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]

This should have been released BEFORE not after the core books were released I'm not paying for my books twice.

And that's OK. Buy your book in whatever format you like best. Hardcover, softcover, audiobook, Kindle, braille. Nobody is asking you to buy it twice, unless you want to. Like I said, I have four copies of Aliens!

 

[mach1.9pants]

I wonder if this will be cheaper than DDB, as it offers less? Otherwise I can happily read any book I have on DDB just as easy and enjoyably as a kindle or iBooks book, or a PDF on any of my devices. I can't see the point unless it is cheaper.

 

[Queer Venger]

Much ado about nothing.
-W. Shakespear

 

[Shasarak]

Even in a pretty darn welcoming place like EN World....

Do you check under your mattress for peas before bed, Buttercup?

The irony is strong in this one.

Mmm, irony.

 

[Jacqual]

I wonder if this will be cheaper than DDB, as it offers less? Otherwise I can happily read any book I have on DDB just as easy and enjoyably as a kindle or iBooks book, or a PDF on any of my devices. I can't see the point unless it is cheaper.

From what I read prices are identical

 

[darjr]

I'll say one thing. This growing competition seems like a good thing.

 

[BookBarbarian]

This should have been released BEFORE not after the core books were released

But that could lead to less people buying the physical books, which could lead to less people going to FLGSs to get them which could hurt said FLGSs, which likley are running games of M:tG which makes far more money for WotC than D&D does. You and I may not like the strategy WotC had, but I can see the logic of it.

I'm not paying for my books twice.

A perfectly reasonable determination.

 

[Remathilis]

Hello? WotC? This is Remathilis. We need to talk.

Ok, I have nothing against yet-another digital variant of 5e coming out. I don't mind its a self-contained e-reader rather than PDF. I don't even mind that its done by the same people who did Dragon+. Lets talk about your pricing.

No, not the "I'm not buying the book twice" conversation. Its the "compared to D&DBeyond, what does this app offer me?" conversation.

Curse is working on an App version of D&D Beyond that will have offline capabilities. Right now, they can sell me for $30 the complete Player's Handbook. I can read it on my phone, tablet, or laptop. I can search, bookmark, and cross-reference/hyperlink. I get databases of monsters, spells, magic items, and rules, plus custom player content, and did I mention a character builder on top?

This app will charge me $30 for the same PHB content, and it offers me... what advantage again?

"Oh," he chortled "I don't use the character builder, I just want the rulebooks!"

But, you can buy the Compendium Content only on D&DB "Purchasing this bundle unlocks the Player's Handbook book in digital format in the game compendium with all the artwork and maps, cross-linking, and tooltips. The Compendium Content bundle does not grant access to all the content’s options in the rest of the toolset, such as the searchable listings, character builder, or digital sheet."

Price: $19.99.

Did nobody at WotC TELL Dialect that they're product is redundant AND overpriced compared to Curse's? Is it mandated that they charge $30/$25 for per book? EVEN IF I was in the market to just buy the books to put on my device for easy carrying and never touch the character builder or databases, its STILL cheaper to buy the Compendium Only Content from D&DB for $20 a pop.

Now, if WotC REALLY wants this to be the "digital PDF alternative" for 5e books, they need to do the following:

1.) $19.99 per book. Sell it at the same price Curse sells Compendium Only. People who want all of D&DBeyond's bells and whistles (like the character generator and eventual encounter builder) can plunk down $10 more for the database stuff.

2.) Offer a Subscription-based Model. This would be the perfect place to test out a $6.99 monthly access to all books model. People who want to own the books can buy them, but if you just want to rent them (ala music streaming services or Netflix) have an alternative.

3.) Start offering cross-platform purchases. It might be impossible to track who bought a hardcover PHB, but its much easier to know who bought Curse of Strahd on Roll 20 and offer them a discount on the D&DB or D&DReader version just by allowing the companies to share access to customer profiles. I'm not sure the technical logistics of it, but I'm thinking it can be done.

4.) DMs Guild Integration. Its an E-reader; it should be able to emulate PDF reading easy enough. Allow purchases from the DM's Guild to show up on D&D Reader and the app to allow the user to read the PDF from inside it. Sure, it won't be as nice as the rendered pages of the main books, but if I buy something from DM's Guild, I'd like to have it at my fingertips the same way I can have the PHB.

5.) Web-based access. They can do it for Dragon+, they can do it for this.

Right now, Dialect is being set up for failure because its priced equal to D&D Beyond or Roll 20, but offers 1/2 the features of either. D&D Reader should be the budget-friendly version compared to those.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Hmm. I love the content of Dragon+, but I honestly hate the app. It's clunky. It's slow. That's not a good mark for the d&d reader in my book.

Still as a platform it might be worthwhile. I wonder if they'll start releasing older edition content on it too.

 

[Xaelvaen]

Oh I don't intend to, but it's not at all unlikely that, as gaming moves more online, that I'll be forced to.

But saying "hey WotC this is why I'm not buying" is perfectly legit. I'm not super happy with many of the decisions they've been taking in 5E more broadly with books that seem to heavily mix player and DM content and the pile of adventure paths that seem to be all they release. It's pretty much like WotC sees cable TV style bundling as the way to go. If I felt I had an alternative game I could play---realistically given the nature of gaming groups, not theoretically as in "yes I realize there are a lot of other games out there"---I'd probably drop 5E.

I'll admit I'm not completely able to grasp the other side of the coin here - I play with my immediately family as well as friends, so I've not had the need for online interaction to enjoy 5E - I'm sure that jades me to the point that digital content (or the lack thereof) hasn't really affected me. In example, I can't stand reading books in pdf format when I'm reading word for word. Sure, I dig them for quick reference, but staring at a glowing screen to read walls of text just kills me.

I'm very content with the pace of 5E, and even moreso with the substance, but I do get different strokes for different folks. I'd be happy with nothing but physical books, but D&D Beyond really helps me play the game faster. Being able to just middle mouse click on each monster in a campaign listing, and automatically open that page, tab to each monster without having to flip through multiple pages while holding my place with a playing card or some odd thing... worth my money to the point I only buy the physical books now because I'm a nutjob collector.

I hope the new line of content (like the X... can't think of the name at the moment) will play more to your liking =)