D&D General Hey, are we all cool with having to buy the same book twice, or what?

[JiffyPopTart]

This is a D&D fan site that is literally full of D&D fans. Attacking the people who make D&D—a thing everyone here loves—is going to provoke a negative reaction. Because people are defensive of things they love.

Gotta disagree with you here sir and/or madam.

This is an RPG discussion and news site. The forums are here to discuss various RPGs in whatever ways fit the board rules. You can come here and say how you think 5e is the next step of human evolution or you can come here and let everyone know you think HARN is the worst piece of poop ever conceived.

Discussion....not rah rah cheerleading and not pooping in other people's cornflakes.

ENWorld isn't a beehive and it's not necessary to call out the hive guards to defend the queen, whether or not that queen is WotC, consumer friendly policies, or RPGs themselves.

Discussion...back and forth discourse to talk about a topic that interests you.

It's not unfair of someone to lament that WotC isn't embracing PDFs any more than it's not unfair of someone saying WotC can do whatever the heck they want. Neither side is right, because there is no right. It's just like.....your opinion man.

Personally, I think the cost of free PDFs is negligible, piracy isn't a good reason for not releasing official ones, and that WotC doesn't offer PDFs because of sales or piracy concerns. I think the goodwill earned with coreleasing electronic copies along with physical is going to happen eventually, we just aren't there yet.

I also remember I used to have to pay per minute to make long distance calls or be on the "internet", broadband was less than 1meg, and I used to have to wait 4-6 weeks for shipping but industries change over time and it's OK for a consumer (and fan) of that industry to want more for their money.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

This is all dancing around the easy and obvious solution that will satisfy all parties involved.


Clearly, the best way to move forward is for WotC to just suck it up and send electronic copies of books to anyone who can probe they purchased a rulebook. It doesn't cost WotC anything because we purchased a book, and PDFs are easy to generate in InDesign, which is used to layout the books anyway.

You just need to scan a receipt and email it to them and they will respond with a DMsGuild code that offers the book with a 100% discount.
Simple and fair.

The only teensy tiny problem is those rare people who haven't kept receipts for purchases for six years. Well, they can easily go to their FLGS or book store with a copy, explain their need, and get a replacement receipt printed out.
I can't imagine any reason a store would refuse this simple, harmless request.

The only complication now is those very rare people whose FLGS has closed in the intervening years. Sadly mine was a casualty of the Great Recession and closed in 2015. (RIP Gamer's Lair)
In that instance, it should be a simple matter to let people take photographs of them holding their book as proof and WotC will give them a free PDF copy.

I think we can all agree this is a fair and reasonable solution to the problem. And easy too. Everyone has a camera.

As an example, here's me holding the Player's Handbook. This took 10 seconds to capture:

View attachment 121859

Not hard at all. I can't see any reason why WotC shouldn't give me an ebook for that.

Why, would you look at that. Somehow my preorder of Theros arrived early.

View attachment 121860

Can I get an electronic book copy of that too, please?

There. Problem solved forever.

Well I see no reason as to why you would lie so here you go.

Note that this is only for @Jester David, everyone else, please don't not click on it.

 

[Jester David]

Well I see no reason as to why you would lie so here you go.

Note that this is only for @Jester David, everyone else, please don't not click on it.

Saw the URL.
Knew immediately what it was.
Clicked anyway.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

No. You called anyone who downloads free PDFs of a book they don’t own a legal copy of “skum”. Calling petty thieves scum is gross, and is a sentiment shared by people who talk about shooting shoplifters.

Ok, just because I don't like stealing doesn't mean I want to kill people. This is equivocation at its worst.

They're not the same. You bringing it up is an attempt to compare me to literal murderers, and I'm not happy with the comparison.

 

[Umbran]

Mod Note:

The level of snark, insult, aspersion, and general ill-will in this thread is not acceptable. Dial it back, please, folks. Thank you.

 

[CleverNickName]

Going back to the original post: I'd say that yes, people are still cool with it.

EDIT: Sorry @Umbran, I revised my post.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Apparently, the folks who would prefer that are not a sufficient market segment for Wizards of the Coast. And that's cool, they still provide plentiful options at reasonable prices.

And that’s why I decided to join the discussion again to say that maybe the circumstances have changed, since PDFs are more desirable now as an asset, in my opinion. You don’t need to agree with my view on the situation, but you probably understand that the market for certain products has changed in the last few months. I can’t see why WotC marketing choices from before that change should be preventing us from discussing it moving forward.

 

[Parmandur]

And that’s why I decided to join the discussion again to say that maybe the circumstances have changed, since PDFs are more desirable now as an asset, in my opinion. You don’t need to agree with my view on the situation, but you probably understand that the market for certain products has changed in the last few months. I can’t see why WotC marketing choices from before that change should be preventing us from discussing it moving forward.

Fair enough. Still, it's cool if they don't.

 

[TheSword]

I’m happy paying for d&d beyond material because of the convenience of having it at my finger tips and the touch of a button.

I’m happy paying for roll20 modules because it saves me hours of work.

I’m happy paying for an audio book when I own the physical book because I appreciate the time and effort required to record and distribute it.

Wizards of the Coast are entitled to make money from their products. I paid £30 for tomb of Annihilation and it kept us going for the best part of 18 months that’s about 4p per hour per person. I don’t actually know any hobbies that come much cheaper than that.

 

[Oofta]

So let's get this straight. Post asking if everyone is okay with paying twice. Answer is pretty much overwhelmingly yes, that while a PDF would be nice people recognize the value of things like the service that DndBeyond provides.

Then segue into how taxes in the US are FUBAR and corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes. Rant about subcontractors and affiliated companies having unethical business practices. Call corporations evil.

Because corporations are evil we all deserve free PDFs while ignoring logistical an licensing concerns. Claim that the founders of D&D were a couple of fun loving beatnik hippies. Ignore the fact that they drove their golden goose into the ground while simultaneously getting into long, protracted legal fights and suing everyone in sight.

Claim that everyone who disagrees with all of this is trying to take away your freedom.

Huh. Words fail me.