Get Rid of Splatbooks Altogether

[DMKastmaria]

If it's just being used at the table, there's no difference between printing it out and pulling it up on your laptop/iPad.

If it's illegal, it's only illegal in the "obscure law from the 1800s that everyone forgot was still on the books" sense.

But I think the previous poster may have been talking about the scenario where the person with the DDI subscription prints out and makes copies of all of the material and redistributes that material to all of his/her players for their personal, long term, take-home use, which is certainly against both the letter and the spirit of the law.

If a DDI subscription is necessary to keep up with 5e, I won't play it. WotC could make and sell more games, instead of trying to make it practically necessary for my players and I to keep buying the same game, every month.

I know some people seem to like that scenario, in which case, go with god. I have plenty of other options, myself.

 

[Elf Witch]

Personally I love splatbooks. I enjoy reading them and getting ideas from them both as a player and a DM.

I also like adventures. I may use them wholesale or pick things out of them to drop in my campaign.

I am not crazy about things like the DDI. I don't own a laptop or a tablet. I have trouble because of my eyes reading print on a computer screen so I find it hard to read anything of length.

I hope we see with 5E what we saw with 3E a lot of third party stuff that was just a blast to read and use in games.

 

[triqui]

Is that true? Surely copying a page or two for use in your own campaign is ok, if not outright legal?

It's legal to print it yourself for your use. Photocopy the rules to hand it to other people is as much illegal as photocopying a physical book is. Physical books grant you permission to photocopy the part of the book that are meant to be photocopied. Ie: the character sheet.

Copying any other part of the book wouldn't be legal, unless it says so. Just like getting a PDF from e-mule and printing it is not legal either. Just becouse you know the guy that legally own the PDF in real life does not mean you are legally able to get a copy yourself.

You can't copy (in paper or otherwise) my legally bought Adventure that you got through emule, so you can't copy (in paper or otherwise) my legally bought adventure that I gave you in a pendrive either.

That's not a Adventure-only thing though. You can't legally photocopy parts of the splatbooks either, or have printed copies of the book that you don't legally own.

 

[Aeolius]

I would like 5E to get rid of splatbooks altogether, instead focusing on producing adventures.

I wish for the opposite. I would like 5e to have a robust Open Gaming License, thus allowing third party publishers to produce a variety of adventures and supplements.

To be honest, while I have not been on the player's side of a DM's Screen since the late 80s, I have not run a published adventure since the early 80s. I prefer to create my own worlds, campaigns, and adventures. Making things up is half the fun.

That being said, I want 5e to begin with a Players Handbook, DM's Guide, Monster Manual, and World Builder's Guide. This would provide a common framework for DM's to create their own adventures, instead of assuming every DM and player want to explore the exact same setting.

 

[Libramarian]

I like this idea. Most of the print material should be for the DM. The players can sub to DDi if they want all the latest trinkets and build option dealies.

I don't mind there being an online subscription thing. The comments saying people won't touch 5e if it has a subscription service are pretty grognardy, even by my standards.

Crunchy character option stuff clearly is most useful in a computer based format. Whereas settings and adventures are most useful in a print based format. Why not have the "players handbook" be basically online? It's cheaper and faster to make characters. It should be a good deal for just about anybody.

4e DDI is generally a good deal, is it not?

 

[Dice4Hire]

4e DDI is generally a good deal, is it not?

No. Unless I want to pay for it for the rest of my natural life, and that could get rather pricey.

 

[MoonSong]

Also being forced to be online to play D&D doesn't sounds any good, I understand DDI is nice, but only if physical copies are also an option.

 

[DMKastmaria]

I don't mind there being an online subscription thing. The comments saying people won't touch 5e if it has a subscription service are pretty grognardy, even by my standards.

I don't care if it just has one. If the subscription service is a practical necessity for playing the game, though, that's where I balk.

A set of rules, paper, pencil, dice and imagination. That's some pretty basic technology, for a company to be trying to induce me to fork over a never ending monthly fee to play. Especially, when I already have all of the above, in abundance.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Overall I am pretty happy with how DDI works now. There are tools to help a DM who wants them, including a virtual table that they can use either online or with a projector of the like, but 4E is still totally accessible without an internet connection or DDI.

And, at least to me, it is still a good game if only paper books are used and errata is ignored.

 

[hanez]

Shocking how many pages this thread has generated. Theres one big reason why this could never happen. DMs buy adventures, players buy splatbooks. theres 4-5 times more players then there are DMs. Theres a lot more money to be made in Players hanbook 5, and 5e essentials part 3 then there is on an adventure module.