D&D INSIDER CLARIFICATION...e-books/extras

[Wolfspider]

I think he's implying that you could cut and chop a .pdf, with the right tools.

Ahhh! I'm all for that then. That's what I do right now in order to create adventure documents. Well, not really cut and chop. Mostly cut and paste.

I don't think we're going to get .pdfs from WotC. But as we know the SRD will continue, and be complied in HTML and .pdf by some industrious gamers, we'll always have Paris in the Spring.

Indeed. History shows us that WotC doesn't like to issue PDFs of new books, and this is a shame. White Wolf does it; I don't understand why WotC doesn't. If they really want to embrace technology, that's the way to go, I would think.

 

[Li Shenron]

When you buy a book there will be a code to unlock "online extras."

Sounds to me that web enhancements are not going to be free anymore. Well no problem, some of them where nice but overall I used very few (there must be a reason why they cut exactly that from the printed book...). Actually, I think the couple of enhancementes I liked most were from books I didn't buy, like for example the town design method from the revised DMG.

When you unlock it online you get an electronic copy of the book (presumbably PDF, but I'm not sure it's been confirmed).

Personally I hate PDFs, so this is certainly something I'm not even going to spend 1 euro for. But I know that lots of gamers would really welcome this.

That book will be updated when errata is finalized and posted (which will be available for free elsewhere).

This looks good... however I really really hope it doesn't become an excuse for printing once again books full of errors, because "anyway we can release the correct version via PDF". If the amount of errors in the 4e books is going to be as high as in 3e, I am really not sure if I will play the new edition... it pissed me off if they don't care about improving this.

 

[Mercule]

I'm finding myself increasingly interested in getting a "supplemental" PDF of my dead tree books. I've started doing more and more game prep on my tablet and it is really annoying to be all snug on the couch with tablet in hand, but have to rifle through the stack of books sitting on the floor next to me or, worse, discover I left something upstairs and have to run and fetch it. I really never thought I'd hit that point.

I hope they decide a small, black coffee. A $1-$1.50 wouldn't change my buying habits much. But, a $5 tag for the PDF would drive my business towards Amazon, etc. even more than it already is. Currently, I get a few books from a brick and mortar shop and mainly go to Amazon if I'm ordering multiple books at once. I'm quite certain, though, that I'd start thinking "you know, if I got this from Amazon, I could get the paper and PDF for the same price as just the paper, here."

On the other hand, if authorized game shops had the rights to validate purchase of the paper book and WotC would open the PDF online, it would make the FLGS much more attractive. Unfortunately, 75% or more of the LGS I've seen are sole-proprietorships that wouldn't show up as trustworthy to WotC.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I don't think we're going to get .pdfs from WotC.

What else would they release them in? Are there actually any viable alternatives?

But as we know the SRD will continue, and be complied in HTML and .pdf by some industrious gamers, we'll always have Paris in the Spring.

And Paris in the summer, Paris in the fall, Paris in the back room of the club, Paris in the back of the bus... Paris gets around.

 

[Gundark]

And Paris in the summer, Paris in the fall, Paris in the back room of the club, Paris in the back of the bus... Paris gets around.

In and out of Paris....

Suddenly I'm reminded of a south park espisode of a certian Paris person

 

[Scott_Rouse]

There will be a code key in the back of the book that will do two things:

1) unlock a PDF (or similar file type) version of the book you just bought. To do this you need to have an account where you provided name, address, and verifiable email. You'll also need to pay a nominal fee to activate the book. Likely $1-$2. The account and fee are protection steps in place to verify the purchaser and create a barrier against piracy.

2) the second thing the code will do is populate database content in the account if you are a D&D Insider subscribers providing full descriptions of feats, items, abilities etc, for the character creator.

The are related but somewhat mutually exclusive in the sense that you don't need the full insider subscription to take advantage of the code.

This is a brief non-technical description of how it will work but I think it answers the OPs question

 

[Bishmon]

Thanks for the helpful reply, Scott.

 

[Henry]

1) unlock a PDF (or similar file type) version of the book you just bought. To do this you need to have an account where you provided name, address, and verifiable email. You'll also need to pay a nominal fee to activate the book. Likely $1-$2. The account and fee are protection steps in place to verify the purchaser and create a barrier against piracy.

That I could definitely live with.

 

[Nikosandros]

There will be a code key in the back of the book that will do two things:

1) unlock a PDF (or similar file type) version of the book you just bought. To do this you need to have an account where you provided name, address, and verifiable email. You'll also need to pay a nominal fee to activate the book. Likely $1-$2. The account and fee are protection steps in place to verify the purchaser and create a barrier against piracy.

2) the second thing the code will do is populate database content in the account if you are a D&D Insider subscribers providing full descriptions of feats, items, abilities etc, for the character creator.

The are related but somewhat mutually exclusive in the sense that you don't need the full insider subscription to take advantage of the code.

This is a brief non-technical description of how it will work but I think it answers the OPs question

Thanks for the answers... this is a kind of model, that I like.

Are there any plans to make the maps from modules or from Dungeon available on the virtual table top?

 

[Wolfspider]

Very cool. I like this plan.