Kobold Press's Margreve Kickstarter

[Jester David]

I'm sure piracy is the factor. They specifically refer to Wizards not producing pdfs, and that's Wizards' rationale. The dumb part of that, though, is that you can look at WotC as an example of why that approach doesn't make sense. If people want a pdf of your product, they'll get it. If you don't sell it to them, they'll download it for free. Right or wrong, that's the world we live in. Sure, some folks are scrupulous and won't use your product if they haven't bought it. Sure, some folks are unscrupulous and will wait for the pirate version regardless of how easy you make it for them to buy it legit. I think there is a lot of area in between, though, where people will get what they want and prefer legitimate means, but are somewhat open to other options.

They might be testing the market. To see if the money they lose because there's no PDFs is higher or lower than the money they lose to piracy. If it's lower, then they've made money and are good. If it's higher, they can always change their mind and add PDFs.


Personally, if I were planning on running the adventure, I wouldn't be too phased about the lack of PDFs. There's no shortage of scanner apps out there. Put on a comfort movie for some background noise, set up some decent non-direct lighting and break-out my iPad. 15 second per page and by the time the credits are running I have a functional OCR copy of the book. And, if I were planning on running, I'd want a physical copy rather than just a PDF. Well... I'd like both, but it's easier to have just physical than just PDF.
My not backing is entirely because I want a cheaper option that doesn't fill my shelf

 

[Rellott]

But if preventing piracy is their intention, why would they not say so? They have repeatedly claimed it’s a market experiment to see about VTT popularity.

 

[77IM]

I went to the Kickstarter page, planning to back it at the "PDF only" level, because I love the idea of these adventures and I've been impressed with Kobold Press's bestiaries (which I have in hardback).

But since there isn't a "PDF only" level, I didn't back it. For adventures, I greatly prefer PDFs, because then I can print them the parts I want, and scribble all over them. Buying the hardback and photocopying pages just doesn't work as well. So I'm really hoping that after the Kickstarter concludes, that they release these in PDF.

 

[epithet]

But if preventing piracy is their intention, why would they not say so? They have repeatedly claimed it’s a market experiment to see about VTT popularity.

Probably because "we don't trust you a-holes not to share the pdfs you buy" wouldn't be an effective way to make friends online.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Probably because "we don't trust you a-holes not to share the pdfs you buy" wouldn't be an effective way to make friends online.

True, though OTOH, neither is complaining about how people are so focused on farmat that no one is talking about the great content in the project, which is a thing they did on twitter yesterday. I was honestly quite bemused when I saw it.

 

[Jester David]

True, though OTOH, neither is complaining about how people are so focused on farmat that no one is talking about the great content in the project, which is a thing they did on twitter yesterday. I was honestly quite bemused when I saw it.

I know I'd be irked if I launched what I thought was an awesome kickstarter and all people talked about was the formats I supported...

In fairness, they also did a survey to gauge interest in PDFs.
And based on the results of that and feedback, it wouldn't be hard to add PDFs as an "add on", and they can add additional rewards as the campaign progresses.

 

[Rellott]

True, though OTOH, neither is complaining about how people are so focused on farmat that no one is talking about the great content in the project, which is a thing they did on twitter yesterday. I was honestly quite bemused when I saw it.

It’s a Kickstarter for a new book. Yes, the material is based on an older book for Pathfinder, but they repeatedly tout how the campaign book is both updated from that and contains new contents, and the player’s guide is supposed to be all new. So aside from knowledge of the contents of that older book and the few previews they’ve provided - mostly narrative/fluff rather than mechanical - there isn’t much to know about how great the content is. We assume it will be great because it’s from Kobold Press, but have no specifics to be chomping at the bit and specifically calling out as “I’m anxiously awaiting this.”

 

[Zardnaar]

It's the Kobold's I kind of assume the material is good to great.

I bought the Midgard stuff and a 2nd copy of Tome of Beasts and the Pdfs of them. Cost $90 for postage as I got it from them not Amazon.

PDFs are kind of important to me. Prefer dead tree format but on things like adventures pdfs are fine.

 

[epithet]

I would also like to know why they are charging $5 more for the Fantasy Grounds version than they are for the Roll20 version. I know it isn't because of a lack of conversion support from SmiteWorks.

It seems like there's a bit of "let's poke them with a stick and see if they get mad" to this Kickstarter.

 

[epithet]

The Kobolds have added pdf reward tiers to the Kickstarter, as requested by pretty much everyone. I've now backed the KS.