...when D&D Next is released?  Do we know if WotC plans to keep releasing the old books as pdfs, or were those just a placeholder to bring in revenue until they could get the new edition up and running (and selling)?

I could see them taking the old pdfs off the market again in an attempt to keep from taking away from Next's sales.  But if the pdfs are selling, they're making money (which is the bottom line), so why not keep them around?

WotC intends to keep adding products of all editions to its PDF roster after Next's publication. Mike Mearls said as much (I think on twitter, but I could be mistaken). Now, I would expect less old school material to come out under the OGL, especially if Next as its own robust third-party publishing strategy, as some publishers who want it make the transition from OSR to Next. I think the old school is here to stay, however, with or without bridges built with Next in the form of dual-stat products, conversion documents and whatever else.

The Premium reissues have started to dry up, some (DMGs and MMs are kinda scarce, PHBs less so, UA even less so, Dungeons of Dread and Slavers...less so).  The OD&D Premium reprint is pretty scarce but I think (my opinion) that's manufactured scarcity rather than it actually being hard to get...

But remember there were hundreds of thousands if not millions of old books printed (once the AD&D books came out).  If you're not picky about cover art, don't mind a few dings/stains/margin writing etc. the availability of the books will likely outlast you.

Now as to the PDFs...eh, who can say.  Today's munificent Wizards of the Coast could return to tomorrow's less generous WotC with a change in leadership at Hasbro, and the PDFs could vanish.  Hard to tell.

I still believe the PDF yanking was the work of some Hasbro numb nut with a direct line to the Board of Directors whose kid showed them all the D&D stuff you can get free online and that set off the Old Dude in a panic.

The PDF yanking was not a calculated business move, it stank of reactionary panic to the "Oh noes pirates!!!" nonsense being trumpeted by the music industry and then somebody in Hasbro leadership was shown some website where D&D was free for the...stealing!!

The PDFs came back when calmer and clearer minds were able to show that the PDF yanking did zero to affect the "pirate websites" and if HBO can't slow the flow of Game of Thrones downloads, WTF chance did Hasbro have of slowing down the D&D downloads. The only sane choice was to offer the PDFs for sale again.

If anything, I expect MORE old school stuff to be offered for sale when D&D Next (wow what a fucking lame name) hits the shelves. In fact, I expect the downloads to come with a conversion page too (maybe fan made). This way, the new fans of D&D Next will have a huge product selection from Day One.

If they're smart, they'll never stop offering the PDFs.  The reprint books will hopefully get reprinted every few years; but new reprints may eventually stop appearing because it only makes financial sense to release the most popular products.  The one that's really missing at this time is the Rules Cyclopedia.

Quote from: RPGPundit;739774If they're smart, they'll never stop offering the PDFs.  The reprint books will hopefully get reprinted every few years; but new reprints may eventually stop appearing because it only makes financial sense to release the most popular products.  The one that's really missing at this time is the Rules Cyclopedia.

Just like Disney does. I like it even if I am not the target audience vis a vis pre 2e Dnd.

Quote from: RPGPundit;739774The one that's really missing at this time is the Rules Cyclopedia.

http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17171/DD-Rules-Cyclopedia-Basic?SRC=FeaturedProduct&motds_id=6840&from_home=1&it=1

I'm actually surprised that they have that, or the B/X core rules, since the "Core Three" books for 1E, 2E, 3E and 3.5E are not offered.

Not that they ever offered 3E/3.5E core three PDFs originally...

Those other books would all be competing directly with WotC's recent "premium reprints."

Yeah, there is that...

I'd wager that there's some "tipping point" for the premium reprints when available stock dips below a certain amount, the PDFs for the core rulebooks will go back on sale as print books will be "safely" out of print/limited availability...

I'm hoping that the OD&D PDFs will be available again in a bit after the sales of the reprint have died down.

Quote from: Old Geezer;739949I'm hoping that the OD&D PDFs will be available again in a bit after the sales of the reprint have died down.

So far I think everything released has been either a pdf OR a print release. Nothing has been released in both formats that I know of.

Quote from: kythri;739814http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17171/DD-Rules-Cyclopedia-Basic?SRC=FeaturedProduct&motds_id=6840&from_home=1&it=1

I meant that the RC is missing as a reprint, rather than a PDF.