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Ampersand: 2011 releases officially gutted
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<blockquote data-quote="tmanbeaubien" data-source="post: 5429549" data-attributes="member: 61868"><p>A great friend of mine, TheHalfling, pointed me at this thread and I've read it with deep interest. </p><p></p><p>Here's a question - when did you realize that a digital facet of D&D made some sense? I have some specific moments for myself - </p><p>1. When I bought a super-duper Excel Spreadsheet (with almost more macros than there are stars in the sky) to manage 3rd edition character sheets. An Excel Spreadsheet! I can (and have) gone on at some length about the great failure of WOTC to produce a character builder/manager program anytime in the 10-15 years before they actually did.</p><p></p><p>2. When I got an email telling me that my PDF copy of the 4e Player's Handbook (purchased at RPGNow.com) was out of date - a newer version was available with corrections and errata. (Obviously this was before the great drought happened.) This still happens for me with Paizo stuff I've bought.</p><p></p><p>3. When I picked up the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and flipped to the emaciated husk which passed for an index.</p><p></p><p>Since the beginning of 4e, I have not bought one of the powers books because I've been a DDI subscriber. It just didn't make sense to do so. I have lots of the other books because of the fluff that I want/need as a DM. I have multiple copies of the tile sets and bunches of the minis. My group plays in person around a table and we play just like in the old days, except with an iPhone app to track HPs and conditions, my iPad for compendium access and a nice magnetic board to track initiative. But the crazy bloodthirsty fighter who just has to kill every single foe on the board is still with us and the thi..rogue who tries to palm a gem out of the locked chest he just opened is right behind you too. They still argue with the town watch as to who threw the first punch. Etc, etc.</p><p></p><p>I dearly understand the love of physical books, but for books of rules - things which are tweaked, errata'd, polished and updated - the internet makes a huge amount of sense. Remember when some of us old folks were kids, they'd print a new updated set of encyclopedias every year? Well, that just doesn't happen anymore. It's too slow, it's too expensive, it's to heavy to carry around. And as mentioned above, it must cost too much to even bother to hire enough editors to make a good index for your books. </p><p></p><p>Paizo sells all their stuff in PDF format too and I mean every thing they publish with words in it. Works beautifully on my iPad at the table. Much easier on my shoulder when I carry it around. I'd buy more books (er, publications??) from WOTC if they were available electronically to enjoy. </p><p></p><p>So, like it or not, I think that our hobby is going to change - based on $$$ (atoms being expensive to shape, color and move in bulk), based on ease of use, based on overload of information, based on timeliness of updates. We may play it the same way we always have (or nearly so), but we're going to purchase (or purchase access to it) in very different ways.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tmanbeaubien, post: 5429549, member: 61868"] A great friend of mine, TheHalfling, pointed me at this thread and I've read it with deep interest. Here's a question - when did you realize that a digital facet of D&D made some sense? I have some specific moments for myself - 1. When I bought a super-duper Excel Spreadsheet (with almost more macros than there are stars in the sky) to manage 3rd edition character sheets. An Excel Spreadsheet! I can (and have) gone on at some length about the great failure of WOTC to produce a character builder/manager program anytime in the 10-15 years before they actually did. 2. When I got an email telling me that my PDF copy of the 4e Player's Handbook (purchased at RPGNow.com) was out of date - a newer version was available with corrections and errata. (Obviously this was before the great drought happened.) This still happens for me with Paizo stuff I've bought. 3. When I picked up the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and flipped to the emaciated husk which passed for an index. Since the beginning of 4e, I have not bought one of the powers books because I've been a DDI subscriber. It just didn't make sense to do so. I have lots of the other books because of the fluff that I want/need as a DM. I have multiple copies of the tile sets and bunches of the minis. My group plays in person around a table and we play just like in the old days, except with an iPhone app to track HPs and conditions, my iPad for compendium access and a nice magnetic board to track initiative. But the crazy bloodthirsty fighter who just has to kill every single foe on the board is still with us and the thi..rogue who tries to palm a gem out of the locked chest he just opened is right behind you too. They still argue with the town watch as to who threw the first punch. Etc, etc. I dearly understand the love of physical books, but for books of rules - things which are tweaked, errata'd, polished and updated - the internet makes a huge amount of sense. Remember when some of us old folks were kids, they'd print a new updated set of encyclopedias every year? Well, that just doesn't happen anymore. It's too slow, it's too expensive, it's to heavy to carry around. And as mentioned above, it must cost too much to even bother to hire enough editors to make a good index for your books. Paizo sells all their stuff in PDF format too and I mean every thing they publish with words in it. Works beautifully on my iPad at the table. Much easier on my shoulder when I carry it around. I'd buy more books (er, publications??) from WOTC if they were available electronically to enjoy. So, like it or not, I think that our hobby is going to change - based on $$$ (atoms being expensive to shape, color and move in bulk), based on ease of use, based on overload of information, based on timeliness of updates. We may play it the same way we always have (or nearly so), but we're going to purchase (or purchase access to it) in very different ways. [/QUOTE]
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