D&D General Is D&D Beyond Exclusivity Bad for D&D?

[Umbran]

so we are back to ‘99% do not care’, still as bad an argument as the first time around…

I mean, it is and it isn't.

Business should the customers what they generally want, in a mode that makes financial sense. From that angle, it is a fine argument. If they don't lose a lot of customers over it, it is a fine business approach. Except in terms of accessibility, they don't owe customers particular formats.

My own objection to the argument wasn't from a business angle, but from a cultural history/scholarship angle. But even then, they don't owe customers particular formats - they just ought to eventually make the material available for archival and scholarly use.

 

[Imaro]

if it is a post that is not also a PDF, I dislike it just as much as DDB. I’d never spend money on that patreon, unless these cases are very rare rather than the norm

So you want a pdf or nothing...fair, I guess I value in the moment usability much higher than archival format... especially if workarounds exist for archiving the data.

Truth be told I have a ton of Dragon and Dungeon magazine pdf's from the 4e era as a DDI subscriber and I dont really reference or use them enough presently to justify in my mind sacrificing a tool as useful as DDB because at some indeterminate time in the future it may or may not be available to me. If I really want something Ill archive it myself (or buy the inevitable later pdf release on DM's guild) but I just dont use old D&D material in current games enough that its a major issue...

 

[Lanefan]

I have to admit, I am no longer nearly as concerned as I used to be about whether I have a "permanent" version of content. I already have a house full of stuff, and more gaming content than I can really use in my lifetime.

More importantly, it isn't like I'm going to re-use gaming content a whole lot. I ran Lost Mine of Phandelver once. Had a bunch of fun with it. Never touched it again. I ran The Wild Beyond the Witchlight - same. Don't expect to ever touch it again. I don't expect to need Harengon stats ever again. Played Dragon of Icespire Peak. Played Rime of the Frostmaiden. Don't expect to ever see those again, either. I don't expect to play characters of the same classes any time soon.

All fair enough, but if you own those things outright in physical form you can resell them, or keep them as collectibles (maybe to resell later at significant profit, if you're lucky ), or gift them forward to other gamers, or whatever.

Can't really do that with something you rent.

 

[payn]

All fair enough, but if you own those things outright in physical form you can resell them, or keep them as collectibles (maybe to resell later at significant profit, if you're lucky ), or gift them forward to other gamers, or whatever.

Can't really do that with something you rent.

Right, them beanie babies are gonna rebound anytime now.

 

[mamba]

So you want a pdf or nothing...fair, I guess I value in the moment usability much higher than archival format... especially if workarounds exist for archiving the data.

I am not saying I only want a PDF, but I also want a PDF I do not see usability of a patreon post, let alone discord chat, as even on the level of a PDF.

I agree that depending on your use case, DDB offers higher usability than a PDF would, but that requires you to be ok with limiting yourself to what they offer.

Personally I mostly see it as the only digital format WotC is offering and I am increasingly less willing to tolerate / support that. If they gave me a PDF alongside the DDB content that would be great, if they gave me a PDF instead of the DDB content I'd go with that, but buying content and not even getting a decent format for offline use is getting old real fast right now. It's one of the reasons why I dropped 5e, but some releases still hold some interest despite that, guess I will get over those too.

 

[DEFCON 1]

so we are back to ‘99% do not care’, still as bad an argument as the first time around…

Bad argument, or are you just bubbling under because you know I am right and that most people just don't care as much as you do about saving random bits of RPG material till the ends of time?

 

[Imaro]

I am not saying I only want a PDF, but I also want a PDF I do not see usability of a patreon post, let alone discord chat, as even on the level of a PDF.

I agree that depending on your use case, DDB offers higher usability than a PDF would, but that requires you to be ok with limiting yourself to what they offer.

Personally I mostly see it as the only digital format WotC is offering and I am increasingly less willing to tolerate / support that. If they gave me a PDF alongside the DDB content that would be great, if they gave me a PDF instead of the DDB content I'd go with that, but buying content and not even getting a decent format for offline use is getting old real fast right now. It's one of the reasons why I dropped 5e, but some releases still hold some interest despite that, guess I will get over those too.

So Im curious... are you aware of any ttrpg publishers that offer a pdf and a suite of tools like DDB? Not a gotcha just genuinely curious, because I can't think of a single one.

 

[cbwjm]

So Im curious... are you aware of any ttrpg publishers that offer a pdf and a suite of tools like DDB? Not a gotcha just genuinely curious, because I can't think of a single one.

I think most of them aren't big enough to have their own ddb so they instead offer pdf and work with 3rd party providers for an online tools solution.

 

[SteveC]

So Im curious... are you aware of any ttrpg publishers that offer a pdf and a suite of tools like DDB? Not a gotcha just genuinely curious, because I can't think of a single one.

The most notable one is Paizo with Pathfinder. You have PDFs available, and then the Archives. You also have Pathbuilder, which is a fantastic character builder. That isn't officially Paizo, but they work in conjunction with the builder so that new features are online at almost the same time as a product launch.

There are also a lot of publishers that have fully developed modules on Foundry and other VTTs, and also sell their PDFs.

 

[Lanefan]

Right, them beanie babies are gonna rebound anytime now.

Not every 'collectible' works out, but I've got a shelf full of old D&D modules that are, going by acaeum pricing, worth in aggregate considerably more than their shelf prices even after adjusting for inflation.