D&D Reader App Coming This Fall? [UPDATED]

Many people have been asking for official D&D PDFs, and WotC has been addressing the need for electronic reference materials at the table in various ways. According to Mashable, WotC is releasing a D&D Reader App this fall. It's not a PDF, but it's basically a D&D-specific Kindle-esque app for iOS and Android. Mashable reports that "Each book is broken up into different sections. So with, say, the Player's Handbook, you can tap on little thumbnails in your library to check out the introduction, a step-by-step guide to character creation, a rundown of races, individual sections for each character class, equipment, and all the other pieces that, together, form the D&D Player's Handbook."

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It's possible they are just referring to D&D Beyond (some of the details below correspond very closely with that), but it may be that a separate D&D Reader is in the pipeline.

UPDATE -- EN World member TDarien asked Adam Rosenburg (the author of the article) whether this was different to D&D Beyond, who replied "Yup. Beyond is more activity-oriented, so it can handle stuff like dice rolls. Reader is basically Kindle, with good, clear chapter divides."

UPDATE 2 -- EN World member kenmarable has spotted that Polygon also has an article about this. It is a separate app called D&D Reader - not D&D Beyond - being made by Dialect, the company which does Dragon+ for WotC. They tried a beta version, although it wasn't complete at the time.

Other items from the report include:

• You can favourite specific pages.
• Some of it is free, and the rparts of books are paywalled. "If, for example, you'll only ever care about rolling a bard, you can just buy that. Prices for individual sections are $3 or $5 (depending on what you buy) and the three full rulebooks — Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide — are $30 apiece for everything."
• If you buy parts of a book then buy the full thing, the cost is pro-rated.The free sections include "character creation, basic classes, gear, ability scores, combat, spellcasting, and all the other sort of ground-level features that everyone needs to understand in order to play."

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[darjr]

Of coarse DRM in the web standard could be the driver of this new app and we'll never see a PDF. Maybe this is a testing of that. Maybe all PDFs will go this way at WoTC. I certainly hope not.

And I don't actually think this is the case.

 

[Rygar]

Different options are for different people. Nobody is asking you to buy D&D Beyond AND this D&D Reader app.

When George RR Martin's latest book comes out in hardcover, and then in softcover, you're not being forced to buy the same content twice. You buy it once in the format you prefer. And if you want it in two formats, cool.

It's better that these options exist than that these options do not exist. What are people suggesting? That the product not be allowed to exist because they personally don't want it?

The very existence of a product you do not want is not an evil. I don't want a Mini Cooper, but I'm not on BMW's forums (is it them who make them now?) chastising them for creating the thing. I also have the audiobook versions of some novels I own. And I have DVDs of some old VHS tapes, and for some reason own Aliens in four(!) formats.

I would argue that yes, these products should not exist.

D&D needs products that generate strong revenue, increase adoption, and invest existing customers. Everything WOTC makes comes at the cost of something they're not going to make. Right now WOTC keeps screwing around with PDF's, microtransaction laden PDF's no less, while killing off their novel lines for example. PDF's are a 0 growth market as has been demonstrated by E-book sales, and based on the UK's 2016 numbers more like a negative growth market, yet WOTC keeps trying to push them. How is making multiple microtransaction laden PDF product lines helping adoption? How many people are going to pay for one class/item they can look up in a book they almost certainly already own or their friend sitting beside them owns? How many people were on the fence about continuing D&D that just suddenly said "OMG I can rebuy all of my books in PDF format!!". There's *no* real market for these products.

On the other hand, they could be continuing novel lines that showed for decades to invest existing customers, bring in new customers, and even sell D&D products to people who would never play an RPG. They could be scquiring more customers by making more than one setting since some number of people flat out don't like Forgotten Realms. They could be investing more people in the game by selling quality adventures to capture the market that doesn't have the time or imagination for making their own.

But instead they're spending money on *another* microtransaction laden PDF viewer to sell to a stagnant market. So yes, I do argue that these products shouldn't exist, they're consuming dollars that could've been spent on things that would've helped the brand and the product line.

 

[Thac0 the Barbarian]

D&D Reader App Coming This Fall? [UPDATED]

I would argue that yes, these products should not exist.

D&D needs products that generate strong revenue, increase adoption, and invest existing customers. Everything WOTC makes comes at the cost of something they're not going to make. Right now WOTC keeps screwing around with PDF's, microtransaction laden PDF's no less, while killing off their novel lines for example. PDF's are a 0 growth market as has been demonstrated by E-book sales, and based on the UK's 2016 numbers more like a negative growth market, yet WOTC keeps trying to push them. How is making multiple microtransaction laden PDF product lines helping adoption? How many people are going to pay for one class/item they can look up in a book they almost certainly already own or their friend sitting beside them owns? How many people were on the fence about continuing D&D that just suddenly said "OMG I can rebuy all of my books in PDF format!!". There's *no* real market for these products.

On the other hand, they could be continuing novel lines that showed for decades to invest existing customers, bring in new customers, and even sell D&D products to people who would never play an RPG. They could be scquiring more customers by making more than one setting since some number of people flat out don't like Forgotten Realms. They could be investing more people in the game by selling quality adventures to capture the market that doesn't have the time or imagination for making their own.

But instead they're spending money on *another* microtransaction laden PDF viewer to sell to a stagnant market. So yes, I do argue that these products shouldn't exist, they're consuming dollars that could've been spent on things that would've helped the brand and the product line.

I think this post is dependent on a lot of assumptions that may not apply however. If what he is using a standard licensing model for these programs, there is not actually a development opportunity cost for wotc itself, just an opportunity cost for those other companies were developing said products. It may not make sense for a company such as crucial to publish the reader, and the market will sort that out, but it doesn't actually keep wotc from working on things such as Novel lines since it isn't developed in house. Well one can take the notion of opportunity cost to ridiculous lengths, as a practical point the actual cost of this for wotc might be quite minimal.

It does prevent WOTC from utilizing a singular did you experience from a branding standpoint, so that may be a poor decision, but it does allow them instead to serve different markets with different needs. Personally, I find e-book experiences to be vastly superior to PDFs while using screen smaller than a standard book dimension, but inferior when looking at working on a larger screen such as A desktop. The superiority of one of the other is entirely dependent on use scenario, at least in my view. Well the strengths of PDFs as a archival format are quite rightly identified, when I think about the breath of consumers , for many people that may not be the most pressing issue. I enjoy having old copies of all the second edition books, but Lord knows I don't actually use them. Chances are that when Dungeons & Dragons moves on from his current edition I will move on as well, which makes perpetual access less bothersome to me as a practical level, although individuals will place differing weight on the philosophic offensiveness of "rented" materials.

Finally, I think it's important to note that each different electronic offering maybe serving a different niche. That is not a poor business decision, provided that niche is large enough to support the companies' aims. I often see proclamations on EN World by many users (not just Rygar). That there is or isn't a market for a given approach. Given the breadth of DND players and the fact that the presence or not a market is entirely dependent on how large you require market to be, I suspect that almost no one on this forum can make these proclamations fully authoritatively. That's particularly since individual products can form new markets by changing users interest, which is why we have markets and not planned economies in the first place.


Sent from my iPhone using EN World mobile app

 

[kenmarable]

I would argue that yes, these products should not exist.

D&D needs products that generate strong revenue, increase adoption, and invest existing customers. Everything WOTC makes comes at the cost of something they're not going to make. Right now WOTC keeps screwing around with PDF's, microtransaction laden PDF's no less, while killing off their novel lines for example. PDF's are a 0 growth market as has been demonstrated by E-book sales, and based on the UK's 2016 numbers more like a negative growth market, yet WOTC keeps trying to push them. How is making multiple microtransaction laden PDF product lines helping adoption? How many people are going to pay for one class/item they can look up in a book they almost certainly already own or their friend sitting beside them owns? How many people were on the fence about continuing D&D that just suddenly said "OMG I can rebuy all of my books in PDF format!!". There's *no* real market for these products.

On the other hand, they could be continuing novel lines that showed for decades to invest existing customers, bring in new customers, and even sell D&D products to people who would never play an RPG. They could be scquiring more customers by making more than one setting since some number of people flat out don't like Forgotten Realms. They could be investing more people in the game by selling quality adventures to capture the market that doesn't have the time or imagination for making their own.

But instead they're spending money on *another* microtransaction laden PDF viewer to sell to a stagnant market. So yes, I do argue that these products shouldn't exist, they're consuming dollars that could've been spent on things that would've helped the brand and the product line.

We don't know the arrangement between Dialect and WotC, but this doesn't seem like a giant money sink (and if it's anything like their other projects recently, largely funded by the 3rd party - not WotC). Of course, we can't tell until we see the app, but from seeing Dragon+ and from what has been described about D&D Reader, it sounds relatively cheap to produce. (And I say this as a full time web programmer who has worked some in mobile.) This isn't the massive efforts of hundreds or even thousands of hours of labor something like D&D Beyond or Fantasy Grounds takes in converting the content. It sounds like primarily an update to the same software they have running Dragon+ (and considering they have many other clients than WotC, it might be an app that largely already exists), and the content pretty much as locked down PDFs.

So I don't see this coming at the expense of really anything. Knowing what's likely going on "under the hood" on something like this, I can assure you that not doing this would be very far from balancing out the novel lines. I wish the novels were still going strong, too, but that's an entirely separate issue from this. This looks to be very minimal work from WotC, and if Dialect is even picking up the majority of the cost and effort, then it's virtually no effort from WotC at all!

 

[DEFCON 1]

How many people are going to pay for one class/item they can look up in a book they almost certainly already own or their friend sitting beside them owns? How many people were on the fence about continuing D&D that just suddenly said "OMG I can rebuy all of my books in PDF format!!". There's *no* real market for these products.

Over in the Lost Tales of Myth Drannor: DDAL's "Secret" D&D Book For Gen Con 50 thread they mentioned that someone just bought that module (that they could get for free by going to any number of upcoming cons) for $225 on Ebay.

There are people out there willing to buy anything. Including a reader such as this. You don't give enough credit to people willing to drop piles of cash on all kinds of stupid crap.

 

[Vampyr3]

Over in the Lost Tales of Myth Drannor: DDAL's "Secret" D&D Book For Gen Con 50 thread they mentioned that someone just bought that module (that they could get for free by going to any number of upcoming cons) for $225 on Ebay.

There are people out there willing to buy anything. Including a reader such as this. You don't give enough credit to people willing to drop piles of cash on all kinds of stupid crap.

The quote

"A fool and his money are so parted comes to mind"

 

[ChampionoftheTriad]

By this time everyone who wants a PDF has one. The market who was more than willing to give them money passed them by.

Indeed. This is just more proof that WotC is like the Microsoft of table top gaming (every OTHER edition is a craptastic in some way. Can't wait for 6th, ugh). They put out their excellent main product. People clamor for digital support. WotC tries, in an overly controlling and expensive way, to provide it. Not enough money/no control, dead end. Companies like Lone Wolf Development come along with their HeroLab, to fill the demand. They work license deals with game companies, and carve out a specialized niche to make the business model work. Years pass, everyone has spent tons of money on books, pdfs, and digital copies. WotC says "hey, I guess people really DO want digital support, and those guys are making it work." Then WotC throws money at it, comes up with a product in total secrecy, and then tells you that you want it and you WILL pay them for it. It's a turd, it flops, because you can't tell people what they will spend money on. WotC says "see, I told you there was no real market for this." And kills product. Meanwhile, there will never be a full suite of D&D books available on HeroLab (or others). They will never learn.

 

[rknop]

Different options are for different people. Nobody is asking you to buy D&D Beyond AND this D&D Reader app

....

It's better that these options exist than that these options do not exist. What are people suggesting? That the product not be allowed to exist because they personally don't want it?

I agree that things I do not want have a right to exist. And that it's no skin off my teeth if it does exist.

My problem is the suggestion that this product at all addresses the problem of a lack of PDFs available for 5e. A proprietary format that runs on a proprietary ap that you have get just for this one thing you want to read does not cut the bill. It would be similar to a a physical book that came chained to a chair and a desk lamp which were the only chair and desk lamp that you're allowed to use while reading the book. Saying that that product offering would at all address the desires of those who want a physical book would be dubious at best.

 

[Mistwell]

I agree that things I do not want have a right to exist. And that it's no skin off my teeth if it does exist.

My problem is the suggestion that this product at all addresses the problem of a lack of PDFs available for 5e. A proprietary format that runs on a proprietary ap that you have get just for this one thing you want to read does not cut the bill. It would be similar to a a physical book that came chained to a chair and a desk lamp which were the only chair and desk lamp that you're allowed to use while reading the book. Saying that that product offering would at all address the desires of those who want a physical book would be dubious at best.

What did you plan on doing with a legal PDF on a regular basis that is made impossible in this format?

 

[Remathilis]

What did you plan on doing with a legal PDF on a regular basis that is made impossible in this format?

Not who you were responding to, but when I ran Pathfinder I used the PRD to copy monster stat blocks into documents, create custom variants of things, have tailored spell lists and hand out cards with magic item stats on it. As long as D&D Beyond and this new product can allow for copying into a Word doc, I'm satisfied. If they don't then they don't serve MY needs.

Thankfully, D&DB allows copy and paste from the web, so hopefully this product does too.