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Post by foxroe on Sept 22, 2011 19:17:52 GMT -6
Perhaps this has been discussed already (I'm a little lazy at the moment, so I haven't looked for it), but I would really like to start a petition (or whatever) to have Hasbro/WotC release OOP products on Lulu or RPGNow, etc.
Anyone with some experience in this area or a dram of gumption willing to offer up some advice (or help start the ball rolling)?
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Post by DungeonDevil on Sept 23, 2011 7:35:23 GMT -6
In order for Wizbro to allow POD materials, they would first have to possess HQ scans of the materials, and NOT simply use the previous, sh!tty scans which constituted all the formerly-available stuff on drivethru, RPGnow, etc. (The only exceptional, superb scan that I have from drivethru is ToEE.) It would take a lot of man-hours to rescan the books and OCR them, etc. I doubt they would want to make that expenditure. Furthermore, Lulu's quality might not be good enough (esp. with hardbacks). I am afraid that Wizbro, instead of merely reprinting would want to tinker and alter and "improve" on the "flawed, quirky, older edition". In the end: bad idea. Many OS RPG boards have hashed this out over millions of words' worth of argument. The execs at Wizbro would look at such a petition as a hostile attempt by old edition players to 'dilute their precious current brand'.
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Post by foxroe on Sept 23, 2011 9:34:50 GMT -6
While I understand your sentiments, if it can be profitable for them to re-release the PDF's, I would think that it should be very little work for them to do so.
I highly doubt that they would be bothered to rescan or rework the material, and IMO, Lulu is on-par with the current print quality of Wizard's product line (sure - not everything in the old product lines could be made POD due to poor scan quality).
I also seriously doubt that the demand for re-released material would be high enough to "dilute" the current product line.
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Post by DungeonDevil on Sept 23, 2011 9:48:20 GMT -6
My inner 10-12 year old wants, wants, wants... ;D
My 41 year old, bitter, cynical husk just grumbles.
To the Suits, any dilution is bad, but you're right: a little shouldn't make a big deal.
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Azafuse
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 245
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Post by Azafuse on Sept 23, 2011 9:57:46 GMT -6
If I remember well, Wizzie said something about it at GenCon '11 (although not so clear).
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Post by foxroe on Sept 23, 2011 11:11:01 GMT -6
My inner 10-12 year old wants, wants, wants... ;D My 41 year old, bitter, cynical husk just grumbles. ;DI hear ya! ;D |
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Post by foxroe on Sept 23, 2011 11:12:32 GMT -6
If I remember well, Wizzie said something about it at GenCon '11 (although not so clear). Interesting. Do you know if this is noted/recorded anywhere? |
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Azafuse
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 245
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Post by Azafuse on Sept 23, 2011 13:27:21 GMT -6
Interesting. Do you know if this is noted/recorded anywhere? I've read it here (but IIRC it appeared also in other web reports in that period). |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2011 16:22:05 GMT -6
Thing is, even if they release it, they have to spend a certain amount of resources looking after it. If the cost of the resources to look after it is more than the revenue, it makes no sense.
In other words, if you have to pay a clerk $10 a month to do the bookkeeping for the OD&D line, and the revenue for the OD&D line is $5 a month, you're not going to do it.
I suspect that's the real reason.
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Post by foxroe on Sept 23, 2011 19:17:45 GMT -6
Interesting. Do you know if this is noted/recorded anywhere? I've read it here (but IIRC it appeared also in other web reports in that period). Thanks for that info. While I see a lot of potential in those statements, I'm not hopeful. There really isn't anything that says, "We're re-releasing older editions in PDF format for historical appreciation (or whatever)." In fact I've been reading a lot of disconcerting things elsewhere that say that Wizards is dumping Dungeon and Dragon and switching to paperback core books. Oh well. As much as I'd like to passionately get behind a simple, legitimate release of older material, even to the profit of current stake-holders, I can see that there doesn't seem to be a strong enough feeling in favor of it. Too much doubting and guessing (and that's not aimed at you Mike; I know you've been there and understand the industry better than I do). Well, at least I have my OD&D PDF's.  |
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Post by DungeonDevil on Sept 24, 2011 7:54:39 GMT -6
Thing is, even if they release it, they have to spend a certain amount of resources looking after it. If the cost of the resources to look after it is more than the revenue, it makes no sense. In other words, if you have to pay a clerk $10 a month to do the bookkeeping for the OD&D line, and the revenue for the OD&D line is $5 a month, you're not going to do it. I suspect that's the real reason. Good point. Now, who will step forward to be a ha'penny clerk? ;D Any such initiative would be based on good intentions, but the corporate world has no familiarity with the concept. |
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Post by foxroe on Sept 24, 2011 19:33:03 GMT -6
I'm sure that I am not alone when I say this. I love the game and I love the hobby. I'm not looking to make money off of it.
I would be willing to rescan/publish/whatever the OOP editions for WotC FOR FREE, so long as I had the legal backing to do it.
It's all about the hobby for me.
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