Is that...yes it is! Dragon AND Dungeon mags by Paizo?!! By Crom's blue beard! Chris, Vic, someone?! What happened?! How did this happened?!
I'm so confused?!!
*Checks out dtr.com* Waaaiiittt a minute....
....this URL doesn't lead anywhere!
*Checks out dtr.com* Waaaiiittt a minute....
....this URL doesn't lead anywhere!
|
Ah, the challenges of advanced technology, so elusive!
Wizards of the Coast put up some old Dragon and Dungeon mags they have the rights to (so, no Paizo involved) up on Drivethrurpg.com
I guess they might put the others as well at some point. I am actually curious if they will upload the ones which Paizo didn't get a chance to make PDFs of.
Oh, that would be handy!
Oh, that would be handy!
My link or the eating bag's explanation?
Gorbacz,
I'm aware of that but I figured since Paizo had the rights to these specific issues on their site...why put it on ANOTHER site?! That kind seems weird to me.
|
|
Oh, that would be handy!My link or the eating bag's explanation?
Gorbacz,
I'm aware of that but I figured since Paizo had the rights to these specific issues on their site...why put it on ANOTHER site?! That kind seems weird to me.
Are you assuming that Paizo put them on DTR? That might not be the case, WotC could do that, as they own the stuff lock, stock and barrel. All Paizo can, as far as I know, is to sell them on their site.
Unless, of course, I am completely mistaken and there were any changes to the previous arrangements.
Not even with the link?
Chief Technical Officer
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Our friends at DriveThru have been working to fill out their D&D Classics offerings, and we were able to help them get these into that program. I can't speak about the possibility of PDFs that we didn't create back in the day—this is everything we are legally able to offer.
It does not signify anything changing for any other products.
The same PDFs are right here on Paizo.
I've been snapping up old hard copies of Dungeon from eBay, so no bigee to me unless they're selling the actual magazine.
Thank you for clarifying that Vic! :) I was extremely confused for a second...
Ben,
I just think it's weird when Paizo already sells PDFs of Dungeon and Dragon mags is all.
Now that Vic clarified that, it seems less weird.
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Given that a large portion of the PDFs they've released are of products that were never digital before (a lot of the 3e material and all pre-3e products), I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually released the Dungeon and Dragon issues that were never previously made into PDFs.
I have no insight into Wizards' plans, but I can tell you that issuing the magazines is significantly more complicated than most gaming products.
Standard procedure has TSR/Wizards (and indeed, most publishers in our industry) owning all rights to the content in their gaming products. When it comes to the magazines, though, that wasn't always the case, especially with regard to comics, non-D&D fiction, and occasional other features (especially if they contained non-D&D content). During the period that Wizards was allowing Paizo to make these PDFs, we had to do the research on that for each issue. If we couldn't confirm that Wizards held the copyright for something, we'd try to contact the person we thought might hold it. If we found them, we'd ask for permission to include their content, and if they didn't agree (or if we couldn't find them), we'd have to omit their content from the PDFs. And we were seeking this permission for free—after all, trying to pay somebody who owned the rights to a fraction of a page that was a fraction of a magazine that sells for $5 just isn't worth the bookkeeping effort: "This month, your check is 37 cents—don't forget to pay your taxes on it!" We had access to the contracts for all the issues published under our own auspices, and it was relatively easy to find out the answers for issues that Wizards had published, but the further you went back in time, the harder it was to ensure that Wizards held certain copyrights. This is one reason we started with our own issues and worked backwards.
Another reason is that you obtain the best results when working from the digital files used to create the product. As you go back in time, the likelihood of finding those files decreases, and even if you do, the odds that you can actually use the files also decreases, due to software incompatibilities with older file formats, corruption in the storage media, or the inability to find usable hardware for aged media formats. (Have you tried to use PageMaker files off an Iomega Zip disk or a SyQuest cartridge lately?) If all that fails, you can scan printed issues, but the results are significantly less attractive and less usable.
All of this is to say that creating PDFs of old magazines is a thing that gets more complicated with age. The pre-Paizo era was already plenty complicated when we were doing it, and that was 10 years ago.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh man, PageMaker was the first layout application I learned (back when it was still Aldus PageMaker!)
And I definitely remember SyQuest cartridges! I actually still have some (along with a couple Zips) but I haven't had a drive to read them in years so I have no idea what's on them anymore ...
(Have you tried to use PageMaker files off an Iomega Zip disk or a SyQuest cartridge lately?)
{has click of death flashbacks}
Again I want to thank Vic for clarifying things and also showcasing his skillz.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Vic,
Along those lines, back in the day, I purchased some D&D PDFs through Paizo, which fell victim to Wizards' clamp-down at the beginning of Fourth Edition. As with everyone else, I lost access to any PDFs I hadn't downloaded.
Do you know if Wizards' releasing those PDFs through DTR will re-allow you to offer those PDFs to those of us who purchased them?
Oh man, PageMaker was the first layout application I learned (back when it was still Aldus PageMaker!)
And I definitely remember SyQuest cartridges! I actually still have some (along with a couple Zips) but I haven't had a drive to read them in years so I have no idea what's on them anymore ...
Let's hang out at the old folks' lodge together. I was an Aldus Pagemaker user too. Also used CorelDRAW! 1.0 It's at something like 18 now.
And yup, I've got some Zip platters laying around too.
|
PageMaker? That's modern stuff!
Back in the days before PageMaker (or Macintoshes, or Postscript ...) about all we had was RUNOFF (and, later, troff or nroff), although Don Knuth had produced early versions of TeX, LaTeX, and MetaFont.
I've still got an Omega Zip drive lying around somewhere, in the box with the floppy drives (3.5" and 5" - I don't think I kept an 8"), the 1200 baud modem, and several other items that were once cutting-edge technology.
Vic,
Along those lines, back in the day, I purchased some D&D PDFs through Paizo, which fell victim to Wizards' clamp-down at the beginning of Fourth Edition. As with everyone else, I lost access to any PDFs I hadn't downloaded.
Do you know if Wizards' releasing those PDFs through DTR will re-allow you to offer those PDFs to those of us who purchased them?
The drivethru arrangement has been going for a few years now and I'm afraid I can't find the announcement stuff with a definitive answer.
However, I'm pretty sure they spelled out that this is an exclusive distribution arrangement with drivethrurpg - so if you had PDFs previously distributed through other sites, you can't get access to them from those sites (I believe there is a way to get access to PDFs previously purchased from drivethrurpg).
...I'm pretty sure they spelled out that this is an exclusive distribution arrangement with drivethrurpg....I believe that's the case, but I'm not actually a party to the arrangement, so I can't speak definitively.
Yeah, sorry for the pronoun ambiguity there.
"They" was meant to refer to Wizards of the Coast and Drivethrurpg when they announced they were making PDFs available again. It was a few years ago though, so I have no idea where to look for that announcement.
When old purchased DND stuffis re-released on DTRPG, I get a pdf updated email and can download it.
Vic,
Along those lines, back in the day, I purchased some D&D PDFs through Paizo, which fell victim to Wizards' clamp-down at the beginning of Fourth Edition. As with everyone else, I lost access to any PDFs I hadn't downloaded.
Do you know if Wizards' releasing those PDFs through DTR will re-allow you to offer those PDFs to those of us who purchased them?
The drivethru arrangement has been going for a few years now and I'm afraid I can't find the announcement stuff with a definitive answer.
However, I'm pretty sure they spelled out that this is an exclusive distribution arrangement with drivethrurpg - so if you had PDFs previously distributed through other sites, you can't get access to them from those sites (I believe there is a way to get access to PDFs previously purchased from drivethrurpg).