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

[Snarf Zagyg]

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

I feel like when my latest incarnation was about to be loosed upon this world, I was asked, "So, you will either lose your hair or your eyesight. What will it be?"

And I, being the eternal smart...donkey... replied, "Why not both?"

Eh, better than to lose your wits, I guess.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

1. Do you correctly prefer your RPG materials to be in real, book form, or are you one of those .pdf lovers?

If I can't buy it in real book form, I won't run it. I have on occasion used a module that I only had in PDF....but would print it out first. But I do love PDFs....for their utility. Just not their aesthetics. I will note that I adopted ebooks early on and built up an impressive collection of tablet devices; I tend to read at least one book a month on tablet, but fell back to mostly buying in print. That was for regular books. For games the top advantage of PDFs is looking things up and providing players with info they need.

2. Relatedly, if you're a .pdf lover, how do you like Huey Lewis and the News? I mean, their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. Huey Lewis has been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.

I only listened to Isao Tomita, Wendy Carlos, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson and other pioneers around the time Huey Lewis (if that's his real name) allegedly was popular.

3. Do you use electronic devices at your table when you are gaming in person (assuming this will ever happen again as it used to in the BEFORE TIMES)?

Almost never. I keep my tablet, mostly during modern day games for Call of Cthulhu to reference for city maps or something and that is it. I recently one one occasion had forgotten a print module and then used the PDF on the tablet to run the game, which was okay. Actually it was kind of nice and handy, come to think of it. Hmmmm.

 

[Davies]

1. Do you correctly prefer your RPG materials to be in real, book form, or are you one of those .pdf lovers?

.pdf lover and utterly unapologetic about it. Trees should not die for the majority of role-playing games published.

2. Relatedly, if you're a .pdf lover, how do you like Huey Lewis and the News?

Not particularly.

3. Do you use electronic devices at your table when you are gaming in person (assuming this will ever happen again as it used to in the BEFORE TIMES)?

Who knows what I'll do then?

 

[payn]

I feel like when my latest incarnation was about to be loosed upon this world, I was asked, "So, you will either lose your hair or your eyesight. What will it be?"

And I, being the eternal smart...donkey... replied, "Why not both?"

Eh, better than to lose your wits, I guess.

Man, you are doing me no favors this Monday morning. I've taken to wearing hats recently too.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Folks be thinking books going the way of 8-tracks.

Books are like 33' LPs, here to stay (somehow, against all logic).

 

[payn]

Books are like 33' LPs, here to stay (somehow, against all logic).

It's awecessary.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Books are like 33' LPs, here to stay (somehow, against all logic).

We can get rid of physical media once all the hackers, virus developers, subscription models and other digital age evils are purged from this Earth.

 

[Weiley31]

There is an idea of a Snarf Zagyg; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold rhetoric, and you can read my lengthy comments and maybe you can even sense our gaming preferences are probably comparable... I simply am not there.

Dont you see it yet?

At least Keanu Reeves turned out better and aged like fine wine, unlike Segal.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

We can get rid of physical media once all the hackers, virus developers, subscription models and other digital age evils are purged from this Earth.

Cut electronic subscriptions — Cut loot boxes and NFTs — Smash the control images — Smash the control machine — Burn the pdfs and the pdf makers— Kill the digital age evils— Kill! Kill! Kill!

 

[TheSword]

to be honest I like both but for different reasons.

1./ If I’m referring to a text regularly in game - a complicated campaign book with various appendixes and tables - or a core book for a new game, then I do like a book. I can flip through and stick book marks etc and generally have it to hand.

2./ For EVERYTHING else I prefer pdf. I owned at one point hundreds of D&D books. Weighed down by a half dozen of them every time I travelled the three hours by train to go to my monthly game weekend. Now I never carry more than one book.

PDFs are easier to use for Roll20 to screen capture maps and art.

PDFs don’t get tea spilled on them

PDFs don’t get lost or lent out and not returned

PDFs don’t weigh anything

PDF’s are cheaper

PDFs are accessible in a way that books aren’t through DriveThruRPG etc.

I can have two hundred PDFs on my laptop and pull them up in an instant if I need to check something or find some inspiration.

When I’m writing or adapting an adventure, I use PDFs in a way, I never would with books.

£95 for a print copy of Volo’s Guide to the Dalelands or $9.99 on DriveThru for the pdf. No contest.

The good news was that I sold my 200 hard copy D&D books on eBay for more than I paid for them to.