Buying PDFs?

[p1fx]

well yes, but i was meaning if there is a choice between print or pdf then dont buy pdf.
and piracy is one of the risks associated in pdf selling and while not nice is expected. but companys like rpg drive through arent trying to make up for losses as they are just sellers they are just milking rpg players for yet more money, its not the same in video game downloads as there are more of them out there than rpg players and we need to stand up more.

 

[Clovenhoof]

Concerning piracy: since PDFs are usually watermarked, i.e. have your name in clear text on every freaking page, the risk would be far too great for me to give out copies to anyone. You give a copy to a friend, then he gives a copy to a friend of his, who thinks "what the hell" and puts it on a file torrent; next thing you know your name is all over the internet. Nononononono.
I think watermarks are a quite useful tool to suppress pdf piracy, if one doesn't have an inherent decency to support the struggling rpg market.

 

[Hervé]

Good point for Clovenhoof, but unfortunately I know a lot of people who don't give a damn about having someone else's name on their pdf.

 

[DigitalMage]

well look up for a few reasons.

Sorry about that, I started writing my post before your last post appeared

but to not buy a game unless its got a pdf version seems a bit daft though?

That is a personal preference for me, I didn't mean it to be generalised, more an indication that for some people i.e. me PDFs are very important. And the reason I won't buy a game unless it is PDF is that a hardcopy only game will more than likely take me months to read, rather than a couple of weeks for a PDF, i.e. it likely won't get read and therefore won't get run.

 

[DigitalMage]

well yes, but i was meaning if there is a choice between print or pdf then dont buy pdf.

To reiterate, I don't think that is a universal rule that can be applied. Some games are written so well that by just printing off a character sheet and maybe a rules summary sheet you don't need the hardcopy at the table and so if you prefer reading PDFs then you are better getting only the PDF and saving yourself some money.

Scenarios are also a good one for only buying PDF - if you are likely to only run it once, print it low quality, run it and then you don't have a hardcopy taking up precious shelf space.

Preferences differ between people.

and piracy is one of the risks associated in pdf selling and while not nice is expected.

But then again, not producing PDFs does not prevent piracy (look at the recent D&D 4e pirates!) so some companies take a reasonable decision and elect to make some extra cash and risk some piracy. As already stated watermarking can help prevent pirating by discouraging the original purchaser from sharing the PDF.

but companys like rpg drive through arent trying to make up for losses as they are just sellers they are just milking rpg players for yet more money

I'm sorry but how are DriveThru "milking" players for more money? They retail PDFs to those who want them, if you don't like PDFs you don't have to buy them. I will buy them because they give me some extra utility over and above hardcopy alone, so yes I end up spending more money as I buy both PDF and hardcopy, but then I get more for that money as well.

 

[DigitalMage]

Good point for Clovenhoof, but unfortunately I know a lot of people who don't give a damn about having someone else's name on their pdf.

Fair, enough but hopefully the original purchaser who has their name on the PDF will give a damn and so will be encouraged not to share their PDF, if they do then DriveThru and the RPG publisher know exactly who to come to to take legal action if it appears on a file share site.

 

[maladaar]

I too usually buy both the hardcover and the pdf, but for the time being I am buying the pdfs only.

As previously stated the search capability and portability (on my laptop) for my entire collection versus trying to lug every book around makes the pdfs and easy choice.

Color vs Black & White - I am old school and started playing back in the days of AD&D 1e...I prefer the black & white.

 

[Hervé]

Paper books are more appealing to me, but I must admit pdfs can be handy, especially when you want to extract part of the text. A very useful tool for rewriting published adventures to fit the needs of your own campaign.
But, as I like books, I think I'll stick to them for a while.

 

[Yogah of Yag]

I can stick them on my mobile phone and read them anywhere

OT: May I ask what brand/model you have?
On another forum, I was wondering if there was a device out there that was portable and just for reading PDF's. I googled around but found nothing definite. I'm not a tech-savvy guy, so I haven't kept up on the latest gadgets, since the stylus and cuneiform clay tablet was released. :lol:

 

[p1fx]

look up e-book readers, or some mp3 players can read pdf's aswell

 

[DigitalMage]

OT: May I ask what brand/model you have?

I have a T mobile MDA Vario (the original) which was a tenner when I signed an 18 month Flext 35 contract. Now to get the latest equivalent it would be 70 quid

It is basically a rebranded HTC pda phone and I have loaded on Adobe Reader for Pocket PC 2.0

 

[Hervé]

I have a T mobile MDA Vario (the original) which was a tenner when I signed an 18 month Flext 35 contract. Now to get the latest equivalent it would be 70 quid
It is basically a rebranded HTC pda phone and I have loaded on Adobe Reader for Pocket PC 2.0

Failed my Decipher Languages Check...
Must be the incantation of some weird Stygian ritual...

Now I know I'm getting old: In my group, we play with books, dices, pencil and paper.

 

[Style]

I have a T mobile MDA Vario (the original) which was a tenner when I signed an 18 month Flext 35 contract. Now to get the latest equivalent it would be 70 quid
It is basically a rebranded HTC pda phone and I have loaded on Adobe Reader for Pocket PC 2.0

Failed my Decipher Languages Check...
Must be the incantation of some weird Stygian ritual...

Now I know I'm getting old: In my group, we play with books, dices, pencil and paper.

I know a group where they all play with laptops, and use instant messenger to pass secret messages back and forth.

 

[DigitalMage]

Failed my Decipher Languages Check...
Must be the incantation of some weird Stygian ritual...

It is, so at least now you'll know why the rash and itching start :twisted:

Now I know I'm getting old: In my group, we play with books, dices, pencil and paper.

At the game table, we're the same - no electronic devices at all. I just read my PDFs on my phone but use the hardcopy at the game table.

 

[Majestic7]

This goes off-topic, but...

If I had gazillion euros, I'd really want to build a not-so-high tech gaming room. It would have a projector to project pictures and maps on the wall and on a gaming table. The table would have grid built on it, so the projector could just be used to put the map on the grid. It would be great to have movie theatre -style speakers there to play music... and computer consoles for every player. They would be used to send secret messages between GM and players, as well as between players themselves.

Pen, paper and dice are fun, but there are certainly some additional accessories that would make the games even better...

 

[Hervé]

I'm not so sure about it. On the contrary, I think we would be losing something using too many props. The more accessory you get, the less you make your imagination work. We already gave up grids, miniatures and stuff like this a long way back. We rather focus on characterization, mood and story than on rules and props. I guess that's why we all despise D20 so much...

 

[Majestic7]

I'm not so sure about it. On the contrary, I think we would be losing something using too many props. The more accessory you get, the less you make your imagination work. We already gave up grids, miniatures and stuff like this a long way back. We rather focus on characterization, mood and story than on rules and props. I guess that's why we all despise D20 so much...

You can easily use props like candles and music to reinforce that mood and story. Likewise, I think writing slips of paper for every secret message or taking a player to another room breaks the tempo of the game and may ruins the atmosphere from those left out for some time. That mini-network would solve that problem.

 

[Style]

I'm not so sure about it. On the contrary, I think we would be losing something using too many props. The more accessory you get, the less you make your imagination work. We already gave up grids, miniatures and stuff like this a long way back. We rather focus on characterization, mood and story than on rules and props. I guess that's why we all despise D20 so much...

I use to think this way, and despised minis, but then I realized something. Players are visual. If you give them a grid and minis, and (here's the key) lots of objects in the environment, they are much more likely to use their environment rather than just swinging their sword as hard as possible.

Course, as a GM you need to reward your players for creatively using their environment, or they will quickly give up on that, and combat will be reduced to straight forward attacks. It helps if your system has some mechanics for this as well. In Savage Worlds, for example, the trick mechanic can be used to cover almost anything.