D&D General Hey, are we all cool with having to buy the same book twice, or what?

Parmandur · May 9, 2020

eyeheartawk said:
If a company can profit from squalid slave labor conditions in its factories and engage with premediation for a decade and a half to avoid paying taxes, I would hate to see the competition.

Thanks Businesswire (Subsidary of Berkshire Hathaway)!

Welcome to America.

eyeheartawk · May 9, 2020

Parmandur said:
Welcome to America.

Ain't that the truth.

Parmandur · May 9, 2020

eyeheartawk said:
Ain't that the truth.

For a less ethical example, see classic TSR, "They Sue Regularly."

Individual incidents aren't necessarily proof of the overall trend, and with large corporate bodies you will see a gamut of good and bad. It's a matter of overall institutional orientation.

eyeheartawk · May 9, 2020

Parmandur said:
For a less ethical example, see classic TSR, "They Sue Regularly."

Individual incidents aren't necessarily proof of the overall trend, and with large corporate bodies you will see a gamut of good and bad. It's a matter of overall institutional orientation.

Just from those two incidents alone, Hasbro has done more objective harm in the real world than Lorraine Williams ever did at her mustache twirling worst.

Both of these incidents are indicative of willful ignorance by corporate leadership at best. Like, nobody noticed not paying $300 millions in taxes over 13 years? Come on now.

Look, I get Hasbro makes a thing you like, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are this paragon of morality.

Parmandur · May 9, 2020

eyeheartawk said:
Just from those two incidents alone, Hasbro has done more objective harm in the real world than Lorraine Williams ever did at her mustache twirling worst.

Both of these incidents are indicative of willful ignorance by corporate leadership at best. Like, nobody noticed not paying $300 millions in taxes over 13 years? Come on now.

Look, I get Hasbro makes a thing you like, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are this paragon of morality.

It doesn't particularly matter to me, since my use of their products puts any participation on my part in their moral activity as remote and material, neither proximate nor formal. However, according to many objective ethical watchdog groups, Hasbro is an exceptionally ethical corporation. That does have the effect of Magic/D&D fan Sturm und Drung over Hasbro being super "corporate" and "The Man" exceptionally humorous to me.

Don Durito · May 9, 2020

Ethical corporation? Sounds a bit like a kind murderer.

Parmandur · May 9, 2020

Don Durito said:
Ethical corporation? Sounds a bit like a kind murderer.

Case in point.

Guest 6801328 · May 9, 2020

Jester David · May 9, 2020

Jester David said:
Free PDFs are by no means an industry standard and ~~four of the top five~~ all five of the top RPGs in the fall of 2019 require PDFs as a second purchase (edit: unsure of the fifth. Thought it was free PDFs, but that was only for pre-orders), and two have no PDFs at all. (One has no electronic book access.)

For reference, looking through the ICv2 Charts, the top games reported over the last couple years are:

D&D: No PDFs. Digital copies sold on an app/website for $20, or $30 for compendium and a character builder
Pathfinder: $15 PDFs sold separately on their proprietary website (unless you're a subscriber prior to shipping; aka pre-order)
Shadowrun: $20 PDFs sold separately on DriveThru
Star Wars RPG: No digital products.
Starfinder: $10 PDFs sold separately on their proprietary website (unless you're a subscriber prior to shipping; aka pre-order
Vampire: PDF included free if you purchase from their webstore or a $25 PDFs sold separately on DriveThru.
Alien RPG: $13* PDF sold separately on DriveThru -edit: also free if you buy from their web store-
*currently discounted from $25, not sure if a sale or not.
Legend of the Five Rings : $25 PDFs sold separately on DriveThru.
Genesys: $20 PDFs sold separately on DriveThru.

Of that list, only ONLY Vampire the Masquerade and Alien have free PDFs with purchase. And that requires you to buy the book from the publisher. If you buy from Amazon or support your local game store, you need to buy the PDF separately.