I think I have to agree with you Dark. I think there should be accessible formats for the blind, especially print stuff including rpg books. Bookshare does a good job of it, so I don't see why wotc couldn't do something similar if it is so nervous about electronic format. My two cents I suppose.
al "The truth will set you free" Jesus Christ of Nazareth 33A.D. ----- Original Message ----- From: dark To: Gamers Discussion list Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 4:01 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Redistributing RPG Source Books Hi Tom. personally I'm of the opinion that after 20 years of trying to get accessible rp books, fantasy literature etc and being repeatedly stone walled on the issue, copywrite can kiss my rear end! In around the year 2000 I bought a cd which contained word documents of all the old D&D 2nd edition books in order to start tabletop rping, however of course once I started i found that 3rd edition had replaced 2nd. I then wrote a letter to wizards of the coast asking if they sold any accessible versions of the D&D 3rd ed books, explaining that I was a blind person and so couldn't read their printed copies. Their entire response was as follows: "Dear Mr. Hewitt. We have no plans at this time or in the future of producing electronic copies of our works. Thank you for your interest. yours sincerely etc etc" Well, thanks a Heap! I therefore had to muddle along somewhat cadging rules from the Gm, which wasn't too much fun. Luckily, drivethru rpg now sell a lot of books in pdf form which mostly convert to text, so I have several source books for games. If however they aren't available there or in any other accessible form, my feeling these days is that I have no respect for a law which does nothing but promote corporate interest and money grabbing stupidity over any sort of fair access. So, myself I suggest you just stick them on the site anyway. You could protect your back slightly by having them available only on request when someone mails you (perhaps have a page about the group and a mail for more information type of link where you send the books), or having a specific access related password to the archive which you send out by mail on request, thus insuring that not just anybody can come along and grab them. However if they aren't as equally available to visually impared people as anyone else, then you have every right to redistribute them. I would however suggest you check drivethrurpg first, just in case they are! available as pdfs. All the best, DArk. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected]. --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
