D&D PDFs are back


4th Edition

Silver Crusade

But only on Drive-Thru RPG so far. It sounds like folks that already bought them there will have access to them again too.

Anyone know if this is a one-store deal or if this is going to extend to all the stores that sold their PDFs? Paizo included?

I kinda bought a ton of 2e setting material here.

Liberty's Edge

Heh! We must have started threads almost simultaneously (my thread in the D&D 3.5/d20/OGL sub-forum.

I have a feeling it may be OneBookShelf only but I could well be wrong. Luckily I bought all my D&D PDFs from DriveThru in the first place.


<jaw drops>

You know, if this had happened a year ago, my role-playing life might have taken a different turn. As it is, I'm too deeply entrenched in PFRPG to switch back.

Still, I remember getting a download of "Night's Dark Terror". I still dream of one day running that, albeit in PFRPG. I wonder if we'll ever see "GAZ1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" made available again.

And I can't help but notice that "In Search of the Unknown" is for free.

Unfortunately, I got all my TSR PDFs from paizo.com. Fortunately, I made backups of all my downloads at the time.

Silver Crusade

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'm sure the "let's pull out all PDFs because they cause piracy!" guy is feeling strange right now.

Sovereign Court

Think it was more of a "Let's stop allowing our older editions to compete with our new game to try and maximize the get 4E to have Magic the Gathering numbers thing."

Nice to see them back in the end. Hopefully see more reprints for things given how 5th edition is supposed to work.

Though why you'd buy a new edition just to toss in old books too...why not just play the old editions?

Liberty's Edge

Morgen wrote:
Think it was more of a "Let's stop allowing our older editions to compete with our new game to try and maximize the get 4E to have Magic the Gathering numbers thing."

Apart from the fact that they also pulled the 4e PDFs as well as previous editions. I really do believe that someone at WotC sincerely believed it would reduce piracy.


Aaron Bitman wrote:
...I remember getting a download of "Night's Dark Terror". I still dream of one day running that, albeit in PFRPG.

Well, after 5 years of dreaming about it, I'm finally starting to prepare to run "Night's Dark Terror". I still have the PDF I bought in 2008. I wonder: Does the new PDF, sold on DriveThruRPG, have anything that the old PDF doesn't? For instance, does the Sukiskyn map look better? I would imagine that it's a higher quality scan this time, but is it worth spending $4.99 to buy it again?


Aaron Bitman wrote:
Aaron Bitman wrote:
...I remember getting a download of "Night's Dark Terror". I still dream of one day running that, albeit in PFRPG.
Well, after 5 years of dreaming about it, I'm finally starting to prepare to run "Night's Dark Terror". I still have the PDF I bought in 2008. I wonder: Does the new PDF, sold on DriveThruRPG, have anything that the old PDF doesn't? For instance, does the Sukiskyn map look better? I would imagine that it's a higher quality scan this time, but is it worth spending $4.99 to buy it again?

If you purchased the product from Drive-Thru rpg, then you shouldn't need to purchase the PDF again.

1. Sign into your account.
2. Select "My Library".
3. Select "New Updates only" on the right side of the page.
4. See if an updated version is present.

All my previous purchases for the TSR material were updated without having to purchase them again.


Thanks for the information, but I bought it through paizo.com.


The scan and OCR look excellent to me, but I don't have the 2008 PDF version.

The maps are single page (not split) and there is no bleed-through from the backside.


Thanks. I guess I'll stick to what I have for now, but when I get really involved in preparing the "Long Night" part, I'll reconsider.


Well, not all of them are back. Slowly they are returning as the WotC is releasing the PDFs. Seriously the Wizards have overreacted with the PDFs and now it could be an extended hand to the players, but harm's already done...


Just FYI for anyone buying a PDF of a boxed set from dndclassics.com - they've demonstrated a habit of treating them poorly.

So far:
- D&D Basic Set (BECMI): Split into two purchases, one for each booklet.
- Dungeon Master's Kit (4E): Only booklets included, maps and counters and such left out. (Wizards did at least warn people this was the case.)
- Birthright Campaign Setting (2E): Combat cards left out. (Wizards did NOT warn people this was the case.)
- Planes of Chaos (2E): Maps included, but one has been (accidentally, I assume) swapped out for a Mystara map.

So, buyer beware. I hope they clean up their act, but it's not encouraging so far.


Well, first (after the original game anyway) there was the 1977 Basic D&D set (by Holmes I think). Then in 1981 (iirc) there was a Basic (Blue / by Moldvay) and Expert (Red / by Cook) sets which did involve two separate booklets and purchases iirc. BECMI is the later Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal sets (1983-5 or 6) version which would be 5 separate booklets / purchases. Or you could go with the slightly later Rules Cyclopedia hardback that was only slightly different combining all 5 BECMI sets (again iirc)... I may have left out some minor variations. There were a lot of slightly different D&D versions put out about that time (in addition to AD&D). I moved from original D&D (1974) to AD&D (1E) but I have most of the other D&D booklets / sets laying around. I had more time to read in those days :)

Liberty's Edge

If there are any issues with any PDFs you buy from D&D Classics I would urge you to let DriveThruRPG.com and WotC know!

When I bought Races of Eberron on 27th November I was disappointed that there were no bookmarks so I tweeted DriveThruRPG.com and WotC. Bookmarks were added within the same day (not sure if it was a problem at DriveThru's end or WotC's) and I was able to download again.

See Twitter exchange here


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm just glad they have started adding the Gazetteer series. GAZ1 Grand Duchy of Karameikos released this week and I bought it last night. GAZ2 is due out next week. So far they are $4.99. Well worth it.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

<jaw drops again>

Just in October, I griped about the unavailability of GAZ1. Twice.

As always, I have a long list of reading material I have to get through before I buy new stuff. And I still haven't gotten "In the Company of Fey" yet. But now that "Night's Dark Terror" has gotten off the ground in my campaign, I'm itching to get that Gazetteer.


(And yes, Legendarius, your prediction on the second thread to which I linked was quite correct. I'll confess that I wasn't so optimistic at the time.)


Aaron Bitman wrote:
(And yes, Legendarius, your prediction on the second thread to which I linked was quite correct. I'll confess that I wasn't so optimistic at the time.)

Thanks. Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day. :-)


Update on the Birthright Campaign Setting - they updated it with scans of the cards, so now it's complete! (Complaining works, apparently.) Not sure if Planes of Chaos has also been fixed, yet.


Does anyone have a total count of all TSR/WotC D&D/AD&D products ever produced (at least the standard print products)? They seem to be releasing about five PDFs a week at the moment which puts us at over 100 more PDFs by the time the summer gets here (and that should include all of the Gazetteer series which has GAZ2 this week and GAZ3 next). Just wondering how long it'll be before the only products they don't have out there are new 5E ones.


FYI to all - among the PDFs released today were 1E's Oriental Adventures and 2E's Arabian Adventures. However, instead of being at the $9.99 price point like most books their size, they're $4.99 instead. This is a good development, and I encourage people to support it...


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Would love to see them turn on the print-on-demand option for these... I know a lot of people that'd kill for an affordable Rules Cyclopedia, and probably wouldn't mind too much if it's just a paperback option.

Personally I'm waiting on the BECMI setting boxes (Hollow World, Dawn of the Emperors, Champions of Mystara); the other GAZ books; X10 - Red Arrow, Black Shield; the Wrath of the Immortals boxed set; and the Poor Wizards' Almanacs.

Sovereign Court

I played 2nd, skipped 3.0 and 3.5 and went right to Pathfinder, so I don't have anything other than the core DMG and PH for 3.5. If I wanted to get something to supplement my Pathfinder games, what would be the best choices out of the DnD 3.5 catalog?


DonKeebals wrote:
I played 2nd, skipped 3.0 and 3.5 and went right to Pathfinder, so I don't have anything other than the core DMG and PH for 3.5. If I wanted to get something to supplement my Pathfinder games, what would be the best choices out of the DnD 3.5 catalog?

Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords.

Assuming it's listed. I haven't checked.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Aaron Bitman wrote:

<jaw drops>

You know, if this had happened a year ago, my role-playing life might have taken a different turn. As it is, I'm too deeply entrenched in PFRPG to switch back.

Still, I remember getting a download of "Night's Dark Terror". I still dream of one day running that, albeit in PFRPG. I wonder if we'll ever see "GAZ1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" made available again.

And I can't help but notice that "In Search of the Unknown" is for free.

Unfortunately, I got all my TSR PDFs from paizo.com. Fortunately, I made backups of all my downloads at the time.

I still have my original paper copy of GAZ1 Grand Duchy, from the old days.


JEB1981 wrote:
FYI to all - among the PDFs released today were 1E's Oriental Adventures and 2E's Arabian Adventures. However, instead of being at the $9.99 price point like most books their size, they're $4.99 instead. This is a good development, and I encourage people to support it...

I picked up both of these and also the 128 page adventure WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins which was also only $5. That said the WGR1 currently has some scan issues where there are a lot of cases where letters are missing from words. In most cases it's just annoying because you can tell what they said from the context, but in some cases where you have wandering monster tables for example it becomes a word game trying to figure out what monster they're talking about. I have the original print product and the text is definitely there.

So far the OA and Al-Qadim scans look good.

Looks like for the last few weeks they've paused GAZ series additions. My guess is they still plan to put them out there but they're trying to mix up the offerings a bit.


DonKeebals wrote:
I played 2nd, skipped 3.0 and 3.5 and went right to Pathfinder, so I don't have anything other than the core DMG and PH for 3.5. If I wanted to get something to supplement my Pathfinder games, what would be the best choices out of the DnD 3.5 catalog?

I like the two Fiendish Codexes and Lords of Madness as monster and fiend lore. There are a bunch of big adventures that are very well done too such as the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft one.


Scott Betts wrote:
DonKeebals wrote:
I played 2nd, skipped 3.0 and 3.5 and went right to Pathfinder, so I don't have anything other than the core DMG and PH for 3.5. If I wanted to get something to supplement my Pathfinder games, what would be the best choices out of the DnD 3.5 catalog?

Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords.

Assuming it's listed. I haven't checked.

This thing is getting partially Pathfinderized / modified by Dreamscarred in their Path of War (There are similrities, but I didn't have the time to check to what extent).

link

Community / Forums / Gamer Life / Gaming / D&D / 4th Edition / D&D PDFs are back All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in 4th Edition