New SRD => No useful searchable document?

[Scribble]

Curiously, how would people feel about an online resource for all Open Content that required you to have, for example, a registered copy of the PHB in order to view PHB content? Would that satisfy everyone? Because if people actually aren't interested in getting the rules for free, it should.

I would not mind this at all. Part of the reason I like PDF books is because I can't always lug my game books around to the places where I find myself using them. (Such as at work...) Also, I like to easily cut and paste stats and spells and such into my own adventures and refference materials.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

It depends on what's up with the license, but I'm sure someone will create the next incarnation of d20srd.

If you buy 4e just spend the extra to get the pdf. Then cut and paste its text into a Tiddlywiki. Instant hyperlinked SRD and it's a self-contained file you can carry around on a USB stick with you.

 

[Spatula]

Bear in mind, whether WotC wants to bother with this is another matter entirely.

They probably won't, because I don't think they can protect plain text web content (htmls) from being copied once it is accessed. Hence the slow, inefficient, poorly-formatted PDFs that we will get.

I'm just trying to guage whether people really just want an online version they can access when their PHB isn't handy, or whether that's actually code for "I want the rules for free but I'm not willing to admit it."

That's rather insulting. If you don't find value in the SRD website that's fine, but other people do.

 

[Gantros]

Curiously, how would people feel about an online resource for all Open Content that required you to have, for example, a registered copy of the PHB in order to view PHB content? Would that satisfy everyone? Because if people actually aren't interested in getting the rules for free, it should.

That would be great, as long as I don't have to pay a monthly fee to keep using it. It should work just like buying a book - you pay once, and then get to use it as often as you'd like. And ideally there would be a substantial discount available if you already own the physical book. Monthly fees should be reserved for features that are regularly updated or bandwidth intensive, such as Dragon/Dungeon and the virtual gaming table.

I think this approach would still allow WotC to make their money, without alienating the growing number of players and DMs who prefer (or have come to rely on) a hyperlinked index of the rules.