D&D 5E (2014) 5E - Would you buy e-Books?

[am181d]

I buy PDFs exclusively. If it's not available, I won't be able to play 5e

I stopped buying WotC products when they stopped putting out PDFs. PDF availability will be a major factor in my purchasing decisions for 5e.

 

[Croesus]

Assuming I buy 5E, I'm leaning toward getting the basic core rulebooks in print, but all other books in PDF.

The core books need to be available for passing around during the game. And when reading a new rules system, I prefer to read in print, not on screen.

Since the non-core books will likely have some modules I want to use and some I don't, cutting and pasting from PDF's should make it much easier to create my own splat book of just the material I need.

Of course, all of this is based on current guesses about 5E. I reserve the right to change my mind once we know how WOTC will release the rules.

 

[Umbran]

I find I only buy electronic format when:

1) It is the only format available

or

2) I end up doing a significant amount of session prep away from home - doing prep during lunch at work, or the like. If I'm doing prep at home, I find I prefer dead-tree versions.

So, whether or not I'd buy pdf of 5e depends not only if I like it, but if I end up running it in a campaign such that I need the portable convenience.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I would not expect to buy e-books because I presume most of the information will also show up in DDI in the 5E Character and Monster Builders. Thus DDI will be much more useful to me than an exactly replica of the hardcopy books on e-reader format.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I would only get pdfs if they came free with a hardcopy, or at a greatly reduced price. I like hardcover books.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Back when WOTC offered PDFs, I was buying both. I'm lucky to be able to afford it, and they both have their advantages. Reading standard PDFs on a iPad is a drag, though -- lots of pinching and zooming, flicking around toe view a portion of the page large enough to read, etc. So a version of the document tailored for that view would be nice.

Now, a true e-book version might also be key.

One of the really important things I like to be able to to do with the digital offerings, though, is to be able to search. And I've become quite accustomed to being able to search on the Compendium. Searching in a PDF would meaning searching in a specific book only, rather than the entire rule base. It's beter than print, but not as good as the compendium.

-rg

 

[El Mahdi]

Hell Yeah!

 

[underfoot007ct]

I buy PDFs exclusively. If it's not available, I won't be able to play 5e

No, you can "choose" to play 5e either way. You "choose" not to buy 5e, which is your right. Absolutely nothing is forcing to only to purchase PDFs.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

It's just barely possible that if an e-book came free (or practically free) with a hardback purchase, that I'd eventually look at it. But I wouldn't want anyone to bet on it, unless they have money to lose.

It's also possible that technology will finally improve enough during the lifetime of 5E that I'd change this view. But I doubt that, too. I suspect sometime during 6E is a more likely point.

 

[BobTheNob]

Electronic form is massively important.

We dont want books any more. We use ipads and to be able to look things up on them is a far better option than lugging books around. Frankly, its PDF or its nothing.