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Player's Handbook 3.0 - CD included in all?
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lucyjoyce
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:50 am 
 

I have a first print Player's Handbook (3.0 - one of these:  http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/3e/phb.htm

Printing date August 2000.

There is no evidence a character generator CD was ever plastered inside the back cover.  There is an insert "From the pages of Dragon Magazine" as the last several pages of the book.  I see by the WOTC website that this was revised and reissued in July 2003 to tie in with the release of their mini line in the fall of 2003.

Was there ever a CD in my copy?  I have seen these before with the CD, and with the torn and empty plastic former home of the CD.  Were there some that never had the CD?

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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:01 pm 
 

lucyjoyce wrote:I have a first print Player's Handbook (3.0 - one of these:  http://www.tsrinfo.net/archive/3e/phb.htm

Printing date August 2000.

There is no evidence a character generator CD was ever plastered inside the back cover.  There is an insert "From the pages of Dragon Magazine" as the last several pages of the book.  I see by the WOTC website that this was revised and reissued in July 2003 to tie in with the release of their mini line in the fall of 2003.

Was there ever a CD in my copy?  I have seen these before with the CD, and with the torn and empty plastic former home of the CD.  Were there some that never had the CD?

Thanks.


I'll take a look at mine when I get home from work today.

I thought they had the CD's in them...


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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:30 pm 
 

I can't substantiate it at the moment, but I do recall having some that did not contain the CD.  I believe the CD was supposed to be included with all of the first printings.  I would speculate that it was probably an assembly error that caused some to be missing the CD.
  

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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:47 pm 
 

All of the releases that have the CD that I have seen, which I believe were the ones released at GenCon of that year, do not have anything called "From the pages of Dragon Magazine." They do, however, have a sample of the Monster Manual and DMG; this is called the "2000 Survival Kit" as a prelude to what would be made available later that year.


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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:35 pm 
 

Attachment:
PH insert.jpg

This is the first page of the dragon mag insert.

Thanks for your help.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 2:48 pm 
 

Is there a print key in the front of the book? If so what is the lowest number?  For example "9 8 7 6 5 4 3"

The first two printings all had a version of the CD. I am not sure about the later printings but as I recall they stopped including the CD at some point.

Some additional details:
http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4301

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lucyjoyce
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 6:29 pm 
 

At the bottom of the title page, under the WOTC logo, it says:
620-T11550--003-EN First Printing:  August 2000
9 8 7 6 5 4

So I am interested to learn what this means.  I don't know anything about print keys.  What printing is this, actually?


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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:30 pm 
 

The "first printing" there is a referential date; it is not the date of this specific book, which is what the print code identifies. It looks like yours is a 4th print.


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Post Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:26 pm 
 

lucyjoyce wrote:At the bottom of the title page, under the WOTC logo, it says:
620-T11550--003-EN First Printing:  August 2000
9 8 7 6 5 4


My copy, bought on the day of release, says this under the logo:
Questions? 1-800-324-6496       620-T11550



The CD is included inside the back cover.
  

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Post Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:05 am 
 

Man, I am always learning something new around here.  Thanks for the education.  So, fourth print, and they had probably stopped including the CDs.  I really appreciate the responses.  Jo


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Post Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:09 pm 
 

I imagine a lot of those CD's are still in the envelope...put back after one attemp to use their botched program. I have never seen a disk in operation.  As far as I can tell they were useless.


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Post Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:33 pm 
 

I still have my CD and I still use the program.  I  find that it's very handy for whipping up a quick character.  I think it was a good idea and I wish WOTC had released the full Character Generator and the planned DM Tools program as well, I always wondered how they would have worked.  Anyone know why they didn't continue with these?


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Post Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 12:38 am 
 

The original CDs had some serious flaws. For example, of the two I used, one had all skills but no feats and the other had feats and skills but crashed when trying to load anything but human as race. Also, there was some oddities with equipment, as one CD had magical items and the other did not.

At least, that's what I remember... I don't have them any longer.


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