Original D&D stuff released on RPGnow

xSamhainx

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Joined
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About damn time someone at Hasbro realized that they can still make money off of their old products and that pulling all of them off the (digital) shelf only further alienated long-time fans.

At first glance it doesn't look like they've got quite as much up there as they used to. Hopefully they'll put the rest back up soon.
 
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This is great, I don't think anything can ever beat the 1st and 2nd edition AD&D rulebooks. Tried 3.5 and it seemed too much focused on the battlemaps and minis.
 
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After doing a bit of checking, it sounds like they say they'll eventually re-release all of the old stuff, so we should see Spelljammer and Al-Qadim again. You know, all the stuff that was there a few years ago. :p

I love reading through the old rulebooks. You can tell the people really enjoyed what they were doing. I particularly like when they come with suggested reading lists.
 
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My question is are they new scans from the old PDF's they started selling a decade ago? Some of those old maps have scanning problems and some of their old PDF's were missing maps!
 
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That's really helpful for a digital collection! Thanks.
 
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My question is are they new scans from the old PDF's they started selling a decade ago? Some of those old maps have scanning problems and some of their old PDF's were missing maps!

Ive bought a bunch of it, and from what I've seen so far it's complete and looks great. I'm no D&D scholar, so dont take that too seriously - but they look more like 'digital editions' than scans to me. Scans usually are crappy and grainy, tilted-looking and off-center, but these are centered perfectly and all text is selectable. Which is awesome.

See below from the beginning of the TOEE module, copy/pasted:
Part 1:
The Village of Hommlet
PLAYERS' DESCRIPTION
Your party is now approaching the Village
of Hommlet, having ridden up from lands
of the Wild Coast. You are poorly
mounted, badly equipped, and have no
large sums of cash. In fact, all you have is
what you wear and what you ride, plus the
few coins that are hidden in purses and
pockets. What you do possess in quantity,
though, is daring and desire to become
wealthy and famous. Thus your group
comes to Hommlet to learn. Is this indeed a
place for adventurers to seek their fortunes?
You all hope, of course, to gain
riches and make names for yourselves. The
outcome of this is uncertain, but your skill
and daring, along with a good measure of
luck, will be the main ingredients of what
follows, be it for weal or woe.
The small community at the crossroads
is a completely unknown quantity. What is
there? Who will be encountered? Where
should you go? These are your first explorations
and encounters, so chance may dictate
as much as intelligence. Will outsiders
be shunned? Are the reports true—is the
whole community engaged in evil practices?
Are the folk here bumpkins, easily
duped? Does a curse lay upon those who
dare to venture into the lands which were
once the Temple's? All of these questions
will soon be answered.
The dusty, rutted road is lined with
closely-grown hedges of brambles and
shrubs. Here and there it cuts through a
copse or crosses a rivulet. To either hand,
forest and meadow have given way to
field and orchard. A small herd of kine
graze nearby, and a distant hill is dotted
with the wand stone chimneys with thin
plumes of blue smoke rising from them.
A road angles west into the hill country,
and to either side of the road ahead are
barns and buildings—Hommlet at last!
The adventure begins…
 
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I'm really glad to see this - it seems that WotC / Hasbro is finally showing some respect for the older D&D editions (and those who still play them). Between this and the deluxe reprint series they are doing, things are looking good for old-school D&D / AD&D fans.

As for scan quality - the reports I've heard so far have been good. These are apparently newly processed and not the same things they released online previously. I got the free B1 "In Search of the Unknown" module they offered on launch week and it looks great. Planning to buy up a bunch of these when I have the money to spare.

By the way, https://www.dndclassics.com/ is a nice dedicated site for these releases if you want to focus your search purely on the D&D stuff. It's the same selection and run by RPGNow (accounts are linked there).

One noticeable omission is the lack of core rule books besides the D&D Basic set. No AD&D Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, or Monster Manual yet. I assume this is so they don't compete with sales of the reprints. Hopefully they'll put up digital versions of those eventually.
 
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