Just for fun - a poll on PDFs v. Books

[Crothian]

While I prefer books, I don't have a real problem with printing out and using PDFs.

Most of the time...

The problem is that many, many PDFs are still simply not printer ink friendly. Sure, some are worth it, such as the aforementioned Book of Unusual Treasures, but even that one with it's pretty page boarders sucks, sucks, suuuuuuucks my ink carts dry, dry, dry.

Of course, to cure this ill on my end, all I'd really need to do is purchase a good laser printer.

I hear you. My poor ink catridges drain me dry. Soem companies these days are starting to make print friendly version of the PDFs though so hopefully that will continue to happen.

 

[philreed]

I hear you. My poor ink catridges drain me dry. Soem companies these days are starting to make print friendly version of the PDFs though so hopefully that will continue to happen.

This is exactly why the Dozens series is produced in its current form. I get some complaints from people that think the layout is too plain but it's perfect for printing.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I prefer books over PDFs for everything except adventures.

I like to print out the adventures and mark them up. Messed with the maps. Redo sections, etc. Cross out rooms, eliminate encounters.

Marking up a print-only module just seems sacreligious. With an electronic version I can always have an unmarked original.

 

[jmucchiello]

pretty page boarders sucks, sucks, suuuuuuucks my ink carts dry, dry, dry.

This is why I'm a firm non-believer in page boarders/background artwork. But it's hard to make that a great advertising point.

* Looks Amateurish!!
* Now with no sense of style!!
* Indistiguishable from your campaign notes!!

 

[sckeener]

Both, but prefer PDFs

I'd rather have a PDF over a book. Text searches and Copy&Paste make all the difference for me. Also being able to carry tons of books in a laptop bag instead of several boxes and bags to go game is a nice plus.

Since Dragon is putting PDFs out for out of print magazines, I'm getting the wonderful pleasure of using the Divine Champions material for my campaign (Issue #310). I was doing it before, but I didn't have as much detail and frequently just typed 'see page X in book XYZ.' PDFs are making it easy for me to knock out my campaign material.

My players are getting the pleasure of seeing all the material in one place instead of having to reference several books to figure out what new class or spell I've introduced to the world.

My most recent WOW was because my divine champions have different saving throws. The players just assumed I was using the paladin chart. Copy and pasting made it easy for me to include all the tables and charts from issue #310 for the divine champions giving me spare time to work on the backstory for that religion instead of spending all my time on making the class.

 

[Crothian]

This is why I'm a firm non-believer in page boarders/background artwork. But it's hard to make that a great advertising point.

* Looks Amateurish!!
* Now with no sense of style!!
* Indistiguishable from your campaign notes!!

I always perfered the term: Printer Friendly

 

[Arnwyn]

For me, it's: books yes, PDFs never.

 

[Kaji]

Electronic Prophet

It's all about PDF's. Always.
I bring my laptop to games, and I've got dozens of books as pdf's (all legally purchased, I might add) on it. I also heavily cut/paste into my campaign app, Treepad (which I highly recommend).

As for ideas being better in pdf's, I'm not sure about that, but some great stuff has been coming out pdf lately. All the stuff by Behemoth3 (Stirges, Minotaurs), great things from Ronin Arts (Deadly diseases, Magical Locks, all the planar stuff) and Malhavoc (Book of Roguish Luck, Demiplanes) and so on. Also, check out Lords of the Night_ Liches and Lords of the Night_Vampires from Bottled Imp Games

 

[philreed]

This is why I'm a firm non-believer in page boarders/background artwork. But it's hard to make that a great advertising point.

* Looks Amateurish!!
* Now with no sense of style!!
* Indistiguishable from your campaign notes!!

All you need now is a starburst and you're new ad is ready.

 

[Campbell]

I believe that you'd probably find an interesting correlation between preferences towards gaming PDF and how people view technology in general. From my vantage point PDFs and other electronic documents are a superior delivery method for rules related material, espicially additional crunch. I play D&D largely because of hyperlinked versions of the SRD, and the availability of electronic supplements. I use custom initiative and experience tracking software, and a nifty dice rolling program. I type all of my notes up on my Powerbook, and use it as my only aid when running sessions. I use XHTML documents to catalog house rules. I communicate with my players over e-mail, rather than eat away at cellphone time.

Then again, I'm on a computer unless I'm working out, working, or going out for the night. I'm currently working on my Associate's in Computer Information Systems, and I do some web development as a side job. I use my laptop to search for restaurants to go to, things to do, classes to attend, prospective schools for a bachelor's degree, etc. I'm only 20, and I've grown up using computers. I can read from a computer screeen just as easily as from the printed page. Technology is a vital component of how I live. I'd hazard a guess that most people that prefer books to PDFs most likely differ in their outlook on how technology should be used. I'd guess that a lot of people that prefer books don't feel as at ease when sitting down at a computer as I do. As an example, I've realized that while I'll sit down with my laptop to write a rough draft of a paper, most people I know will jot down their rough drafts on paper first. In short, I'm a highly unusual person, even amongst people my age who grew up using computers.

Of course that all could be a bunch of bull. Maybe I'm just immune to to the visceral thrill of having a book in my hands. I might even prefer PDFs because I'm a cheapskate.

Setting material and adventures seem to be the exceptions to my preference for PDFs mostly because I approach setting material in the same way I do novels. I get alot of entertainment value out of those products, and I've found that printed material just feels right for the amount of attention those products deserve.