Would you pay for a printed copy of the manual, Hiergamenon, Spell Book, and Monster Manual? And how much?

Not a dime.

No, because it'll be quite out of date within a few updates.

As long as the website is up I don't care about the physical media.

Nothing.  Printed manuals have a way of quickly go out of date these days, what with games usually taking shape some time after release, patching, and expansions.  I'd sooner get an updated online manual, and a wiki.

this.

I must just be an old fogey, but I love a good printed manual.

*sigh*

Frankly, no.  I love printed materials, but I print my own.  My sister has a printer that can handle poster size sheets, and the walls in my office are covered in stuff I have printed.  That said, it's mostly structure definitions, function prototypes, and namespaces, but there are a few game related (Pendor from Mount&Blade and tech trees for two Total War games at this moment)

Add to this that Fallen Enchantress is still changing, and I really have no use for printed materials.  At this point, I have the spellbook printed, and if I wanted to print something else, I would have.

Not a cent. Games come with manuals. Consumers don't pay for them. We don't want to set that kind of precedent in the gaming industry.

i used to love the swag that came with games. Is a nostalgia there. But at this point i wouldn't pay for it. Ain't got the money for one thing, don't want to waste planetary resources for another. And nowadays the manuals are obsolete before the games even hit the stores. Folks who want this, and who lack the hardware to do it themselves, could hire out a local print shop if these materials were available online (which i think they may all be). Put some money in a neighbors pocket and walk away with some nice stuff. Or self-publish then sell to others as a low overhead 'on-demand' gig.. with Stardocks permission of course.

no chance.

I don't do paper for 2 years now with ipad and all, pdf and ebook rule.

absolutely nothing, it will be out of date within a patch or 2. besides i can't be bothered to pay for something like that. Especially when i can Google up a better answer than is in the book.

I guess if you want to sell me swag, you can start with a nice, attractive cloth map, then a few coins with a sword and shield for head/tails, and about 20 crystals.  If you can toss in a Warg and that backpack that makes items weigh less, i will be happy to pay.

i do think the Hiegamenon, Spell Book and Monster Manual would make for neat reference books. Is just that it falls too far down the priority lists for me. And we still aren't making books outta hemp so trading trees for momentary enjoyment is a factor. But yeah, i see where the OP is coming from, and do think there would be interest in this.  

I'm with you Charon.  One thing about having the rules in book format is that it's smaller and easier to maneuver.  When I first get a manual, I heavily mark it with highlighters to facilitate learning and retrievability.  I made a printout of the three FE manuals but they were very bulky to twist around for the highlighting.

I must confess that I don't have an IPad yet.  Maybe my perspective will change if I ever get one.

I printed all of the materials using a two-page per page printing format in adobe, then had them bound at Staples into one big book...it's pretty cool.    

I don't have an iPad or a smartphone or anything like that.  I'm in no rush, I like paper for my reading.

Nothing.

As stated, printed manual becomes obsolete fast, and I tried to read that Hiergamenon stuff, but it's so dull it made me fall asleep.

When I need a manual handy, I read it on my phone as pdf. Saves paper, saves space. Living space is expensive to clutter it with printed books.

I'd pay, I did the same for Elemental Limited Edition as well... >.> Not that I use it or anything, the box is still unopened, heh.

But having said that... I think it would be better for everyone if Stardock would keep their full focus on making the game better rather then get distracted by all the extra fluff such as these and slack off on the actual game.