I'm just wondering what is the reason behind selling them via drivethrustuff.com?
I'm wondering because I need a few DH books, but I hate to waste a lot of money on shipping, so I'm eagerly waiting until they get released in the .pdf.
Any speculations?
Presumably because,
Just my thoughts as to a couple fo possible reasons.
-=Brother Praetus=-
Interestingly, they dropped the prices of the pdf books by a big margin. So, if you need the books, this is good opportunity to get them.
Most RPG shops that release pdfs do so after they figure that. All the people who will buy the books have bought them. (This can take years.) And that it has already scanned it into pdf. So releasing a pdf version really won't hurt their sales. People who will pirate a RPG generally wouldn't have bought the book in any event. Other companies on the other hand only release pdfs for out of print books that there is not enough demand to reprint, but enough demand that a pdf version is worth while.
The real question is what is happening here. Is FFG just trying to make a few more bucks from people without the money to pay full price for the book. Or are they running low on printed books, and considering not doing a 3rd printing.
Dalnor Surloc said:
The real question is what is happening here. Is FFG just trying to make a few more bucks from people without the money to pay full price for the book. Or are they running low on printed books, and considering not doing a 3rd printing.
The quest for more money, fer sure. I think they saw the potential when they released all of the WFRP 2nd ed books online. I bought a few of them and I'm sure others have as well since they're doing well on www.RPGNow.com.
You'll notice they books aren't being made available as .pdf files on their day of release. I'm assuming they still want people to buy DH in book format. I think they'll probably release them to .pdf a few months or so after publication. Right now, you can only get the DH Core Rulebook, GM Toolkit, and Purge the Unclean adventure. All books written before FFG took over.
Either way, whatever their reason, I'm happy that both forms of media are available. While I've been concentrating on the WFRP 2nd ed books, I'll be picking up the DH and RT stuff soon as well. I love the books, but I appreciate the fact that I can take my library of books anywhere I want to go on a thumb drive. Darned convenient if you ask me.
Thanks for the added convenience FFG!
Just to be clear, the pdf version of the core book isn't updated with the errata right?
That, I'm not sure
Dalnor Surloc said:
The real question is what is happening here. Is FFG just trying to make a few more bucks from people without the money to pay full price for the book. Or are they running low on printed books, and considering not doing a 3rd printing.
Probably demand for certain books has dropped below the point where another print run is viable. This is especially likely now that RT is out - distributors are less likely to buy two corebooks for 40k RPGs, so they'll only buy the most recent one.
Nihilius said:
Just to be clear, the pdf version of the core book isn't updated with the errata right?
The original PDF of the corebook was updated to v2.0 errata, I believe. However, once upon a time, one of FFG's marketing guys asked hereabouts what we (the community) would like to see happen if PDFs were made available. The general consensus was "update and integrate v3.0 errata" It is possible that this is why the core book was taken down briefly, in an effort to update it with the most recent errata. Do I know this for a fact? No, but speculation is one of the most nurtured beasts here on the forums. 
-=Brother Praetus=-
macd21 said:
Dalnor Surloc said:
The real question is what is happening here. Is FFG just trying to make a few more bucks from people without the money to pay full price for the book. Or are they running low on printed books, and considering not doing a 3rd printing.
Probably demand for certain books has dropped below the point where another print run is viable. This is especially likely now that RT is out - distributors are less likely to buy two corebooks for 40k RPGs, so they'll only buy the most recent one.
This is particularly twisted logic here.
1) Demand for certain books supplements could well have dropped below the point where another print run is viable (this does not include the core book).
2) The Dark Heresy Core book is just that, a corebook. Rogue Trader has nothing to do with it, because owning Rogue Trader doesn't give you everything you need to run a Dark Heresy game. And vice-versa. They are two connected but different game lines. Your idea that distributors aren't smart enough to realise that they are two game lines is unsubstantiated and flawed.
Evilref said:
This is particularly twisted logic here.
1) Demand for certain books supplements could well have dropped below the point where another print run is viable (this does not include the core book).
2) The Dark Heresy Core book is just that, a corebook. Rogue Trader has nothing to do with it, because owning Rogue Trader doesn't give you everything you need to run a Dark Heresy game. And vice-versa. They are two connected but different game lines. Your idea that distributors aren't smart enough to realise that they are two game lines is unsubstantiated and flawed.
You forgot:
3) Rogue Trader is also availeable as a pdf ;-)