D&D Reader App Coming This Fall? [UPDATED]

Many people have been asking for official D&D PDFs, and WotC has been addressing the need for electronic reference materials at the table in various ways. According to Mashable, WotC is releasing a D&D Reader App this fall. It's not a PDF, but it's basically a D&D-specific Kindle-esque app for iOS and Android. Mashable reports that "Each book is broken up into different sections. So with, say, the Player's Handbook, you can tap on little thumbnails in your library to check out the introduction, a step-by-step guide to character creation, a rundown of races, individual sections for each character class, equipment, and all the other pieces that, together, form the D&D Player's Handbook."

​

It's possible they are just referring to D&D Beyond (some of the details below correspond very closely with that), but it may be that a separate D&D Reader is in the pipeline.

UPDATE -- EN World member TDarien asked Adam Rosenburg (the author of the article) whether this was different to D&D Beyond, who replied "Yup. Beyond is more activity-oriented, so it can handle stuff like dice rolls. Reader is basically Kindle, with good, clear chapter divides."

UPDATE 2 -- EN World member kenmarable has spotted that Polygon also has an article about this. It is a separate app called D&D Reader - not D&D Beyond - being made by Dialect, the company which does Dragon+ for WotC. They tried a beta version, although it wasn't complete at the time.

Other items from the report include:

• You can favourite specific pages.
• Some of it is free, and the rparts of books are paywalled. "If, for example, you'll only ever care about rolling a bard, you can just buy that. Prices for individual sections are $3 or $5 (depending on what you buy) and the three full rulebooks — Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide — are $30 apiece for everything."
• If you buy parts of a book then buy the full thing, the cost is pro-rated.The free sections include "character creation, basic classes, gear, ability scores, combat, spellcasting, and all the other sort of ground-level features that everyone needs to understand in order to play."

[FONT=&amp]Save[/FONT][FONT=&amp]Save[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Save[/FONT][FONT=&amp]Save[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Save[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Save[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Save[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Save[/FONT]​

 

[Remathilis]

On a second note; if WotC is afraid of PDFs but wants the books in e-format, why not make e-book versions available on Kindle, Nook, Google Play Books, iTunes, the Microsoft store, etc. I'm not a e-book enthusiast, but I bought several books for Google Play and they work fine on my laptop, tablet, and phone and I trust Google will be around in 5 years. You could also buy on the e-reader of your choice. Seems that would be an alternative to PDFS people might get behind...

 

[Mistwell]

On a second note; if WotC is afraid of PDFs but wants the books in e-format, why not make e-book versions available on Kindle, Nook, Google Play Books, iTunes, the Microsoft store, etc. I'm not a e-book enthusiast, but I bought several books for Google Play and they work fine on my laptop, tablet, and phone and I trust Google will be around in 5 years. You could also buy on the e-reader of your choice. Seems that would be an alternative to PDFS people might get behind...

Because they've said their goal isn't to make them in e-format only, it's to make them in a digital format that can do many things beyond just reading them. Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, DND Beyond, and now this app all do things with the content that goes well beyond just being able to read it. That's always been their stated goal.

 

[Remathilis]

Because they've said their goal isn't to make them in e-format only, it's to make them in a digital format that can do many things beyond just reading them. Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, DND Beyond, and now this app all do things with the content that goes well beyond just being able to read it. That's always been their stated goal.

Such as? Everything I've seen about this is that reading is all it does. Want to share what I missed that this product does that the others don't?

 

[Mistwell]

Such as? Everything I've seen about this is that reading is all it does. Want to share what I missed that this product does that the others don't?

Well it doesn't do much more than reading, but what we no so far there is apparently a thumbnail interface for sections poping out, and favoritng of content, and the ability to deliver just discrete sections for a smaller fee. There is mention of Dragon+, so I suspect they will add an interface linked to that as well along with this app.

 

[Remathilis]

Well it doesn't do much more than reading, but what we no so far there is apparently a thumbnail interface for sections poping out, and favoritng of content, and the ability to deliver just discrete sections for a smaller fee. There is mention of Dragon+, so I suspect they will add an interface linked to that as well along with this app.

I just checked Google Play Books, I can look at thumbnails of each page when speed searching, search the text, annotate pages, bookmark, and read across platforms. The only thing I can't do is buy books section by section, but that seems like a fairly minor trade-off. I'm sure most other e-readers are similar.

Again, I'm at a loss as to what this product does that already existing products don't do or do better...

 

[Remathilis]

Just another thought; the entire 5e catalog is 15 books plus a few PDFs. What if they intend to do the back catalog as well? Convert 3e, 4e and older books for purchase? That would set them apart from the other projects out there.

Not likely, but a thought.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

So interviews and pictures in Polygon and Mashable don't count as an announcement? Are they using a crystal ball or NSA wiretapping to know about this project?

"If, for example, you'll only ever care about rolling a bard, you can just buy that. Prices for individual sections are $3 or $5 (depending on what you buy) and the three full rulebooks — Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide — are $30 apiece for everything."

Sounds pretty announced.

I would consider an advertisement, or at least an announcement on one of the key company's pages an announcement. That's just me.

Different Strokes for Different folks. I'm not saying Rd20/FG/D&DB are for everyone, but my point is they offer a LOT more VALUE for the same cost as this e-reader. And even if you don't want that value, D&DB can offer you similar content for $10 less. If all you bought were the major rulebooks (PHB, DMG, MM, SCAG, VGtM, XGtE) you're saving $60 dollars getting compendium only versions on D&DB. We're talking $180 for D&D Reader vs. $120 for D&D Beyond for the SAME CONTENT.

I sure hope that page-flip transition and bookmarking is worth it!

Well, if the product doesn't work for me, then it has no value to me. Doesn't mean it's not a product that has value to others, though. That's why companies release different products.

So far, its looking like its own a reference tool for looking at the hardback books online. They may surprise, but at this stage the articles seem to paint this as a kindle with a very specific set of books.

And that's sort of my point. So far we've had a brief mention in an interview. No official announcement, with all of the features detailed, etc. So to call it dead in the water seems a bit premature to me.

My point isn't that D&D Beyond should be the be-all, end-all of D&D online tools. My point is that this product is bringing nothing new to the table and charging too much for its limits compared to the same content as Rd20 or D&DB.

My suggestions (which you have utterly ignored) are to make this product unique compared to D&D Beyond. Make it the budget alternative to D&D Beyond for people who just want a copy of the PHB on their phone but don't want extra bells and whistles. $20 for the PHB is on the edge of impulse buy. Or, if WotC won't let them sell it for less than $30, add something more than "the PHB in an e-reader" to make it stand out; a subscription service to "stream" the books like Spotify or Hulu, or the ability to add purchases from DM's Guild in so I can have my AL adventures or fan stuff accessible next to my PHB. Or make some cross compatible promotion pricing so that If I DO buy it for $30 here, I might get it on R20 for only $20 dollars when I share my login or get a unique access code on purchase. If they can't stick codes in the back of the physical PHB, they easily could make randomized unique codes in tied to a specific email address in the digital version.

I get the feeling none of that will happen. This will be the text of the books, formatted like D+ articles, for the same price as products with additional value. And if it is, it will fail and they will be handing out codes for people who purchased books on this platform to buy them on D&D Beyond when it goes belly up.

I'm sorry, but if I was in the market for an online D&D solution, this would be several steps below dead last as written.

No, I haven't ignored them. I was just responding specifically to your assertion that it's dead on arrival. I admit I wasn't having a great day and was a bit snarky, so I apologize for that.

What it really comes down to for me is that Dialect is in the business of providing innovative digital content solutions. I suspect they have a better understanding of the market than me. Also, I recognize that even if a product doesn't fit my needs (like Roll20, and to a lesser degree D&D Beyond), it doesn't mean that it won't be a successful product. I also wouldn't be surprised if this was in development already when D&D Beyond announced and released their product.

You could very well be right, maybe it's just not enough. But until the companies involved actually announce the product and features, I think it's too soon to come to a conclusion. That's all.

 

[Mistwell]

I just checked Google Play Books, I can look at thumbnails of each page when speed searching, search the text, annotate pages, bookmark, and read across platforms. The only thing I can't do is buy books section by section, but that seems like a fairly minor trade-off. I'm sure most other e-readers are similar.

Again, I'm at a loss as to what this product does that already existing products don't do or do better...

Can Google Books deliver their monthly magazine to your phone automatically, and then as you're reading the magazine can it link to the parts of the core books you've purchased for a quick pop-up rule lookup, as you go?

 

[Ilbranteloth]

There's a lot of people who'd buy a PDF from Wizards, but won't buy the various third-party things. (I won't, because I have no confidence that they will last and be accessible later.) So they're throwing away a large portion of the prospective market for digital copies, but in exchange, they're letting someone else siphon lots of the profit away from the sales they do make. Brilliant!

It is brilliant when you include the cost of paying developers, support for the product, the infrastructure to support the product, etc. There's little point for WotC to either pay for what would be needed in-house. And to pay somebody else to do it for you is also expensive (usually more expensive than in-house).

But the bigger advantage, by far, is that WotC assumes no risk. If a third party is making the product and paying WotC for the content, then WotC has no expenses to offset before they start making a profit, nor do they assume any risk if the product doesn't sell well. As you pointed out, it's brilliant.

I don't think it would be very direct competition. PDFs are not competing with Beyond very effectively; if you want Beyond, what it does is way better for you than what a PDF does would be.

But the net result is, people who have "pirated" copies of the game get a play experience that I would like much better than anything Wizards is willing to sell me. And that's sort of the essence of "anti-piracy" measures; they don't hurt pirates, they do hurt paying customers.

Well, selling a digital copy of the same content, or even giving it away with the purchase of a book, certainly isn't going to encourage other companies to spend their own time and money, and assume the risk for such a product. All I'm saying is that with the evidence at hand - now the fourth company (at least) production a product to provide the same licensed digital content seems to point to a business model where WotC has decided that they aren't the best people to design, build, and support a digital product.

I suspect a lot of this also has to do with the struggles they had in the 3e/4e era in creating a lasting and complete solution. As far as in-house designed or purchased products, they've been there, done that.

And while the solutions that have been released haven't served everyone's needs, I think that almost all of them have done well enough that it's encouraging for other companies who feel they have a solution that fills an empty niche.

And based on that, I don't think that the primary reason WotC hasn't released pdfs has anything to do with piracy.

 

[Morrus]

I just checked Google Play Books, I can look at thumbnails of each page when speed searching, search the text, annotate pages, bookmark, and read across platforms. The only thing I can't do is buy books section by section, but that seems like a fairly minor trade-off. I'm sure most other e-readers are similar.

Again, I'm at a loss as to what this product does that already existing products don't do or do better...

Does every product have to do something new? When you buy a car, does it have to fly? Does every paperback you buy have to do something new?

The book is offered in a variety of formats. You choose the one which suits you. They don’t all have to innovate!

Offering a choice of formats is a good thing. You get to choose the format.