[DRM] - Put your money where your mouth is!
- Thread starter maddman75
- Start date
Kinko's offers this service via their website. Dunno if it's worth teh cost for color, however. While you could perhaps print a DRMed file in person at a Kinko's (by registering the machine you use--though no idea what that would mean for the next user), i'm quite confident you couldn't through their web service.Calico_Jack73 said:
Cheiromancer
Adventurer
Got some PDFs at RPG Now yesterday. Cooperative Dungeon 02; Gary Gygax's The Hermit; By Sword & Spell; and Diiavem's Full Plate.
The Cooperative Dungeon is very, very good. And it is free! The illustrations come out a little dark on the printer, though.
"The Hermit" is a little heavy handed (good for a tournament, though), and the dual-statting for the lejendary system is kinda irritating, but there are many good encounters and situations. Puzzles, mazes, the sage's cottage, etc..
Sword and Spell is quite long and meaty, but I haven't gotten into it very much. Diiavem's Full Plate is an artifact whose parts have been scattered, and whose powers can be unlocked only by high level wearers. Folks who like levelled weapons will like this.
The Cooperative Dungeon is very, very good. And it is free! The illustrations come out a little dark on the printer, though.
"The Hermit" is a little heavy handed (good for a tournament, though), and the dual-statting for the lejendary system is kinda irritating, but there are many good encounters and situations. Puzzles, mazes, the sage's cottage, etc..
Sword and Spell is quite long and meaty, but I haven't gotten into it very much. Diiavem's Full Plate is an artifact whose parts have been scattered, and whose powers can be unlocked only by high level wearers. Folks who like levelled weapons will like this.
nopantsyet
First Post
My money and my mouth? They're like this. (crosses fingers)
Seriously, I've bought a lot of PDFs over the past couple of years. Probably somewhere on the order of three dozen. Some have been printed in full or in part. Many excepts have been pasted into my campaign notes. I have put them on a CD so I could view them at different locations.
The fact of the matter is, it's only complicated because vendors are lazy. Music companies and publishers could, with minimal capital investment, put into place a legitimate electronic delivery method that would make life much easier without all the restrictions. I've done significant software development work in the area of content security, and it's not that hard. The problem is the media companies are unwilling to change their business methods.
Electronic content delivery does not mean simply that they get to eliminate manufacturing costs. They have to understand it is not the same product as a physical book. (Or CD for that matter.) Customers know that, and they purchase the product that fits their needs. But selling the different format while restricting the advantages eliminates the valut proposition. From a business standpoint, it's ludicrous; and anyone who does so should be forced to sit through elementary economics courses until they figure that out.
I'm still not settled as to whether I will boycott the companies or just the retailer. I mean, I don't want these companies to disappear. I just want them to sell PDFs that I can use. Then maybe they can sustain the losses until they realize they are blocking out hundreds of eager would-be customers.
Seriously, I've bought a lot of PDFs over the past couple of years. Probably somewhere on the order of three dozen. Some have been printed in full or in part. Many excepts have been pasted into my campaign notes. I have put them on a CD so I could view them at different locations.
The fact of the matter is, it's only complicated because vendors are lazy. Music companies and publishers could, with minimal capital investment, put into place a legitimate electronic delivery method that would make life much easier without all the restrictions. I've done significant software development work in the area of content security, and it's not that hard. The problem is the media companies are unwilling to change their business methods.
Electronic content delivery does not mean simply that they get to eliminate manufacturing costs. They have to understand it is not the same product as a physical book. (Or CD for that matter.) Customers know that, and they purchase the product that fits their needs. But selling the different format while restricting the advantages eliminates the valut proposition. From a business standpoint, it's ludicrous; and anyone who does so should be forced to sit through elementary economics courses until they figure that out.
I'm still not settled as to whether I will boycott the companies or just the retailer. I mean, I don't want these companies to disappear. I just want them to sell PDFs that I can use. Then maybe they can sustain the losses until they realize they are blocking out hundreds of eager would-be customers.
nopantsyet said:
I don't support panning the companies altogether. Several on RPGNet have claimed they will do so (but then they do that when a designer is curt on a message board
). Here is my response to that idea.-----------------------------------
I am boycotting - I'm boycotting DriveThruRPG.com. I won't be buying any of their products. Analogy time.
Lets say that McDonalds gets an exclusive distribution deal for Coke fountain soda - just for the sake of arguement. Now you don't have a problem with Coke, but you believe that Ronald McDonald eats babies. You want to send a clear message to McDonalds that they need to lose this cannibalistic clown.
So you don't go to McDonalds. Does that mean you should not buy cans and 2-liters of coke at the grocery store, because you don't like how one place that sells their product does business? Not only is that not communicating to McDonalds, its punishing Coke for no reason.
Psychic Warrior
First Post
I have just made my first purchases at RPGnow. I feel ashamed for having waited so long but I now have many, many pages to print out 
For interests sake I purchased
x A Dozen Documents and Papers = $1.10
1 x Forbidden Arcana: Potion Mixology = $1.85
1 x A Dozen Troubling Rumors = $1.15
1 x Blood and Space: Prometheus Rising = FREE
1 x Everyone Else (revised) = $4.95
1 x Silver Age Sentinels d20 Character Folio = $5.00
1 x Emergency Response #1 = $5.00
These things are great! And dirt cheap to boot!
For interests sake I purchased
x A Dozen Documents and Papers = $1.10
1 x Forbidden Arcana: Potion Mixology = $1.85
1 x A Dozen Troubling Rumors = $1.15
1 x Blood and Space: Prometheus Rising = FREE
1 x Everyone Else (revised) = $4.95
1 x Silver Age Sentinels d20 Character Folio = $5.00
1 x Emergency Response #1 = $5.00
These things are great! And dirt cheap to boot!
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
Bonzer idea, mate.
I just baught ENPublishing's Steam & Steel, and I've never felt more liberated.
Of course, according to DTRPG, I'm a pirate....arrrr....
The only problem is when companies go with DTRPG exclusively...but screw 'em. If Monte has a poor enough view of .pdf purchasers that it's DRM or the highway for 'em, the man's lost my .pdf dollas because of his lack of respect for me as a consumer. For every hyperconcious that is only sold at DTRPG, there's a dozen more psionics supplements that won't come with the DRM baggage, and I can still buy print Malhavoc products, and if I *really* want to be obnoxious, I'd download a pirated copy of a DTRPG-exclusive item, and maybe send off an e-mail to the publisher telling them "You sell products only with DRM, now I have your product without it. This is money not going to you, because you have insulted the consumer to give into some paltry, temporary, ineffective security. Go back to RPGNow."
...but that's only if I'm feeling *particularly* punchy.
I just baught ENPublishing's Steam & Steel, and I've never felt more liberated.
Of course, according to DTRPG, I'm a pirate....arrrr....
The only problem is when companies go with DTRPG exclusively...but screw 'em. If Monte has a poor enough view of .pdf purchasers that it's DRM or the highway for 'em, the man's lost my .pdf dollas because of his lack of respect for me as a consumer. For every hyperconcious that is only sold at DTRPG, there's a dozen more psionics supplements that won't come with the DRM baggage, and I can still buy print Malhavoc products, and if I *really* want to be obnoxious, I'd download a pirated copy of a DTRPG-exclusive item, and maybe send off an e-mail to the publisher telling them "You sell products only with DRM, now I have your product without it. This is money not going to you, because you have insulted the consumer to give into some paltry, temporary, ineffective security. Go back to RPGNow."
...but that's only if I'm feeling *particularly* punchy.
