D&D 4E 4e DDI rules database vs D&D print books?

[Mercule]

I'll have to see what it all looks like -- books, pdfs, and database. I'm currently planning on grabbing a one-year DDI subscription up front. I spent about half that on PCGen datasets that never quite got the rules right and only served me for about a year. If I can get a 4e chargen, dungeon mapper, and quick-reference that serves me for a year, it'll be a fair upgrade. After that first year, I'll see what the competition looks like.

If the pdfs are cheaper than the books, I might consider going primarily digital for 4e. If there is a way to get pdfs at a steep discount once you've bought the dead tree, that's a sale for any book I do buy.

But, I'm also leaning towards going pretty light-weight for 4e, too. I'm one of the people who ended up with too many supplements for 3e, so I'm inclined to be picky in 4e. It's conceivable that I'll be a minimalist, but get the DDI. That way, if any of my players ends up getting "Complete Arcane, volume 36", I'll be able to reference (and, therefore, permit) the crunch on their characters without additional overhead. If I really need to know the fluff, context, or whatever is in the book, I can always borrow it. That way, I can spend my money on DM-oriented books.

That's all speculation, though. I honestly won't know what I'm purchasing until I see the quality and utility of my options.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

A rules database is next to useless as source of first-hand information. It might be a decent tool for referencing rules during play - which I don't do because I don't have a laptop and the computer is too far away from the gaming table.

A well done electronic version of the books would be much more useful due to the context of the rules, but I'm sure that those offerings will not be well done.

For me to invest a substantial amount of money into additional electronic versions, they'll have to be easily researchable, thoroughly hyperlinked and set in landscape format instead of portrait.

The other perks of DDI are not worth 10-15$ for me.

Virtual Game Table? I prefer playing at my living room table. If I'd want to try it out as a player, I'd rather buy the 24h-tickets.

Character Visualizer? See the first point. To build a character model for printing it out in a character sheet would be a tiny, additional perk.

Character Creator? E-tools II for rent instead of purchase, anyone? I really want to see a positive track record with this before I consider it an asset.

Dungeon & Dragon? 160 pages of PDFs hold no value for me. It would take more time to read it on-screen than I'm willing to spend. I'll rather buy the annual "Best ofs" of these magazines should they be published.

DM Tools? These could be cool^H^H^H^H very usefull, but as I'm running only 2-3 sessions per month, the cost is too high. Sell me this for 30$ instead!

So no, it looks like I'll keep playing a traditional game with no more computer assistance than today. Several months ago I was enthusiastic concerning this initiative, today I'm very pessimistic - and have sworn to better control my spending habits.

I'm looking very much forward to a public beta or a free test-run of DDI, nevertheless.

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Huldvoll

Jan van Leyden