March, 18 – Goodman Games is pleased to announce that it has partnered with RPGNow to provide an innovative new service to purchasers of its new 4E print magazine Level Up. Every physical copy of Level Up will include a code that allows the buyer to download a free e-book edition from RPGNow. This code functions whether the purchase is made online, in a retail store, or via subscription. In effect, every print purchase includes the PDF version for free, regardless of where it’s purchased.

While other publishers have offered similar service exclusively to online purchasers or subscribers, Goodman Games is the first RPG publisher to offer a level playing field to bricks-and-mortar retailers. Combined with the unique pricing structure for Level Up, customers have a strong reason to visit their local game store: they can choose to pay $1.99 for both print and PDF editions at their favorite game store, or pay $4.00 online.

“Our net-savvy customers have repeatedly requested that we provide a PDF option with subscriptions,” said Joseph Goodman, President of Goodman Games. “I am glad to be able to do that, while also offering a PDF option for all other purchasers as well. This fair approach also introduces print customers to the world of PDF products, providing a new profit stream for both Goodman Games and bricks-and-mortar retailers who take advantage of RPGNow’s custom storefronts.”

RPGNow and its partner site, DriveThruRPG, are divisions of OneBookShelf, Inc., the industry’s largest source of PDF e-books. “We're very excited to be a part of this new program,” said Sean Patrick Fannon, RPG Marketing Manager of OneBookShelf. “This is a great way for us to support Goodman Games, one of our top publishers, as well as all of the Goodman customers and the hobby overall. We're also happy, of course, to get new customers coming to the sites to see all that we offer. This is an excellent proof-of-concept to show how e-books and download product can be effectively partnered with print media.”

For 2009, Level Up is the only Goodman Games product line to incorporate download codes. RPGNow and Goodman Games will work together on Level Up to refine the technology required to ensure easy downloads with minimal piracy. Provided the experiment is successful, Goodman Games expects to transition a broader portion of its product line to this dual print-and-PDF approach for 2010.

Bricks-and-mortar retailers can take advantage of this technology in new ways. First, they can now offer their Goodman Games customers the same download opportunities that other publishers only offer online. Second, they can work with RPGNow to create a custom retailer store front, and profit from their print customers’ purchases of PDFs.
 
Goodman Games is a publisher of role playing games, adventures, and accessories that celebrates its eighth anniversary this year. It is best known for its Dungeon Crawl Classics line of adventure modules, the longest-lived and most popular adventure product on the market. For more information, visit http://www.goodman-games.com.

RPGNow is a world-leading source of RPG e-books and other RPG products available with a simple mouse-click. To see all that RPGNow has to offer, simply visit http://www.rpgnow.com. Publishers and other business inquiries should be directed to Sean Patrick Fannon at sean@onebookshelf.com.