- I like to feel the heft. PDFs have their uses I suppose... transportability is one. But PDFs are emergency use only to me.
- Huey Lewis. Nope. I was way more into The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, Violent Femmes. Huey Lewis was lumped for me into the same category as David Wilcox. Sort of an inoffensive pop rock... to each his own though. Never saw the appeal of Doing the Bearcat or Going Back in Time.
- I haven't sat at a gaming table in many years. Some electronic devices could speed things up/generally improve play I'm sure, but I'd be guessing.
D&D General I hate pdfs, and I'm happy that WOTC primarily publishes Books
- Thread starter Snarf Zagyg
- Start date
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
Folks be thinking books going the way of 8-tracks.
If people think the only reason that books still sell is that WotC is hanging on to a medium past its expiration date, I think that says a lot about what they think about the business model in the first place, and none of it good.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
The thought of other people being happier than me, or even just happy in general, fills me with an unquenchable and seething anger.
Oh, wait, I shouldn't have said that. How does a person say that they have no internal monologue. Oh no, did that come out too?
Um .... does it occur to you that I can express my preferences just fine, and you can too, and it's okay if we don't agree? That's part of life! I like books. I hate bards. Maybe you hate books and like bards ('cuz your momma didn't raise you right)? Some people like books, some people like vinyl, some people still like manual transmission and IC engines. Life is full of preferences.
Trying to gussy up your preference with dark foreboding about WoTC's business model seems kind of odd, especially given that they seem to have spectacularly succeeded with it.
Voadam
Legend
I like sitting on my couch and reading physical books. I like sitting on my couch and reading on my kindle a little less because of the small screen, but I still enjoy it. I really enjoy having access to a ton of PDFs on my computer with search and copy and paste functions as I am doing game prep. I really like having a deep gaming reference library for anything that comes up in my games. I have a big physical game book library, but my PDF collection is many times bigger.
My in person games I mostly go screen free with abbreviated monster stats either printed out or written down if they are not in the physical core Bestiary or MM that will be at the game. I use modules though and in my last game I only had one of the three modules I was running in a physical copy so I kept a PDF on my kindle open at the table as I gamed for reference for the two I did not.
I've been in a group where I was the only one with physical dice and a paper character sheet, and I've been in a group where I was the only one with a laptop (d20 wizards can get a lot of spells from multiple sources that are more convenient to have copied into a word spellbook document, same for summon monster stat blocks that are modified from core by templates and feats).
My in person games I mostly go screen free with abbreviated monster stats either printed out or written down if they are not in the physical core Bestiary or MM that will be at the game. I use modules though and in my last game I only had one of the three modules I was running in a physical copy so I kept a PDF on my kindle open at the table as I gamed for reference for the two I did not.
I've been in a group where I was the only one with physical dice and a paper character sheet, and I've been in a group where I was the only one with a laptop (d20 wizards can get a lot of spells from multiple sources that are more convenient to have copied into a word spellbook document, same for summon monster stat blocks that are modified from core by templates and feats).
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
You forgot a healthy dose of winks in your posting. Folks cant tell if its tongue in cheek or a tossed gauntlet. I mean, folks are still arguing about the words training wheels instead of the actual concept its supposed to describe next door. See how we are? Gonna post about it once every 20 min.The thought of other people being happier than me, or even just happy in general, fills me with an unquenchable and seething anger.
Oh, wait, I shouldn't have said that. How does a person say that they have no internal monologue. Oh no, did that come out too?
Um .... does it occur to you that I can express my preferences just fine, and you can too, and it's okay if we don't agree? That's part of life! I like books. I hate bards. Maybe you hate books and like bards ('cuz your momma didn't raise you right)? Some people like books, some people like vinyl, some people still like manual transmission and IC engines. Life is full of preferences.
Trying to gussy up your preference with dark foreboding about WoTC's business model seems kind of odd, especially given that they seem to have spectacularly succeeded with it.
Well, it's not the "I like PDFs" part of your statement I take umbrage with, it's the "and I'm glad they are a Book publisher" (as if PDF books weren't books). You are expressing not just a preference, but an approval of a publishing policy that limits access for other people unnecesarily.The thought of other people being happier than me, or even just happy in general, fills me with an unquenchable and seething anger.
Oh, wait, I shouldn't have said that. How does a person say that they have no internal monologue. Oh no, did that come out too?
Um .... does it occur to you that I can express my preferences just fine, and you can too, and it's okay if we don't agree? That's part of life! I like books. I hate bards. Maybe you hate books and like bards ('cuz your momma didn't raise you right)? Some people like books, some people like vinyl, some people still like manual transmission and IC engines. Life is full of preferences.
Trying to gussy up your preference with dark foreboding about WoTC's business model seems kind of odd, especially given that they seem to have spectacularly succeeded with it.
As to WotC's business practices: it does seem that licensing access through DND Beyond is successful for them. I won't rent books I can't read off line, but I'm glad the people who will have an option. But the last decade or so has proven that whatever reason WotC has for not selling PDFs anti-consumer.
J.Quondam
CR 1/8
I especially appreciated having physical books last winter when the power went out for several days. To distract from the cold, I could still do my gaming stuff - albeit at the much slower speed I learned to do it as a kid... which was actually kind of nice in its own way.
And when I was done, I could toss the book in the fire barrel to keep warm.
And when I was done, I could toss the book in the fire barrel to keep warm.
Composer99
Hero
I like my D&D books in book form. Everything else I've tended to prefer PDF. If I get into a group playing something other than D&D and I really enjoy myself, I might get books.
I'm more or less indifferent with respect to Huey Lewis and the News, but without them we wouldn't have been treated to the glory that is Weird Al's I Want a New Duck. So there's that.
I have had D&D content on my phone for years that I would use for reference as a DM. Last time I played as a player was a Christmas one-shot in... 2019 I want to say? Probably used my phone to look up spells.
Kinematics
Hero
1) I love my books, but PDFs are vastly more convenient for doing actual work (creating/editing/experimenting with character builds). For some systems, I'll skip past PDFs and go to something like HeroLab (because screw doing Mutants and Masterminds, or anything Paizo, by hand).
2) I've heard of the name "Huey Louis and the News". Couldn't tell you a single thing about them, and no idea if I've even heard anything by them except by accident. I paid attention to almost no music pre-90's, though.
3) I don't use electronic devices at the table when playing in person; I prefer physical books. One of our GMs does (he has a laptop hooked up to a wall-mounted TV); the other doesn't (he still draws world maps by hand). A third GM is VTT only, since he moved out of state.
2) I've heard of the name "Huey Louis and the News". Couldn't tell you a single thing about them, and no idea if I've even heard anything by them except by accident. I paid attention to almost no music pre-90's, though.
3) I don't use electronic devices at the table when playing in person; I prefer physical books. One of our GMs does (he has a laptop hooked up to a wall-mounted TV); the other doesn't (he still draws world maps by hand). A third GM is VTT only, since he moved out of state.
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
No Ray Parker Jr Ghostbusters theme either.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
Folks can't tell? I can't either!
There's a fine line between dead-pan, and dead to it all.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
No. Just ... no.
The idea that a corporation (which, by the way, has been completely and wildly successful with its strategy) is "anti-consumer" because it isn't doing what you want is ... silly. It's just taking your own preferences and making them universal.
I still like manual transmissions. I also am quite aware of how difficult it is to buy a car with a stick in the U.S. But I don't say that the auto manufacturers are "anti-consumer," just that the market isn't catering to my preferences.
Not everything is available in all the forms that you want. For example- WoTC isn't in a hurry, right now, to make new, deluxe PRINT copies of my favorite old editions (no, "print on demand" doesn't cut it). That doesn't mean that they are anti-consumer, just that they have chosen not to cater to my preferences ... probably wisely.
This is a pretty easy "scoreboard" scenario- obviously, WoTC is doing something right, even if you don't approve of it.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
Actually ... not a bad point. My eyes have gone drastically in the last year in terms of reading very small print ... and I don't think it's getting better.
I'm postponing the inevitable reading glasses mostly because of misplaced and unearned vanity.
1. I appreciate when products that include a pdf when I buy a physical book. It's useful for searching, but also for printing out individual pages, or copying and pasting things to put in a handout for players. That said, I don't really buy rpg products only in pdf form; I need the book.
2. They say the heart of analogue reading is still beating, and from what I've seen I believe 'em.
3. I think I will experiment with having a tablet at the table. Reasons
a. notes in google docs--I can edit them without printing everything out again
b. random generators
c. showing pictures and such to players
2. They say the heart of analogue reading is still beating, and from what I've seen I believe 'em.
3. I think I will experiment with having a tablet at the table. Reasons
a. notes in google docs--I can edit them without printing everything out again
b. random generators
c. showing pictures and such to players
Try having a (then) eight year old you read bed time stories too, and need them to read a few words to you because you can't make them out... :-/
Buy three pairs. They will be misplaced.
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
I just started by telling folks I needed the blu-blocking. Now, I need them all the time
