Tiny PDFs - not a fan.

Mark CMG · Mar 2, 2013

I experimented with smaller PDFs in the early days of RPGNow.com. Some might remember my Culture Classes, variant NPC classes for 3.0E, like the County Clergy and the Trundlefolk. Both were two page PDFs (plus the OGL for a third page) and sold originally for $0.50 but were met with a such pushback from other publishers because they thought it would flood the market that RPGNow instituted a policy that they would not get front page exposure under a certain size and nothing could be sold for less than a dollar. That lack of front page exposure with a new released caused me to adjust my business model to keep PDFs larger from then onward. Although I don't believe any of Ronin Arts (Phil Reed) PDFs were ever that small, he managed to gain traction with his offerings and, IIRC, get that policy rescinded. In this day and age when micro-purchases are fairly common in many spheres of online sales, I think the market gets to sort out what constitutes a fair size and price for any product, which was the argument I made at the time though few other publishers felt the same back then.

Greg K · Mar 2, 2013

Mark CMG said:
I experimented with smaller PDFs in the early days of RPGNow.com. Some might remember my Culture Classes, variant NPC classes for 3.0E, like the County Clergy and the Trundlefolk.

Mark, I don't think that I ever saw those.

Mark CMG · Mar 2, 2013

Greg K said:
Mark, I don't think that I ever saw those.

In early 2005, I revised them to 3.5E and removed the d20 logo (I dropped that right after the d20 STL was revised to include the so-called 'morals' clause) and bundled them into the Favorites Bundle to sell alongside the 3.5 SRD Revised Bundle. RPGNow.com didn't have a bundling option at the time and although I got some negative feedback about the size of the bundles (7.35 MB and 17.61 MB, respectively), they have sold rather well and still do for 3.5E fans. Of course those sizes are hardly large by today's standards for bundles. Also, everything from CMG is currently 25% Off fr GM's Day!

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/18981/(Collection)-Favorites-Bundle?it=1

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/17705/(Aid)-SRD-3.5-Revised-(Full)-Bundle?it=1

Dirk Stanley · Mar 2, 2013

I don't mind small pdfs. If its something that interests me, I'll buy. However, more than a buck for a few pages better be really awesome.

Glyfair · Mar 3, 2013

trancejeremy said:
Makes browsing a nightmare as well, since you have to wade through tons of products with minimal appeal.

This is my main issue with them. When I search or browse for a specific product type, I hate wading through pages of entries for these tiny products to find the sort of product I want.

The big sales at RPGNow is the most common example of this. I want to page through and see if there is something I might want to try at the sale price, but browsing is a pain with hundreds of tiny PDFs.

However, the issue there is as much with the organization of the site, as with the products. There should be a way of filtering or organizing them so they are easier to ignore or glance at (maybe a sort by product size?)

Lord Mhoram · Mar 3, 2013

Greg K said:
Now, as for some pdfs being overpriced for their size and/or content, that is sometimes an issue for me, but it is not limited to any particular pdf size.

Yeah - I've spent as buck and got an idea from a 1 or 2 page PDF that I can hang and entire character concept on, and spent 10 or 15 for a campaign book that when I finished reading it my reaction was "why did I buy this"

Whizbang Dustyboots · Mar 3, 2013

Lord Mhoram said:
Yeah - I've spent as buck and got an idea from a 1 or 2 page PDF that I can hang and entire character concept on, and spent 10 or 15 for a campaign book that when I finished reading it my reaction was "why did I buy this"

Yeah, my Midwood campaign ended up having its climax based around a 99 cent PDF of fantasy holidays. The kobold tradition of Apple Night has turned into the night chosen for them to invade the local barony, after years of lead-up.

The PDF doesn't look like much, and it's only a few pages long, but it's full of great ideas.

1Mac · Mar 3, 2013

Mark CMG said:
I experimented with smaller PDFs in the early days of RPGNow.com....but [they] were met with a such pushback from other publishers because they thought it would flood the market that RPGNow instituted a policy that they would not get front page exposure under a certain size and nothing could be sold for less than a dollar. That lack of front page exposure with a new released caused me to adjust my business model to keep PDFs larger from then onward.

That's kind of awful. I'm disappointed that RPG publishers would succumb to such a guild mentality. I hope they've moved past such thinking.

Mark CMG · Mar 3, 2013

1Mac said:
That's kind of awful. I'm disappointed that RPG publishers would succumb to such a guild mentality. I hope they've moved past such thinking.

It's an isolated or at least rare case and one where some folks just didn't see how things were trending.

Lord Mhoram · Mar 3, 2013

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
Yeah, my Midwood campaign ended up having its climax based around a 99 cent PDF of fantasy holidays. The kobold tradition of Apple Night has turned into the night chosen for them to invade the local barony, after years of lead-up.

The PDF doesn't look like much, and it's only a few pages long, but it's full of great ideas.

I was in a D20 future campaign that used a 7 page PDF for some cyber equipment that really made 2 different characters shine - the stuff in there became signature Cyberware for them.

These days the way I work the small stuff - if I am making a character (PF) and I want options for a class I'll spend a few bucks and get a few PDF related. The campaign I play in is very open, the GM allowing a lot of class feature swapping, and 3rd party feats. So I was building a fighter type and hated bravery, so I grabbed a "replacements for Bravery" PDF and it had something perfect for the character. Those being so small, they are not great for full campaign info, but as a idea font, or for a specific need they are great.

As a GM if I want a lot of mechanics or something I'll buy a big sourcebook or a setting book (most have enough mechanics that I steal 1 or 2 really good ideas), but the small ones are for specific issues or problems.

Tiny PDFs - not a fan.

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