D&D 5E So when do you think the PDFs will go on sale? (Speculation)

[Starfox]

As the gamer demographic ages, visual problems will become more and more important.

 

[Jake Johnson]

As the gamer demographic ages, visual problems will become more and more important.

Agreed. One of my goals upon returning to D&D, is to document and share all the ways I come up with to make the game more accessible to the blind and visually impaired. I'll post about it in these forums soon.

 

[mattcolville]

I'm really hoping Wizards goes the intelligent route this time and releases all the books in PDF format. If they do, how long do you think it will be, after the books are out, will we see these PDFs?

So far, we haven't seen PDFs of any of the core rulebooks under DriveThru RPG. With the exception of the Basic rules.

It seems their strategy is "All Editions, Premium Reprints, No PDFs." Which is fine as long as those premium rulebooks are selling. Are people still buying the deluxe 2nd Ed. books? I doubt it, I see them all over.

At some point they're going to have to course correct, but it'll only be once they have some reason to believe releasing core rules as PDFs would be a boon.

 

[delericho]

Of course, one thing that might alter their plans is the question of piracy. With all the older editions, there were already illegal PDF versions out there, so it's likely that the impact of them not doing legal PDFs (at least, not yet) was pretty marginal - those horses have bolted, so no point in closing the barn door.

With 5e, however, that's not yet the case, for obvious reasons. But it won't take long - I haven't looked, but I would be rather surprised if there weren't PDFs of the Starter Set out there.

So WotC might want to bring the PDFs of the 5e materials forward, to try to counter this - making legal PDFs available to avoid people seeking out the illegal.

Or not, of course.

 

[The Black Ranger]

I don't buy the piracy excuse anymore because there are tons of illegal Pathfinder stuff on the net and they are still making a killing in PDF sales. I'm afraid Paizo just has better business sense than Wizards of the Coast.

That would be like music companies atopping sales of CDs because they are afraid someone will copy it and share it with others, it happens but you just accept it and move along.

 

[delericho]

I don't buy the piracy excuse anymore because there are tons of illegal Pathfinder stuff on the net and they are still making a killing in PDF sales.

You mistake my intent. I wasn't saying piracy would be a potential reason to hold back PDFs, I was saying that avoiding piracy would be a potential reason to bring forward the release of PDFs.

Because at least some people are willing to seek out a legal electronic version if it exists, but are likewise willing to pirate if it is not.

 

[discoDM]

It will be interesting to see what happens with this.

I'm guessing that pdf's will be available one month after official release dates (I think this is how Pelgrane Press does it). They will be available for one time purchase as well as included in some sort of monthly subscription with Morningstar. Another guess is that their price will be ~20% less than physical, so $40 for the core books.

Morningstar will have a free app that gives you access to any pdf's you have purchased as well as some basic functionality (basic rules, etc). The subscription ($10-15/month) will give you access to the full toolset and all released material.

I'm really hoping that the physical books have a code in the back that gives you a % discount on the pdf. Or even better, if the core books each include a code that gives a free month of Morningstar. I'm doubtful that this will happen but we'll probably know in a couple of months.

 

[SkidAce]

It will be interesting to see what happens with this.

I'm guessing that pdf's will be available one month after official release dates (I think this is how Pelgrane Press does it). They will be available for one time purchase as well as included in some sort of monthly subscription with Morningstar. Another guess is that their price will be ~20% less than physical, so $40 for the core books.

Morningstar will have a free app that gives you access to any pdf's you have purchased as well as some basic functionality (basic rules, etc). The subscription ($10-15/month) will give you access to the full toolset and all released material.

I'm really hoping that the physical books have a code in the back that gives you a % discount on the pdf. Or even better, if the core books each include a code that gives a free month of Morningstar. I'm doubtful that this will happen but we'll probably know in a couple of months.

Codes are problamatic.

I spend much of my time in Barnes and Nobles walking around trying to discourage the petty thieves that are peeling the theft prevention stickers off the dvd box sets, ripping bibles out of their cases, and tearing pages out of manga books.

Anytime there is a code in something....I find several ripped open and either stolen or copied down.

Good thing its such a small percentage of the population that is so petty, I wouldn't be able to keep up or even have a job most likely.

 

[Stormonu]

You mistake my intent. I wasn't saying piracy would be a potential reason to hold back PDFs, I was saying that avoiding piracy would be a potential reason to bring forward the release of PDFs.

Because at least some people are willing to seek out a legal electronic version if it exists, but are likewise willing to pirate if it is not.

Yep. Love my print books, but only for around the house. If WotC won't make legal PDFs available, then I'll just have to find another method, cuz I'm over lugging 45 lbs. of books to games.

 

[discoDM]

That's a really great point that I had not considered. I guess the only way around it would be shrink wrap or something equivalent which would add to the cost. This would also eliminate the ability to thumb through the book in the store, which would be bad.