Wizards of the Coast Paying Fans to Scan Old DND Books

February 19, 2016 By Michael Kozlowski 38 Comments

Wizards of the Coast and DriveThruRPG are asking fans to preserve history by scanning old Dungeons and Dragons Books and converting them to PDF. If you’ve got some classic D&D titles in your collection and you have access to a scanner, you can help Wizards of the Coast re-master these titles. In return, you’ll get a $50 bounty per title. The company is looking for high-quality scans, but these days, most inexpensive home scanners can handle the specifications if set correctly.

Wizards of the Coast has developed a spreadsheet that is publicly available via Google Docs. It lists close to 600 titles that are wanting to find copies of, likely because the original master documents are missing and presumed lost.

There is a massive FAQ available that lists all of the details, such as how they are going to pay users and what they expect out of the scanned documents.

Michael Kozlowski (7169 Posts)

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about electronic readers and technology for the last four years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the Huffington Post, CNET and more. Michael frequently travels to international events such as IFA, Computex, CES, Book Expo and a myriad of others. If you have any questions about any of his articles, please send Michael Kozlowski an email to michael@goodereader.com

More from my site

John Aga

I have boxed set of the first edition 1974 rules. I did not see that on the spreadsheet.
Good E-Reader

You know there is tabs on the bottom right? There are a few first edition boxed sets they are looking for. Lots of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms stuff too.
Nivekian

So they’re only looking for four things or am I reading the spread sheet wrong?
Darren Smith

I don’t see ST1 either – £1000 module!
Overlord Th’arkhen

You are definitely reading it wrong. 5 tabs, 10 items just from 3rd edition.
Nivekian

Thank you
Mike

Hmm. I have a lot of the titles they’re looking for (worked on many of them), but I’m not willing to cut the spines off my copies and slash the books to hell for $50. Are people really willing to do that?
MFGreth

I think some people are willing to do it to help preserve history. Of course, if Wizards was kinder, they would offer more cash to the scanners, or alternatively, release the pdfs made from said scans for free.
Larry Zombino

University libraries often times have open face scanners that keep spines and pages intact.
JoJo MoMo

Thats pretty cool as some of them are pretty scarce/rare sometimes on Ebay youll see them upwards $100
Tjames

Most public libraries have those scanners and offer the services for free! No need to deface your copies
Peon25

I have my DND PH 2E right here, #2101 😉
Straight 1989!
David Warren

Typical WOTC garbage…..A great many of the books, modules and softcover that they have listed have been available on Amazon ,used for years….often at under $10 each. I know because I purchased a lot of them.The rarer books…offering $50…..really WOTC? If the company hadn’t of spent so much money in legal fees..trying to arrest and fine players and collectors for “illegal” PDFs…perhaps they would have more money to work with now?
Sean Hansen

I have pretty much 50 or 60 books, plus a copy of the original chainmail 1970 something sitting in the basement. Offer me a price, probably expensive to ship tho LOL!
Jack Irving

Depends. Are you willing to help preserve some history. You can always get the book rebound (easily too) I’d even go so far as to assume the $50 would cover for binding costs.
Brad Allison

I have very many of these. The originals and in perfect condition. I’ll go through the spreadsheet and mark that I have them?

I don’t want to take the time to scan them page by page though… That’s for the birds and would cost way more than $50 !
Chris

This would be cool if they were planning to make them free to the public, but you know they’re just trying to collect the scans so they can re-sell them for big profits.
ThomasER916

WotC is paying for services; so drop the brain-dead Marxist agitprop.
YERMOM182

so share what you scan then
Joel

Yea, huge profits to be made in table top RPG publishing, especially with older editions that are hip with all the kids.
Wizards of the Coast is really taking these suckers for a ride.

(if you can’t tell that ^^^^ is sarcasm)
Edward Martin

I have a ton of the ones on the list, sent an email about it. Not sure I really want to slice these up for scanning, and some have damage, but imo might be worth it to digitize – Im not so attached to physical things as other might be!
Edward Martin

Yeah this is kinda my opinion. I mean he’s not wrong that some of these, especially the rarer box sets, go for 100+ on ebay. Ive got some. But… Honestly? I like the idea of helping preserve them AND helping other people have a chance to experience them cheaply. I Loved, and still love, ravenloft as a setting, and while I dislike how they diced it up in 4th and 5TH into domains of dread instead of keeping it as a setting, im still super jazzed to play the upcoming Curse of Strahd adventure.

And really… ive got like 1000$ worth of stuff on that list at 50$ a pop, I think. Thats plenty compensation for me.
Bob King

Sent to their POC via email:

I have many, perhaps a majority, of the titles on your list. However, this question below, excerpted from your FAQ is not sufficient.

How do I know if someone already submitted a title?

We will update the Google form with “Pending” on titles that are
currently under review and “Submitted” for titles that have cleared
our initial review process.

It’s not “How do I know if someone already submitted a title?” but is “Already scanning a title?”

I am not willing to 1) destroy my copies and 2) invest the time and energy to scan it on the off chance that someone else is not already doing so.

Suggestion

Implement a system whereby someone signs up for a title to scan. Put a limit on the number of titles (2-3 perhaps?). Then require them to complete the task within 48 hours.

If completed and submitted during that time, that person gets Bounty Rights on that title.

If you implement such a system, I will participate. Otherwise, I will not.
kittkats

People this isn’t about preserving history. They want to offer these for sale to make big profits and want everyone to do the work. $50? Give me a break. Some books and sets are worth way more than that.
Frankly An Ogre

At below market wage, capitalist pigdog, it’s exploitative.
Blade

6 left on the spreadsheet?
Blade

you are aware that we could scan an entire Handbook in a few seconds these days, right?
Fred L Anthony

yet you scan the books which you still get to keep and get $$ for the time think beforeposting the books do not disappear from your possession when scanned.
Kurtis Miller

You need to disassemble the book in order to get a good scan, which means that you *are* basically destroying it. Sure, you can make a binder of the pages, but any intrinsic value of having a pristine first edition is lost.
JJ

yeah, I would consider doing this but I don’t want to ruin my books if the scan is not needed and they aren’t setting it up so that when someone is doing a scan others are informed.
Fred L Anthony

except you can get good scans without disassembling the book WOWC did not say whether the scans with clear signs of the centerfold would not be usable plus you gcan scan books one page at a time without showing the centerfold if you know how to do so without ruining the book
Mark

They have a spreadsheet… but apparently they don’t know how to update it or acknowledge anyone that submits material. Submitted 20+ titles and have had no follow up. Spreadsheet hasn’t been updated and about 40 titles were removed with no explanation.
Good E-Reader

The spreadsheet has been trashed the online FAQ deleted. We have written a new article with interviews from Wizards of the Coast and DrivethroughRPG

http://goodereader.com/blog/e-book-news/drivethrurpg-suspends-dd-book-scanning-bounty-program
Timothy James Solomon

just copy it. to your docs i have
David Warren

You are more than welcome to French my Asshole anytime..I’m not into it, but I know you’d enjoy it…..