How much would you pay for a PDF?

[philreed]

I'd go as high as 100% on a PDF I can get a lot of use out of if it's in PDF. Example: Unearthed Arcana as a watermarked PDF.

Typically I'll pay between 50 and 75%.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I would not pay more than 50% of the retail price of the hardback for the samething as a PDF.

 

[Morte]

Concrete examples...

I'm in a group that's about to play a short Conspiracy X campaign, planned at about 5 sessions. So I looked at Drive By to see if I could pick up a cheap PDF to do chargen and turn up at the first session with my character ready. It turns out that they don't have the main book, just the supplements. But judging by what they do have, I'd be looking at 15-20 dollars for the main book. That's too much, especially for a game that's about to get a second edition. I'd buy it for half that.

For something with a bit more staying power, say THS or the Traveller books I've already got on paper, I'd have cheerfully paid 50% for PDFs if they'd existed.

But I'd pay $50 for a complete Traveller campaign on PDF or paper that's good for 10 sessions without me needing to create any material myself. I don't like GM prep and I'd rather pay someone else to do it. But nobody will sell me finished adventures that I can use in a campaign.

 

[Starglim]

Closer to 50% than 75%.

 

[Psion]

What infuriates me about PDF vendors is that they almost invariably produce pages that are clearly meant to be viewed from printed material; that is, multi-column portrait format, which is really irritating to read on-screen.

Perhaps I'd feel different if I didn't own a scroll mouse, but I disagree with that. I strongly prefer traditional two-column portrait format, even on screen.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Full price for a book in PDF format? No. I'd rather order it through Amazon or another venue and get the discount. At least 50% off.

 

[Thanee]

So what do you think? It is worth paying full printed price for a PDF product?

No, definitely not.

I can understand, that some people, who rely heavily on PDFs, are willing to pay that price, but they are simply not worth as much as a book with the same content. Not even half as much.

Bye
Thanee

 

[IronWolf]

I wouldn't pay above 50% of the cheapest price I can find on the Internet for the print book. I am one of those that just likes the feel of the book in my hand. I own a few PDF's (both ones I bought and free ones from the WotC site) and I tend to use them to look up information, but not to actually sit down and read. I prefer a book for sitting down and reading.

 

[DaveMage]

25-50%

Like Echohawk said, though, I'd like to have both a .pdf and a print version of every product I buy (and not have to pay full price for both). That would make things so much nicer for a DM.

When I start my RPG company, that's how I'll do it.

(Oh, and I'll be winning the lottery right before that happens.)

 

[Psion]

Like Echohawk said, though, I'd like to have both a .pdf and a print version of every product I buy (and not have to pay full price for both).

Well, I'd like to have PDF and Print version of every book I use a lot. But at 75%+ of full MSRP for the PDF, my gaming budget just doesn't stretch that far...