Café de Nuit

I just got this email from SV Games today.

Effective April 12th, 2005, SVGames will be discontinuing the Electronic Software Download program. As a result, we will no longer be selling downloads, or supporting the purchase of previously downloaded items. If you have downloads that you have not yet accessed or downloaded to your computer, please do so by April 12th as they will no longer be available after that date.

It looks like this is you last chance to download any out of print 2nd AD&D products from them.

Well the kywords "Electronic Software Download" make me think they're talking programs and not .pfds.

They are saved in a special format and need to be extracted using a program you download from their web site. Once this is done you have a PDF where every page from the original product has been scanned.

http://www.svgames.com/downloads-wotc-adndraven.html

But you could be right and they may only be stopping selling programs and not the PDFs.

Given that the site crashes every single time I try to access my downloads, I won't notice much of a difference . . .

Bummer, though.

That can't be! ...This is really dull for WotC, because, until now, there was at least a minority who downloaded its PDFs LEGALLY... Now, for most gamers that seek a oop module, emule will be the first option.

I don't have High Speed Internet, so don't think I am promoting illegal actions here.

However, it's a shame... I wanted to download the entire DA series *in a very distant future*...

But, really, does SVG going down make PDF distribution via the web legal?
*Serious question, after all those books are long oop and copyright only last 25 years, if I am not mistaken*

These can be bought through legal channels from http://www.rpgnow.com. I've bought a few myself.

Ultramyth wrote:These can be bought through legal channels from http://www.rpgnow.com. I've bought a few myself.

Anyone else done this? I'm curious to know if there were any problems with the purchases. SVGames had kind of an annoying set-up (forcing you to use the split/join utility to create the PDFs), but it looks as though RPGNow just has the zip file available for download once your payment is made.

That's exactly right. You get an email with the link, and three usages. If the zip is updated by the publisher, you get a bonus download.

I not only have bought from there, I publish with them also. They're extremely easy to do business with.

I've bought a few times from rpgnow, without problems. I recommend it.

SVG was only trading WotC goodies IIRC, while rpgnow host the whole d20 community. I guess that is why rpgnow ate SVG. I've always said that d20 would help D&D grow like crazy

Joël

Joël of the Fraternity wrote:I've bought a few times from rpgnow, without problems. I recommend it.

SVG was only trading WotC goodies IIRC, while rpgnow host the whole d20 community. I guess that is why rpgnow ate SVG. I've always said that d20 would help D&D grow like crazy

Joël

Glad to hear the good reviews. I'm always a little leery of providing a credit card number to a website I'm not very familiar with (and yes, I know they'll accept PayPal and money orders, but I don't have a PayPal account and I don't feel like waiting around for the money order to get there, so I guess I'm outta options ), but I was pretty impressed by the fact that RPGNow offered to burn files onto a CD for a few dollars more. With SVGames, you pretty much were at the mercy of your download connection.

Anyone else want to weigh in?

Doesn't RPGNow require DRM (Digital Rights Management) to be installed? Or is that just for the free downloads? Because that's a problem for some people, including me. (1) DRM is a Microsoft operating system component, which means that you need to be running some version of Windows. Linux and Mac users need not apply. (2) The concept behind DRM is morally objectionable, and I refuse to have anything to do with it on that basis.

Not that I know ? Unless it is installed without asking, but I'd be surprised as what you download is a zipped file.

Joël

Ok, I have this straightened out now. I was misremembering; it's DriveThruRPG.com that uses DRM. Sorry if I confused anyone.