Kobold Press launched their Kickstarter for Tales of the Old Margreve: 5th Edition Forest Adventures on September 27th. The Kickstarter is intended to fund two books - a campaign set in the titular forest (which is itself set in Kobold Press's Midgard setting) and a player's guide containing information about the setting, backgrounds, races, etc. The Kickstarter funded in mere hours, and as I type this has garnered over 33 thousand dollars out of the 15 thousand dollar goal.
The Kickstarter has generated significant backlash from fans of Kobold Press, however, for their decision not to provide PDFs of the books - they are only offering hard copies and virtual tabletop versions (for both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20). Many of the comments on the Kickstarter revolve around the lack of PDF availability, and the debate has also spilled over onto the Kobold Press & Midgard Facebook group.
In addition to the more trivial concern over incomplete collections, statements in support of PDFs range from concerns over shipping ("Without the PDF and living in EU the Kickstarter losses much of it's value unfortunately because of the shipping price") to varying prep styles ("I do buy the physical copies of books but for me I need pdf for prep as well as for running my home games") to versatility ("everyone can use a pdf whether you are playing home game roll20, fantasy grounds, or just over voice").
In the comments of the Kickstarter, Kobold Press has stated "Wizards of the Coast seems to do fine without PDF support, but with huge VTT support in the form of D&D Beyond. So, we figured we should at least try one project in this mold. If the feedback is that we should do PDF more than VTT, then we end our VTT efforts and focus on other things." They went on to clarify why they didn't offer both PDFs and VTT support, saying "On the publisher side, VTT and PDF are totally different workflows involving different companies, different technologies, and different teams. For Kobold Press, the idea of supporting three formats well is more daunting than supporting two. For KP, it's three different projects."
You can check out the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350683997/tales-of-the-old-margreve-5th-edition-forest-adven/
What do you think about Kobold Press's decision regarding PDFs? Are they destined to be outdated by VTTs? Can D&D Beyond truly be considered a VTT, at least enough to warrant comparison to Fantasy Grounds or Roll20? Are we entering an era where we must choose D&D content providers based on their outlet, like we have done with video games on their various consoles or with movies and TV shows on the various streaming services?
The Kickstarter has generated significant backlash from fans of Kobold Press, however, for their decision not to provide PDFs of the books - they are only offering hard copies and virtual tabletop versions (for both Fantasy Grounds and Roll20). Many of the comments on the Kickstarter revolve around the lack of PDF availability, and the debate has also spilled over onto the Kobold Press & Midgard Facebook group.
In addition to the more trivial concern over incomplete collections, statements in support of PDFs range from concerns over shipping ("Without the PDF and living in EU the Kickstarter losses much of it's value unfortunately because of the shipping price") to varying prep styles ("I do buy the physical copies of books but for me I need pdf for prep as well as for running my home games") to versatility ("everyone can use a pdf whether you are playing home game roll20, fantasy grounds, or just over voice").
In the comments of the Kickstarter, Kobold Press has stated "Wizards of the Coast seems to do fine without PDF support, but with huge VTT support in the form of D&D Beyond. So, we figured we should at least try one project in this mold. If the feedback is that we should do PDF more than VTT, then we end our VTT efforts and focus on other things." They went on to clarify why they didn't offer both PDFs and VTT support, saying "On the publisher side, VTT and PDF are totally different workflows involving different companies, different technologies, and different teams. For Kobold Press, the idea of supporting three formats well is more daunting than supporting two. For KP, it's three different projects."
You can check out the Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350683997/tales-of-the-old-margreve-5th-edition-forest-adven/
What do you think about Kobold Press's decision regarding PDFs? Are they destined to be outdated by VTTs? Can D&D Beyond truly be considered a VTT, at least enough to warrant comparison to Fantasy Grounds or Roll20? Are we entering an era where we must choose D&D content providers based on their outlet, like we have done with video games on their various consoles or with movies and TV shows on the various streaming services?