

* an experimental 'edition' that uses the 1E rules and adventures, but halves the creatures appearing, halves the level requirements, halves the treasure, halves the magic items, and keeps everything else basically as is. (Yep S1 Tomb of Horrors, an adventure for character levels 5-7)
Non-collectible miniatures (like storable box sets, all of the same format) boosters to go along with the adventures. Why sell people things that they don't need?

(note: the above two would be akin to the relationship between D&D and AD&D during the 80s. Hopefully, Gary would be continuing the actual game, the above would just be trying out new ideas, to see how they read/play).

* re-release of the Best of Dragon. Basically all of the original AD&D.1 articles, in their original form, bound into hardbacks.

* what to do about the early mods? part of me would want to re-release them as is (although this might hurt Ebay sellers), but some of them were so 'perfect' that I would feel it to be a crime against all D&D/AD&D gamers if they weren't available in their original form. what to do?

* ongoing support (digital floorplans, etc.) for the classic adventures.

** a few other surprises as well, but it would be important that most of what would be produced would be decided by others in the company, ensuring that the needs/wants of the various gaming communities out there are met.

As to pdfs (hopefully to bring this back around to the thread), I would reactive them, but I've never been really happy with the pdf format. I would look into other electronic formats (even if that meant developing new technologies), so that these electronic versions would be of the maximum use and value to the people who use them.

Back to reading this thread (thanks for the inspiration!)

John

modheaven7@gmail.com

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4news/20090428
Keep on the Shadowfell pdf for free with the quick-start rules.
See WotC has some PDF love

ShaneG.