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Post by northrundicandus on Mar 21, 2005 9:07:48 GMT -5
I've finally managed to score hard copies of these three books. 5th printing, but better than the lousy PDFs that were my only choice previously.
Does any one know where I can get good PDF copies of these? I don't want to trash my only physical copy.
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Post by mistere29 on Mar 21, 2005 13:50:07 GMT -5
ulmo.mux.net/greyhawk/which links out to SVG Games You need to view them with acrobat reader 4 or 5. Version 6 will not display everything.
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Post by northrundicandus on Mar 22, 2005 15:02:49 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the link mistere. I have the same files, but your note about the Acrobat Reader version must be the real source of my problem.
Now I just need to see where I squirreled away my ancient copies of the Reader. ;D
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Post by foster1941 on Mar 22, 2005 15:23:26 GMT -5
Those pdfs are ridiculously frustrating to me because what shows up looks terrific, but alas it's only about half the text (not enough to actually be usable), and unfortunately here at work they won't let me install an outdated Acrobat Reader (I tried yesterday). I suppose I could download these at home, but then I wouldn't have access to the work laser-printers, which kind of defeats the whole purpose: that printed out 2 pages to a sheet double sided and comb-bound, these would be just about perfect to give out to players who don't have their own copies of the rules (and the whole thing is only 58pp -- shorter than the Moldvay Basic rulebook!).
Another thing that's interesting to me is that these are scans of an "OCE" copy, which I've never actually seen before -- references to hobbits and ents are changed to halflings and treants respectively, and references to balrogs are removed entirely -- the example of "other character types" in vol. I is changed from a balrog character to a dragon character, and the balrog monster description in vol. II is replaced by a piece of Tom Wham art (looks to be the same piece as the cover of the OD&D Character Record Sheets). I also noticed that the descriptions of wights and spectres have been de-Tolkeinized -- originally the former were described as "barrow wights (as per Tolkein)" and there was a note in the latter stating that Nazgul should be considered as spectres rather than wraiths. Curiously, vol. III doesn't seem to have gotten the OCE treatment -- balrogs and ents still show up on the encounter tables (as do the various Martian creatures), and one of the illustrations is labeled as being of a Nazgul (whereas the illustrations of a hobbit and a balrog in vols. I & II had their labels stripped). Does anyone who actually owns a physical OCE set know if this is actually true, or is the vol. III in this pdf perhaps from an earlier printing? Also, were the Reference Sheets in the OCE edition similarly altered (removing the balrog listing, changing ent to treant, etc.)?
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Post by northrundicandus on Mar 23, 2005 13:04:55 GMT -5
Yay!!!!!!!!! Acrobat 5 is the cure!
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Post by foster1941 on Mar 23, 2005 13:08:31 GMT -5
BTW, for you poor bastards who only have the "OCE" version of D&D, here's the missing balrog description (typed up not by me but by Geoffrey in an old DF thread):
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Post by WSmith on Mar 24, 2005 13:50:46 GMT -5
It is messed up on my iMac Preview also. I wish it was a better scan. Oh well. I just handle my hardcopies with care until I get my players guide typed up.
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Post by northrundicandus on Mar 28, 2005 13:10:57 GMT -5
My hard copies are 5th Printing, and apparently have all the references to Hobbits, Ents, and Balrogs intact. If I can score another set of this printing I'll do what I can to finally get a decent set of PDFs created, that can be read by newer versions of the reader. I really want to run a game with these, but that's going to be tough with only one set of rules I am loathe to touch, as they are in really good shape.
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Post by foster1941 on Mar 28, 2005 13:58:41 GMT -5
Yup, the fact that I was for a long time the only person in my group who actually had a copy (one other guy eventually got one a few years later), and that there was no way I was going to let them handle my copy (which was already in pretty bad shape when I bought it in 1988, and hasn't gotten any better since) was always enough to keep me from trying to actually run a campaign with this version. A half-dozen or so comb-bound hardcopy printouts from a pdf (2 pages per sheet, double-sided) as 'table copies' would be ideal and make running this version much more feasible. Of course what would be even more ideal would be for WOTC to actually re-release it as a collector's/nostalgia edition, but I've just about resigned myself to the fact that that's not going to happen...
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Post by WSmith on Mar 29, 2005 9:39:26 GMT -5
Which is pretty much why I am typing up my own OD&D rules document. That way I can clean up some of the errors, add the material refered to in Chainmail, and put in the rules I want.
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Post by BonesMcCoy on May 23, 2005 21:24:55 GMT -5
S'up homies! Lifted this link from the Tavern: members.cox.net/brucemohler/dnd/ Html and pdf versions of OD&D. I don't know how accurate it is, and it has 'improved' art, but I thought I'd pass it along anyway.
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Post by foster1941 on May 24, 2005 11:26:32 GMT -5
S'up homies! Lifted this link from the Tavern: members.cox.net/brucemohler/dnd/ Html and pdf versions of OD&D. I don't know how accurate it is, and it has 'improved' art, but I thought I'd pass it along anyway. The numbers are all correct here, and it's convenient (and much cheaper than buying a real copy) but I don't like the way that 1) it incorporates all the material from Supp I (exceptional strength, % to know spells table, thief class and demi-human thieves, weapon vs AC chart & variable damage by weapon type, all the additional spells, monsters, and magic items, etc.) which IMO makes the game feel too much like AD&D, and 2) it excises too much of the 'flavor' and 'instructional' texts from the original (such as the instructions for how to design a dungeon/campaign) which is IMO the very best stuff. I actually don't mind the 'updated' art (by Tony DiTerlezzi) which is 2E style, like a slightly less effeminate Gideon Thorne -- certainly better than the 3E-style 'dungeonpunk' crap. This could serve as a good 'transitional' set for people who know the later versions and want to see what the original was like, but I'd only consider it a stopgap and anybody who's truly interested in the original game needs to get a copy of the real thing.
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Post by francisca on May 27, 2005 0:31:16 GMT -5
You know what would be cool?
If somebody had a full version of Acrobat, say 5 or 6, and the old acrobat reader, say, version 4. Then that person could load the pdfs of these books in acro v4, and print them through the virtual Adobe PDF print driver, yielding a new pdf which is readable by the new readers.
What would even be cooler is if this was done for the first 3 books and supps I, II, and III, and then assembled them into one big pdf file, with say, Chainmail tacked on the end.
Yep. That would be real neat.
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