Tuesday 22 January 2013

WotC publish older D&D PDFs on DriveThru


Wizards of the Coast are selling older edition D&D products on DriveThruRPG
http://bit.ly/WotCRPGDT

D&D Basic Rules (Moldvay-Cook)
on DriveThru $4.99
What does it mean!?
I've just heard.
How did I miss the announcement!?
My head is spinning.
My mouse hand is feverishly clicking....

So let's get this straight... official copies of older edition D&D and modules are now available in PDF form on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG. And not just the free consolation stuff that they used to give away on the Wizards' site. Titles here are from Basic D&D, AD&D, right through to 4th Edition.  It's currently an eclectic mixture at best, but I'm ecstatic because (without even thinking) I've just bought (Moldvay) Basic Rules, B5 Horror of the Hill and T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil. Regarding the latter, like everyone else in the early 80s, I owned T1 Village of Hommlet but it took so long for ToEE to arrive that I think I started spending my money elsewhere.
Compared smelly second hand stuff to Ebay - the prices aren't so bad for the older edition products: $5-$10 - For some players it will be the only way they will see these archaic tomes.  The more recent edition products are possibly orientated at the tablet-at-the-game-table market - since the 4e glossy hardbacks are still on sale elsewhere.

Quality:
The Moldvay Basic Rules look great.  It's faithful facsimile scan.  The text is selectable and copyable.  The contents don't appear to be hotlinked/tagged - which will disappoint some PDF perfectionists - but it's a tiny ruleset by modern rulebook standards.  You don't get too lost in 64 pages.  The black and white line art illustrations are all in there - it's a high contrast scan - there is slight pixelation and some tiny details are lost, but at a mere 7.5 MB the document is extremely portable.



Temple of Elemental Evil (AD&D)

on DriveThru $9.99



Some of the most interesting illustrations
known to gamers can be found in
AD&D Fiend Folio
(including those by my fave artist
Russ Nicholson)
on DriveThru $9.99
I will be watching their store with relish over the next few months. :)
This is the best thing since 4th edition Tunnels & Trolls PDF, and Empire of the Petal Throne...


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