Role Playing Games and Print-on-Demand [Rant]

[Gemini Lupus]

Howdy Fellow Playgrounders,

Is it just me, or are there others who are frustrated that companies like Wizards of the Coast and Paizo don’t have an option for print-on-demand for their books which are out of print? Especially for previous editions? It seems to me that this would be an untapped market for these companies. I get that they don’t want to just do another full-run on previously published editions, but for those of us who are collectors or haven’t moved to the “current” edition, it would be awesome if we could fill out our collections with nice, new products. I’m a PF1e man myself, but I cut my teeth on 3.0/3.5 and I love that the two systems are mostly compatible so that I can still use the material I like from 3.5 in my PF games.

What sparked this little rant is that my Pathfinder collection is missing *one* core book - Book of the Damned which currently runs about $200 on EBay and $350 on Amazon. Even if the publisher had to increase the cost of the book for print-on-demand, either to account for inflation or simple inconvenience, it would be way better than those prices.

/Rant over.

[Khedrac]

There's probably a simple reason why not in many cases - they probably no longer hane the print masters needed.

Some years ago WotC put out a request for good quality scans of old products - in most cases they were asking for things that were arguably illegal - and they were offering to pay for them.

Since that time they have been releasing pdf downloads and print on demand of many of the products, presumably sourced from the scans that people sent in.

From this we can conclude they simply don't have the files necessary for the others (yet).

[Arutema]

For Book of the Damned, specifically, you may be up against Paizo's unwillingness to reprint the book. They apparently decided that the daemon harbinger of child abuse in the 1st printing crossed a line and are unwilling to reprint without excising him. That, in turn would mean devoting resources to a 1st edition product after the release of 2e, which Paizo refuses to do. (see also, Ultimate Wilderness errata).