Despite how great D&D 4E is supposedly selling, I can't help but notice that all the D&D 3.5 books on DrivethruRPG are still selling for full price. In addition, they still don't offer the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Original Monster Manual.

Despite how great D&D 4E is supposedly selling, I can't help but notice that all the D&D 3.5 books on DrivethruRPG are still selling for full price. In addition, they still don't offer the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Original Monster Manual.

Part of that may be they see no real profit in it. Outside of a few monsters (IIRC, the Beholder, Illithid and Thoqqua), the XP and advancement rules and a couple of goodies from the DMG, all of the crunchy bits are online for free as the SRD.

Part of that may be they see no real profit in it. Outside of a few monsters (IIRC, the Beholder, Illithid and Thoqqua), the XP and advancement rules and a couple of goodies from the DMG, all of the crunchy bits are online for free as the SRD.

Fair enough, but for those willing to buy a copy, why not upload PDFs of the old corebooks? It's not like there is a serious cost involved and they might just make a few bucks off of it. I know there was a time when I would buy copies, since I preferred paging through the PDFs to looking things up in the SRD. I know that makes me a weirdo, but still, I'm the kind of guy Wizards could have made some money off of.

Despite how great D&D 4E is supposedly selling, I can't help but notice that all the D&D 3.5 books on DrivethruRPG are still selling for full price. In addition, they still don't offer the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Original Monster Manual.

The core rulebook PDFs have been withdrawn intentionally by Wizards. They have no interest in selling anymore 3.5 core rules. They also most certainly have no interest in distributing then for free. If they could make all 3.5 rule books go away, they would.

Pat Payne wrote:

Part of that may be they see no real profit in it. Outside of a few monsters (IIRC, the Beholder, Illithid and Thoqqua), the XP and advancement rules and a couple of goodies from the DMG, all of the crunchy bits are online for free as the SRD.

Fair enough, but for those willing to buy a copy, why not upload PDFs of the old corebooks? It's not like there is a serious cost involved and they might just make a few bucks off of it. I know there was a time when I would buy copies, since I preferred paging through the PDFs to looking things up in the SRD. I know that makes me a weirdo, but still, I'm the kind of guy Wizards could have made some money off of.

*not intending to threadjack, but...*

If they could make all 3.5 rule books go away, they would.

... and this is the ugliest part of what wotc is doing. Ending support for an older system is one thing, snubbing a nose at the 3.5 fan base is insulting, along with trying to shut it down.

As Erik Mona once said, wotc's biggest threat may be from their own system (as in 3.5). This is why it is more important now, than ever, to support 3.5/PAIZO. PAIZO is the fan-driven, quality customer care that this community deserves.

To refuse sale of a former 3.5 PDF, is just disgusting to me, as my family has some familiarity with totalitarians who engage in book-burning. This type of censorship and acts of destruction should galvanize us against those monsters.

*not intending to threadjack, but...*

Bill Coffin, as in Palladium/Septimus Bill Coffin? Hi! Are you a Pathfinder RPGer as well? Glad to have you here.

Yep, that's me. I freaking love the Pathfinder stuff. I intially fell in love with the adventure/sourcebook magazine model, and the content has been top-notch too. I strolled down to the Compleat Strategist today to buy me a copy of the Campaign Setting only to not see it there. My heart, she is broken.

Anyway, to keep this from flying off the rails...I just wish those D&D 3.5 corebooks would have been sold online. Anybody who ever took a peek at RPG piracy would know that those files were flying around a hell of a lot anyway. Wny not put them on the market to sell a few?

BTW, I'm sure this is being talked over in other threads, but I just need to say how much I love Paizo's decision to release the Pathfinder beta and alpha online for free. What a great move that is. Not only do I get to use the book when I'm on my long train ride home each night, but it's also surely sold both a softback alpha as well as that official hardback when it comes out. Nicely done, lads. Nicely done.

To refuse sale of a former 3.5 PDF, is just disgusting to me, as my family has some familiarity with totalitarians who engage in book-burning. This type of censorship and acts of destruction should galvanize us against those monsters.

I think the high download rates of the Pathfinder RPG have been an encouraging sign in that regard. Plus, the closer we get to the official Pathfinder RPG hitting the stores, the closer we get to this whole conversation becoming a moot point, I think. Especially since I've seen a lot of chatter coming from folks who feel that Pathfinder is a distinct improvement over the old 3.5 corebooks. Hell, I feel that way based on the artwork alone.

Heck, I'm just looking at it from the point of view that I'm getting too old to lug 35+ books to a game. I'd like nothing more than to buy every 3.5 book in pdf and just carrry a laptop to my games. I just refuse to pay full price for books I already own (and paid for) in hardback.

Wait a minute...are you guys saying that WOTC use to sell the 3.5 core books online, but have removed them since 4E?!? I just assumed they were never made available.

Wow, Paizo has really spoiled me. Getting free pdf copies of each paperback I buy from them has been awesome.

What I'm mostly annoyed about is that the Soceity games are in 3.5 and there is no way to get them online from Paizo. *grumble* Yes, I know that they will be converting in August, but that doesn't help me with a game this weekend. (I'm new to it and am trying to create a character, but I'm not at home where my books are)

What I'm mostly annoyed about is that the Soceity games are in 3.5 and there is no way to get them online from Paizo. *grumble* Yes, I know that they will be converting in August, but that doesn't help me with a game this weekend. (I'm new to it and am trying to create a character, but I'm not at home where my books are)

You mean the 3.5 core rules? Well you have to thank wizards for that. They thought it would be smashing to pull all PDFs off the market to make it harder for people to play older editions.

But there's still the d20 SRD, from www.d20srd.org, and you can get offline versions of that, too. So you can get at least some of the rules.

You mean the 3.5 core rules? Well you have to thank wizards for that. They thought it would be smashing to pull all PDFs off the market to make it harder for people to play older editions.

Although the 3.5 PHB, DMg & MM were never made available in the first place as PDFs by WotC (despite me asking several times) :(

I was talking to the Guy that runs our local gaming store and he said that the old 3.5 stuff was selling better than the 4th Edition books.

I don't know wheather this is a trend or not but I have to think 5E will be comming out in a few years to fix this debacle.

Another advantage of PF over 3e: Core rules available as PDF!

I don't know wheather this is a trend or not but I have to think 5E will be comming out in a few years to fix this debacle.

I don't give 4e more than, say, 6 years, total, anyway.