Dragon and Dungeon as PDF?

[Scribble]

I'm thinking about possibly going through my collection of Dragon and Dungeon mags and scanning some of the articles and usefull material for later use/ organizational purposes.

I've noticed you can buy a few, but not all, of the magazines at Paizo as PDFs. But, I'm wondering, does anyone else feel that Dragon and Dungeon would be great if offered as PDFs? Perhaps offering a PDF only subsciption? (Save a tree! ) Or a magazine + pdf option?

Look at the popularity of the PDF Dragon Compilation set?

Some benefits I can see:

• Less shelf space (My GF doesn't understand why I need THAT MANY magazines...)
  
• Easily organized (easily cut/paste articles that are being used in various campaigns?)
  
• Easy to use (just cut and paste rules and NPCs and maps as needed...)
  
• Carry it with me (I keep my pdfs on a flash drive... Carrying my RPG collection in my pocket is cool...)
  
• Possibly less overhead for Paizo... (I'm not an expert, but it seems like less paper/ink means less printing costs?)

Now, I'm not arguing in favor of doing away with the printed magazine, but a PDF option would be cool...

Or does everyone dissagree? (Or is this something thats been adressed a lot before?)

 

[DaveMage]

IIRC, Paizo is only authorized to offer them in .pdf form once they have sold out.

 

[Scribble]

IIRC, Paizo is only authorized to offer them in .pdf form once they have sold out.

Well, ok, that explains why there aren't more PDF versions, but still... Why not argue in favor of a change in policy?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

At this point, PDFs are the only format I would ever consider buying either magazine in.

 

[DaveMage]

Well, ok, that explains why there aren't more PDF versions, but still... Why not argue in favor of a change in policy?

I think it would be neat if you could get a subscription that offered both. However, I would never want to lose the print version since the poster maps and occasional other accessories that come with them are really nice to have.

 

[Scribble]

At this point, PDFs are the only format I would ever consider buying either magazine in.

I'm close to that point myself... I'm pretty much switching to PDFs since I do a lot of my adventure writing and such on the computer and PDFs are just easier. I've even found myself repurchasing some books I own as PDFs.

I think it would be neat if you could get a subscription that offered both. However, I would never want to lose the print version since the poster maps and occasional other accessories that come with them are really nice to have.

Yeah, which is why I said perhaps offer both options or a combo option. But I think Paizo might increase their market if they offered a PDF option...

 

[Glyfair]

Well, ok, that explains why there aren't more PDF versions, but still... Why not argue in favor of a change in policy?

It's not Paizo's call. It's WotC's call.

I actually think adding a PDF option could very well kill Paizo, though. Magazine publishing is a marginal enough business as it is, today. If they offered a PDF option for buying/subscriptions they'll lose a lot of print customers to the PDFs. That might mean it won't be affordable to continue to publish a print edition of the magazines. They've just recently added another price hike to their magazines because of rising costs.

I think all the signs point to the fact that PDF publishing hasn't arrived yet for the mass market. The PDFs of the magazines aren't going to be enough to support the company on their own Maybe some today, but today isn't that day

 

[Scribble]

It's not Paizo's call. It's WotC's call.

I actually think adding a PDF option could very well kill Paizo, though. Magazine publishing is a marginal enough business as it is, today. If they offered a PDF option for buying/subscriptions they'll lose a lot of print customers to the PDFs. That might mean it won't be affordable to continue to publish a print edition of the magazines. They've just recently added another price hike to their magazines because of rising costs.

I think all the signs point to the fact that PDF publishing hasn't arrived yet for the mass market. The PDFs of the magazines aren't going to be enough to support the company on their own Maybe some today, but today isn't that day

Is it their call? I was under the impression that although PAIZO publishes the magazine WOTC still maintains a large amount of control?

I'm not sure "all signs" point to PDFs not being ready for mass market... I know a lot of people seem to feel PDFs are the future of gaming.

 

[DethStryke]

Now, I'm not arguing in favor of doing away with the printed magazine, but a PDF option would be cool...

Or does everyone dissagree? (Or is this something thats been adressed a lot before?)

I like the idea of being able to get PDFs of the books/mags. A DM I play under recently stated that underwater combat was going to be modeled under 1st edition rules as a base. Rather than trying to scan my DMG for the spell casting rules to show the group (most of which hadn't even SEEN the book ever), I purchased the PDF of the book for less than five bucks and Jpeged the two pages for group reference. That's one good example of being handy. While I love having the physical copy, each have distinct uses that the other one has a hard time filling.

Magazines or new books I would purchase as PDFs for up to 2 / 7 bucks each respectively, but I don't think that adequately compensates all of the people and resources that go into making those items... which makes the conversation moot. In my case though, I would probably not purchase physical copies anyway, so to bring PDF versions down to prices that I would consider them when I'm not providing the lucrative book purchase income is not a valid business strategy for any company who wishes to remain solvent.

The best concept I've thought of is to supply a PDF version with any book/magazine purchase, perhaps through a Proof of Purchase code entered into a website that allows a stamped download. This increases cost though, so it's not even a good solution in my mind... just the best of the worst.

Doesn't solve the issue of getting PDFs without purchase of a printed book, but I don't think that problem can be answered with the technology we have currently without sacrificing paid contributors and design company employees. I, for one, do not want to make RPGs any more of a money sink disguised as a business concept than it already is. Eventually I hope to be employed by it!

 

[Glyfair]

I'm not sure "all signs" point to PDFs not being ready for mass market... I know a lot of people seem to feel PDFs are the future of gaming.

It might be. It's not the near future right now. Sales don't support it.

I saw on the of the publishers of a top selling PDF on one of the RPG sites (I want to say RPGNow), say he sells very, very little and made it into the best selling products line.

I do believe you see a lot of people who believe it here, on an internet forum of fanatical game players (fanatical enough to not only play the game, but hang out on a forum discussing those games). However, we're a very small market of RPG players. Not even all of us buy PDFs, or want to. I buy the occasional one, but I can't stand reading a "book" on the screen. I need a copy (and printing them out is more expensive than buying the print version).