| Rezdave |
First ...
Yes, I do realize this has been discussed generally and regarding hardcovers as well as Vic's discussion of the economics behind why Paizo doesn't reprint
... so don't think I didn't do my homework.
That said, I'm definitely not asking for a HC compilation of past APs, nor necessarily even a SC.
What I'd like to see is a division of the Adventure stuff from the Mechanics stuff, and then perhaps each made available as a compiled Per-AP volume.
I realize HC is not practical (wouldn't want it, anyway) and SC is probably unrealistic for the reasons Vic mentioned.
However, I don't see why the extant PDFs couldn't be re-worked slightly and then divided into 2 Compilation Volumes, one for adventure material and one for non-adventure material.
I'm one of the guys who subscribed long-term to Dungeon (#31-150) but otherwise ran a pretty Core game. In fact, I dropped my Dragon subscription (#61-114) after high school when my gaming tapered off and it was clear there would be no more adventures therein because I simply never used anything else, and it was too expensive just for the sake of the cover art. When PF-APs came out, I didn't roll over my subscription because the price was too high (I was happy with the magazine format, anyway), particularly considering that I only wanted the adventure material. I home-brew and rework adventures significantly, and paying a higher monthly price with an added premium for non-adventure material I'd never use wasn't at all worth while. Thus, I decided to live with my extensive backlog.
However, now that several APs are completed, some are of sufficient interest for re-working/adapting that I'd strongly consider an Adventure-material Only PDF compilation assuming it was priced appropriately. I also know others might be more interested in Non-Adventure/Mechanics-Only material. If you want, price them so that the 2 Volumes together equal the price of the individual volumes, or even include a small premium.
I don't think doing so would cannibalize sales of existing products. You're (most likely) selling PDF-only so you will not appeal to people who want physical print media (and honestly, I'm usually one of them). More importantly, you're selling to people who didn't buy the combined publications for price and/or content reasons. Maybe someone already has a Drow-based storyline planned but wants lots of expansion material, then they could grab the Non-Adventure Second Darkness compilation. Maybe someone (like me) prefers Core-only games or home-brews and just wants to plunder modules for maps and NPCs and plot-hooks but likes the cohesiveness an AP offers in this regard, then the Adventure compilations are a great option. So maybe I don't get full monster descriptions for the new stuff nor full Prestige-class info on NPCs, but so long as I have the complete Stat-Blocks in the write-up I'm fine one-offing them in an adventure.
Again, if you release PDF-only, then you've very little work to re-format them so the profit-margin will be exceptionally high.
Finally, if you decide to wait until the original materials are OOP or hit some anniversary, so be it. I can see the rationale for that, but again I don't feel that they really compete with nor cannibalize either New or Catalogue material, since I believe they target an audience that isn't currently buying, anyway. Furthermore, you may get some re-buy from people who have the cash to spend and would like the entire adventure or non-adventure material compiled and more readily search-able/accessible than being mixed together and split across multiple volumes.
FWIW,
Rez