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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[Morrus]

Let the project fail and they can offer rebates to the dozen or so people who bought books on this before they realized there are cheaper or more robust alternatives. I just don't want to see yet-another failed D&D software project added to the list.

I'm confused. You want them to fail, but you don't want to see another failed project?

 

[Remathilis]

I'm confused. You want them to fail, but you don't want to see another failed project?

I don't want to see them fail, but if they think that is good business to charge $30 per book for the functionality bought elsewhere for $20, then they deserve to.

To me, its simple. Either

* Do something that can't already be done by D&D Beyond, or
* Lower their price to match D&D Beyond's Compendium Only pricing.

So far, their unique market niche is: People who don't own already own the books, want a digital/app-based platform, only buy the material they need to play their character (race/class/background) and have no need for a character builder or VTT. That's a fairly small niche of a already small market. Any other option is better served in other ways.

 

[Morrus]

[NU][/NU]

That's a fairly small niche of a already small market. Any other option is better served in other ways.

You'd be surprised how well a small company can do servicing a tiny niche. You don't need to be the biggest; you just need to have a decent margin for your size to provide a small number of people a decent living.

 

[SkidAce]

Sadly, I see it in retail all the time.

New Bluray for 29.99 somewhere, and the same thing at a different store for 19.99.

And the 29.99 sells...



Overall I see [MENTION=7635]Remathilis[/MENTION] ' point. From the info they gave, they are designing something to do a thing that is done cheaper already elsewhere.

While other people's points are valid, I honestly think there is going to be a point of "oops" or "hey did you know?" coming from Dialect and then changes in offering or prices.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Honestly, I don't care. Let the project fail and they can offer rebates to the dozen or so people who bought books on this before they realized there are cheaper or more robust alternatives. I just don't want to see yet-another failed D&D software project added to the list.

I'd say I'm shocked how many people are willing to pay $30 for the same content they can get for $20 elsewhere, but I only need look at iPhones to realize how people are willing to pay top dollar for inferior products...

I don't want to see them fail, but if they think that is good business to charge $30 per book for the functionality bought elsewhere for $20, then they deserve to.

To me, its simple. Either

* Do something that can't already be done by D&D Beyond, or
* Lower their price to match D&D Beyond's Compendium Only pricing.

So far, their unique market niche is: People who don't own already own the books, want a digital/app-based platform, only buy the material they need to play their character (race/class/background) and have no need for a character builder or VTT. That's a fairly small niche of a already small market. Any other option is better served in other ways.

I am astounded by the amount of insider information you have on the exact feature set of this service still in development and also on your keen analysis and data on the current state of the market for this product. How is it you're not making money as a sales/marketing adviser for these kinds of companies? With this skill set and prognostication ability, you could do very well for yourself!

[/sarc]

Look, you're not the market. Your tastes aren't the market. You are a computer savvy, tech savvy, heavily engaged consumer of the material. You're a member of the online D&D community (in various places, even) and are highly engaged. You are a fringe member of the hobby and, frankly, probably require too much investment to meet your wants. I am, as well, as are most people here at ENW. But, 'the market' doesn't comment online about D&D, and rarely does more than be told by that guy in their group that does follow stuff that a new book is coming out. Any of your tastes and preferences are not automatically the ones that are being targeted by companies wishing to sell in the D&D market. Do not confuse your wishes and desires for what actually sells.

 

[darjr]

If they provide an ebook/PDF easy reading experience that might make a parent or same pice with it. Fantasy Grounds, as much as I like it, doesn’t do this. Nor does anything else as f as I know. So if they do that well, I’ll at least take a look.

 

[mrm1138]

Then they need to get their PR people out there explaining why $30 spent on DDR is worth as much as $30 spent on DDB, or worth more than the $20 to go Compendium Only on DDB.

Personally, if all I wanted was the book in an app; I'd be far better off waiting for DDB's app and paying $10 less than what they opted to show in the preview articles. "D&D books using Dragon+'s UI" isn't worth $10 extra compared to DDB's compendium only option.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought $20 per book for the compendium content was a limited-time price for the launch of D&D Beyond and that it went up to $30 per book after the first seven days. Don't get me wrong, you get a lot more for your $30 through DDB than you do through DDR, but I thought the pricing was identical.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

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

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought $20 per book for the compendium content was a limited-time price for the launch of D&D Beyond and that it went up to $30 per book after the first seven days. Don't get me wrong, you get a lot more for your $30 through DDB than you do through DDR, but I thought the pricing was identical.

The founders week sale was $20 per core book, but included having the content available in the entire toolset. When the sale was over, price went up to $30. The compendium only option was not on sale that week, and has been $20 from the beginning.


Sent from my iPad using EN World mobile app

 

[mrm1138]

The founders week sale was $20 per core book, but included having the content available in the entire toolset. When the sale was over, price went up to $30 after the sale. The compendium only option was not on sale that week, and has been $20 from the beginning.[/url]

Oh, I see. Up until now, I wasn't even aware that compendium-only content was even a thing.

 

[Satyrn]

Sadly, I see it in retail all the time.

New Bluray for 29.99 somewhere, and the same thing at a different store for 19.99.

And the 29.99 sells...



Overall I see [MENTION=7635]Remathilis[/MENTION] ' point. From the info they gave, they are designing something to do a thing that is done cheaper already elsewhere.

While other people's points are valid, I honestly think there is going to be a point of "oops" or "hey did you know?" coming from Dialect and then changes in offering or prices.

Aye, and numerous people have told Remathilis just that, that it's too early to consider the prices as the real prices.