D&D General I hate pdfs, and I'm happy that WOTC primarily publishes Books

[Kinematics]

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.

 

[payn]

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.

No Ray Parker Jr Ghostbusters theme either.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

You forgot a healthy dose of winks in your posting. Folks cant tell if its tongue in cheek or a tossed gauntlet.

Folks can't tell? I can't either!

There's a fine line between dead-pan, and dead to it all.

 

[Cadence]

Now needing reading glasses, the e-reader version has a lot of advantages out of bright light than it would have five years ago...

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

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.

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]

Now needing reading glasses, the e-reader version has a lot of advantages out of bright light than it would have five years ago...

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.

 

[Malmuria]

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

 

[Cadence]

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.

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.

 

[Malmuria]

btw, there was some discussion online recently about publishing texts as ebooks rather than pdfs. That's a bridge too far for me.

 

[payn]

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.

I just started by telling folks I needed the blu-blocking. Now, I need them all the time