In what I can only call a very odd coincidence, the very same day I published my post encouraging you to go download legitimate, reasonably priced PDFs of copyrighted Dungeons & Dragons source material, Wizards of the Coast have pulled all PDFs from sale. Not just old, out-of-print material; all Wizards of the Coast material, anywhere.

Why? Apparently, they’re trying to crack down on piracy. By, umm, cutting off people’s only legitimate way of buying these hard-to-find products.

I am, understandably, not the only one shaking my head here, not by a long shot. While arguably this move is aimed at cutting off the ‘ready-made supply’ for those who are spreading bought-PDF copies of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition all over the interwebs – and they have the lawsuit to show for it – it’s also had the knock-on effect of stopping anyone from legitimately owning vintage D&D material.

This shows a remarkable lack of understanding over at Wizards as to how the modern web works – indeed, how modern economics seem to work, at least from my chair.

Look at it this way. Warner Bros. recently had a brainwave; they dug 150 lesser-known movies out from their vaults, and made them available as on-demand DVDs. You order them online at WarnerArchive.com, they burn and package them for you, they send them to you. Job done.

This isn’t a million miles away from what Wizards was doing – at least for their older, out-of-print products. Admittedly they’re not actually printing those products (although wouldn’t that be a smart move?) but instead sending you a PDF. And yes, that means the file in question is only a few clicks away from your local torrent site.

However, it’s not as if Warner Archive movies can’t be digitally ripped from the DVD you’re sent, and then spread around. In fact, some of the movies on Warner Archive are available to download directly as a digital file. The question is, what are people more interested in sharing with the internet: Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) starring Gene Lockhart, or The Keep on the Borderlands (1980) by Gary Gygax?

Well I know what camp I’m in, but I’m betting there are just as many people interested in the movie as the module. This is a classic ‘Long Tail‘ selling scenario – push out your inventory to as wide an audience as possible, for as low a cost to you as possible, and even if only a few are interested, you’re going to make some money.

Yes, I’ll admit those people interested in obscure Warner Bros. movies might not have any clue what a ‘bittorrent’ is, as opposed to the audience for out-of-print D&D modules which is probably very internet-savvy, and maybe more interested in getting stuff for free.

Regardless, reacting to filesharing in this way – by taking your toys and going home – is surely just going to push more of those potential customers to search out other sources to get their fix. Let’s face it; most people are totally unaware that sites like RPGnow and DriveThruRPG exist, and probably even less aware that hidden away in their digital vaults is material that hasn’t seen print for 25+ years.

The fact is, unless I want to go hunting on eBay, if I want something that’s out of print – chances are someone’s scanned and uploaded it somewhere. I’m sorry, but I’m going to go looking for pirate sources before I go to eBay. Even if I bought a second-hand copy from someone, no-one’s getting any money for it except the seller.

However – if Wizards and those like them were smart, if they were motivated, if they understood that with some marketing muscle and some internet smarts, they can get the word out about their products being available for low prices in PDF form (and preferably, print-on-demand; yes I will pay for paper!) then yes – I’ll buy it.

If you cut off that legitimate avenue? Well, I guess I don’t have any choice anymore, right?