It's happening again!: DTRRPG.com is selling WotC books!

[Nightfall]

Yeah folks I just saw. They are releasing a number of 3.0 and 3.5 books (like BoVD, Races of the Wild, Complete Arcane), to be DTR and in PDF format. Wow.

 

[JustKim]

Well good luck to them selling individually licensed virtual copies for more than it costs to buy and ship a print copy of the book from any online vendor.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah well apparently they thought otherwise after their first initial round of releases.

 

[delericho]

Well, I'm glad that they've moved in that direction, but I won't be buying at those prices. Annoyingly, they're specifically not offering the three core rulebooks for sale - I would have bought those, even at full price.

 

[Maggan]

Well good luck to them selling individually licensed virtual copies for more than it costs to buy and ship a print copy of the book from any online vendor.

For me, I'm beginning to think that the added utility of not having the book in print is something worth paying for.

Sure, I would like the pdfs to be cheaper, but then again, there are also advantages to tha pdf format that I think are worth paying for.

Some day we'll think "hey, why aren't the print books cheaper than the pdfs! They aren't half as useful as the pdf books I've got!".

We'll see what I'll do. Right now, I buy the print books, but I can certainly see that changing sometime in the future. Most probably when my shelfspace runs out.

/M

 

[ForceUser]

For me, I'm beginning to think that the added utility of not having the book in print is something worth paying for.

Sure, I would like the pdfs to be cheaper, but then again, there are also advantages to tha pdf format that I think are worth paying for.

Some day we'll think "hey, why aren't the print books cheaper than the pdfs! They aren't half as useful as the pdf books I've got!".

We'll see what I'll do. Right now, I buy the print books, but I can certainly see that changing sometime in the future. Most probably when my shelfspace runs out.

/M

There is no way I'd take a .pdf over a print book--I don't want my collection to be subject to computer viruses, software incompatibilities, hardware malfunctions, and any other debilitating problem that a PC can cough up. I'll just lug 'em around, thanks.

 

[Thomas Percy]

Well good luck to them selling individually licensed virtual copies for more than it costs to buy and ship a print copy of the book from any online vendor.

PDFs are very handy when you use a laptop on your game session, and irreplaceable when you try to design an adventure for a next weekend and you are not at home, but you have 100 Ibs. of paper in 5 Ibs. notebook.

I think, pdfs should be free for a person who bought printed version.

 

[Maggan]

There is no way I'd take a .pdf over a print book--I don't want my collection to be subject to computer viruses, software incompatibilities, hardware malfunctions, and any other debilitating problem that a PC can cough up. I'll just lug 'em around, thanks.

Well, I've aquired got a couple of thousand books over the course of some twenty years of gaming. I'm not gonna bet another thousands print books during the next twenty years, so to me pdfs is a viable alternative.

Given that, backup is crucial, and worries about software incompatibilities are an important factor in the long run, for sure.

EDIT: Aaaah, now that I checked out the site, I notive that the WotC books are not Watermarked, but Adobe DRM protected. This means I won't be buying, since I did indeed have a lot of hassle with reauthenticating my computer when the harddrive crashed on me.

Still a good move for WotC, I believe.

/M

 

[Aus_Snow]

Those ridiculous prices have put me off buying any of these. I'm quite partial to picking up the odd PDF here and there (mostly at RPGNow, actually), but I will never pay print price for a PDF. Simple as that.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, they've chosen DRM over watermarking. Pure genius. Do they set out to *not* sell PDFs? Then, I would understand.. on one level, anyway.

I've also had problems with DRM in the past.. and I think it is a fundamentally stupid system. Extra levels of irritation - and potential inaccessibility - for no real gain in 'security' (it can be cracked, like almost everything else).

 

[Hussar]

Are the PDF's bookmarked? Hyperlinked? If not, then there is zero reason why they should be the same price as print. Other than the fact that they are obviously lighter to carry, there is no advantage to using PDF's.