Sorcerer PDF?

[lycosidae89]

I keep coming across references to a Sorcerer PDF, but I can't find it anywhere?

Did they take it off the market?

[greyorm]

One of Sorcerer's elder incarnations was a PDF, a stripped-down version of which is now archived as the "Apprentice" version on the Sorcerer site. However, it is not a "lite" version or a "preview" or anything like such, as the actual rules have been updated and altered considerably from that version and especially from what was presented in the Apprentice.

Note Ron has stated the Apprentice version should not be used for play or attempting to understand Sorcerer because of these differences. See this thread on the subject, and also this one.

Unfortunately, there is no legally-available PDF version of the current rules.

[lycosidae89]

No PDF? oh well. Guess I'll order it in book form then.

Thanks for the answer!

[Ron Edwards]

In the interests of clarity, the originally available form of Sorcerer, in 1996, was provided as a TXT file for $5 in a shareware context. This was before anyone but experts even knew what PDF was, and back when the Mac/IBM dichotomy was a serious constraint on file-sharing. My local version was in an early form of MS Word, and I used a photocopier to add the illustrations to the hard copy (that version was distributed at a couple of local conventions).

The next commercially available form was a PDF, in 1998, which cost $10 using a credit-card method. This is the version which most early-adopters know, and which served as the foundation for the first two supplements in PDF form over the next two years. When people talk about "the Sorcerer PDF," it is almost certain that they are referring to this, especially since it was an early and successful example of building customer interest and hobby presence using this format.

The Apprentice was a side project, also in PDF Few people knew about it or used it. It is possible but unlikely that "the Sorcerer PDF" refers to this document.

The book version of Sorcerer was published in 2001, and the first two supplements were published in book form within the next eight months. All three were extensively rewritten. No user-friendly PDF of their contents exists.

Best, Ron