D&D 5E Any word on (Full) 5e PDFs?

[Laznabog]

I hardly think Trapdoor is or was in a position to allow people to develop digital companion tools for D&D...

You are correct. By "we" I was really talking about the owners of the information rights. I was very unclear.

The point was, it isn't really hard at all. It is something many people would devote their free time tdo for no compensation. The problem is more directly a result of trying to maximize profit. That would be the more honest statement.

 

[Bugleyman]

If Wizards sold 5E PDFs, I would buy them. But they don't, so I can't. Seems like a pretty clear-cut lose/lose -- I can't get the product I want, and they forgo the revenue -- but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me that I'm wrong, and that I really do want a proprietary, DRM-laden application.

 

[WarHawke]

I play Shadowrun, and when I purchase my books, I get the book + .pdf combo.

I think if WoTC just takes a leap of faith, they will still see sales. Granted the .pdfs are watermarked with your email address, but still, I like to have a searchable document that I can stick on my tablet.

 

[mcbobbo]

As a point of fact, WotC does sell 5e PDFs on dndclassics.com, along with other edition materials. So they should have the data. They should also know what their piracy rates look like, vs purchases, assuming they wanted to go look.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If Wizards sold 5E PDFs, I would buy them. But they don't, so I can't. Seems like a pretty clear-cut lose/lose -- I can't get the product I want, and they forgo the revenue -- but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me that I'm wrong, and that I really do want a proprietary, DRM-laden application.

Yep... you're wrong. But not that you do want a proprietary, DRM-laden application... but you're wrong in that they're forgoing the revenue.

They don't want the money from the sales of PH PDFs. Rather, they want the revenue that will come from Dungeonscape. And I would presume that they've determined that the money they will earn through Dungeonscape will be much more than the money they would have earned from PDFs... enough so that they don't want to eat into the profits that Dungeonscape will generate.

If you took the group of players who would purchase a PH PDF if it was available and then told them they could get the PH electronically through Dungeonscape... I'm pretty sure they've determined that enough of those people will choose to go over to DS and pay the subscription fee for it (since it's their only option with no PDF coming) such that it more than makes up for the money they would have earned just by selling a single PDF to each of the people in the original group.

If 20 people would make a one-time payment of $15 for a PDF for a total of $300... but 10 of those people would be willing to make a monthly payment of $5 for Dungeonscape for a total of $50 a month... the money equalizes after six months, and the rest of the year is gravy.

You might not be someone who will be a part of that group of 10, which I'm sure makes WotC slightly disappointed (since they'd love everyone to use it.) But the $15 you would have spent on the PDF will get covered more than easily by the others of you who will.

 

[WarHawke]

If $5 a month got me every single book in pdf format, I might consider this.

If I have to pay $5 a month and pay for the pdf, then I will be upset.

This is how pirates are born.

 

[SkidAce]

If $5 a month got me every single book in pdf format, I might consider this.

If I have to pay $5 a month and pay for the pdf, then I will be upset.

This is how pirates are born.

Using your quote, but not directed specifically at you.

/rant

This seems to be a common idea. "They are forcing me to do something illegal"

No, you(tm) are making a calculated decision based on gain versus punishment, much like any human does when deciding which laws to follow (ex. speeding).

/rant off.

 

[mcbobbo]

Using your quote, but not directed specifically at you.

/rant

This seems to be a common idea. "They are forcing me to do something illegal"

No, you(tm) are making a calculated decision based on gain versus punishment, much like any human does when deciding which laws to follow (ex. speeding).

/rant off.

You can pretty easily bridge the two statements as:

They are creating a situation where only an unreasonable person wouldn't prefer piracy.

But I am not, repeat NOT going to pay $5 a month for just the phb for years on end. I said willing to pay, but not through the nose.

 

[Bugleyman]

Yep... you're wrong. But not that you do want a proprietary, DRM-laden application... but you're wrong in that they're forgoing the revenue.

They don't want the money from the sales of PH PDFs. Rather, they want the revenue that will come from Dungeonscape. And I would presume that they've determined that the money they will earn through Dungeonscape will be much more than the money they would have earned from PDFs... enough so that they don't want to eat into the profits that Dungeonscape will generate.

If you took the group of players who would purchase a PH PDF if it was available and then told them they could get the PH electronically through Dungeonscape... I'm pretty sure they've determined that enough of those people will choose to go over to DS and pay the subscription fee for it (since it's their only option with no PDF coming) such that it more than makes up for the money they would have earned just by selling a single PDF to each of the people in the original group.

If 20 people would make a one-time payment of $15 for a PDF for a total of $300... but 10 of those people would be willing to make a monthly payment of $5 for Dungeonscape for a total of $50 a month... the money equalizes after six months, and the rest of the year is gravy.

You might not be someone who will be a part of that group of 10, which I'm sure makes WotC slightly disappointed (since they'd love everyone to use it.) But the $15 you would have spent on the PDF will get covered more than easily by the others of you who will.

Yes and no. They have already forgone the revenue that selling my PDFs would have generated. That's not speculative -- that is a thing that happened.

Now, whether or not the ultimately book more revenue with DungeonScape than they would have from PDFs (or from both -- they're not mutually exclusive, after all) is a reasonable debate. Personally, I seriously doubt it for several reasons -- not the least of which is their dismal track record with digital tools -- but it's a reasonable debate.

 

[DEFCON 1]

You can pretty easily bridge the two statements as:

They are creating a situation where only an unreasonable person wouldn't prefer piracy.

But I am not, repeat NOT going to pay $5 a month for just the phb for years on end. I said willing to pay, but not through the nose.

Then you don't have to.

It's really up to you. WotC knows a certain segment of the population wants PDFs and will not accept getting an electronic copy through Dungeonscape (or DDI for the 4E era). They've accepted that those people won't spend the money on subscribing, and aparently seem okay with that loss. You thus have three choices-- accept you won't have a PDF of the book... buy a book, take it apart and scan it into the computer yourself to create your own PDF copy... or pirate a PH already scanned, assuming your morals allow you to do that. And it seems at this point in time... WotC just accepts each option as a fait accompli.

As has been said... piracy is going to happen. Some people just don't care about the morality of it. But if any of us here are going to be one of those people, just do it with your head held high, rather than try and get all defensive about it and blame WotC for making you have to put aside your morals because WotC isn't giving any other option. Cause we all know that's BS, and besides which, we *do* have another option which was #2-- buy a second book and scan it ourselves.

But usually it seems everyone's too cheap to ever consider that as an option, so they keep demanding WotC provide it for like half-off the cover price.