How would you like to see a PDF version of Dragon/Dungeon

[TheYeti1775]

To curb the 'illegal' market, why not have the PDF avail 1 - 2 months after that month hits the newstand.

For the Poll I think PDF's should be available for print subscriber's, watermarked is fine, just bookmark it too.
As far as fee, I prefer it as part of the subscribe cost, but could understand a nominal fee inclusion into the subscription cost. Those with email can be sent a download link.

I think $12 per year each would be fine, as if they do it a couple of months after the fact, this is just bonus money for them. The work on the magazine has already been done, so they are just paying bandwidth and storage of nominal size.

Yeti

 

[kenobi65]

I wouldn't have an issue with them issuing PDFs, as long as the print versions still existed, and didn't go up in price as a result.

 

[hexgrid]

I'd be happy with just increased online support for Dungeon. For example, allowing subscribers to download documents with all the artwork and stat blocks.

Also cool would be providing any maps with 5 foot squares at a high enough resolution to be printed as battle maps.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I didn't vote b/c I would subscribe to "digital dungeon/dragon" if they were cheaper. I generally don't subscribe to either of them because a) price and b) cyclical nature of my need for material as my campaign develops.

Magazines don't store well IMO, even though I *love* the idea of a stockpile of adventures. They also don't search well so it's a pain to find that one adventure I thought would make a great one-shot or an add-in to my regular campaign.

Dragon is entertaining but the truth is that I only find it worthwhile when I'm developing a new campaign. Once I'm up to speed, outside material tends to be more work than I want to deal with. I'd probably consider it cost-effective, though, if I could get an e-zine for only a couple of bucks that I could read on my PDA when I'm bored.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I'd be happy with just increased online support for Dungeon. For example, allowing subscribers to download documents with all the artwork and stat blocks.

They do offer downloadable pdfs of the maps and artwork for each issue. They lack statblocks, though, which is something I would love to see them include.

 

[Umbran]

I don't regularly use pdfs for anything. Don't have the hardware to make it worthwhile. So I, personally, would get nothign out of a pdf subscription. I would not care that they made pdfs available, so long as it doesn't alter the quality or price of my print copy.

 

[The_Gneech]

As long as we're wishing, I'd like to see quarterly E-Tools packets for Dungeon, too. I'd happily pay another $20/year for that.

-The Gneech

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I voted other, but I'm posting here since it's more appropriate than the other thread this was discussed in.

I don't subscribe to Dragon or Dungeon. I rarely buy issues. The reason for this is that I'm not interested in 80% of the magazine content. I'm interested mostly in Eberron stuff, setting articles, and revamps of classic material. I already have plenty of feat and prestige class options and, if my players want something new introduced, they can bloody well get the book themselves.

Obviously, I'm not the demographic for the magazines- I want very specific stuff, occasionally, instead of a variety delivered every month. So I'm not likely to subscribe to the PDF format, either.

But... (and here's the point of the thread) there are some things I would get, like the aforementioned Eberron articles, if they were available in PDF. As it is now, I'm paying $6-7 for an article or two that I might use when I buy individual issues at the stand. The cost doesn't really seem worth it, even with a hardcopy, because it's still mostly stuff that I don't want.

I'd happily pay $2-3 for a single article from a magazine if it's the only thing in the magazine I want, and if the reviews/community feedback are favorable. So, if mini PDFs of feature articles were sold, and I could pick and choose which ones to get, then I'd be a more regular customer. It still wouldn't be a subscription, obviously, since it's the customer deciding what to buy instead of the monthly delivery.

How this would be implemented, of course, is an entirely different matter, as I'm sure it would involve changing contracts with printers or writers. But I thought I'd throw the idea out there, anyway. A lot of the hobby industry seems to be going toward this mini-transaction approach: booster packs, single figurines, short PDFs, quickie plugins for the XBox, etc. If a company isn't putting out the high dollar collector's books, then I think the small dollar market is one worth looking into.

 

[Ranger REG]

Reading through another thread about the state of the RPG industry, I started to wonder a bit.

Would you like to see Dragon/DUngeon produced in a PDF only format as an option? Would you want them to provide PDFs at all?

Let me know your thoughts on this. Without knowing much about the magazine distribution/subscription/print business it seems to me that they could increase their subscriber base, decrease printing costs and come out ahead if they provided a combination of offerings.

EDIT: Note that options 2 and 3 should say "I prefer.."

I'm not a subscriber. I prefer my magazine printed and displayed for sale in my FLGS, thank you very much.

 

[takasi]

All we have to do is buy all of the issues in print and we can get our pdf copies, right? Well let's get buying then!