D&D 5E So what's the scoop on D&D in PDF Format?

[LordEntrails]

I'm guessing the large concern is piracy and sharing, so I'm wondering if they'd require some sort of login and a dedicated reader of some kind. For the record, I'd be fine using a dedicated app and login.

They have partnered with several digital products that work as "readers". They are not designed as such limited, but as VTTs, but they work just fine to read the 'book'. You can get on DDB which is a website with hyperlinks. Their is Roll20 & Foundry which are a web-based VTTs. Their is Fantasy Grounds which is a client application.

I'd be ok accessing it in some other format digitally, as long as I could print pages as needed and pull up in a browser.

All of the VTTs have means of printing, but none of it is going to be formatted exactly the same with a push of a button. But once you have it digitally, do you really need a dead tree version?

As for pulling it up in a browser...you'd be able to, but remember that you're essentially renting the content, rather than owning it. If you leave the platform, or if they ever decide to pull/alter it, there'd be nothing you can do.

On DDB and Roll20 sure. But not true on Fantasy Grounds, they explicitly have a license with WotC to be able to provide purchased copies to users for perpetuity. That's why I can still download Volo's etc. Foundry is also client installed so no one can legally log into your server and take away what you purchased.

 

[Wolfpack48]

All of the VTTs have means of printing, but none of it is going to be formatted exactly the same with a push of a button. But once you have it digitally, do you really need a dead tree version?

Yep. I run a meatspace game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yep. I run a meatspace game.

So do many of us. Carrying a laptop or iPad is a lot lighter than lugging around a ton of paper, and a lot easier to search for the information you need.

 

[Wolfpack48]

So do many of us. Carrying a laptop or iPad is a lot lighter than lugging around a ton of paper, and a lot easier to search for the information you need.

Yep, but I like to scribble on maps and put notes on paper. I appreciate the thought but I like a mix of digital and paper. The reason I started the thread was looking for ways to read digitally and also print select items from the books.

I actually prefer computers and cells be as far away as possible from the game space as all those helpful tools (and, ahem, texts and social media) ironically distract from the adventure.

I’m definitely not a candidate for VTT - the young-uns can have that.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

D&DBeyond has an app seems functional. I do not use it a lot I have mostly interacted in D&DBeyond via the web. You can get an idea of the layout by looking at the Basic Rules. You may need to sign up for the free subscription.

 

[ezo]

there is no way for the books to proliferate online.

It's cute that you think that.

Though to be fair those homemade PDFs can be a tad hard to find.

This is also cute!

Honestly, you can find just about every 5E book as a pdf online for free. Given that, it seems like WotC would simply sell them as well so they can cash in on it a bit.

 

[Staffan]

I have run games using D&D Beyond, and I have run other games using books and PDFs, and at least for me DDB is much easier to use. The main thing is that it's formatted for the web, and done so in a fairly good way, which means it automatically adjusts to whatever screen I'm using. Big desktop screen? Laptop? Ipad? All work great, and I can adjust the font size to something that makes it easily readable. Even phone is OK, though I wouldn't want to run a game from it. And since it runs in my web browser, I can easily have multiple tabs open with different material, or even the same book/material at different locations – that's not something Acrobat Reader does on mobile apps (Ipad/Chromebook).

As for printouts, most of the stuff you'd want to print (maps, spells, items, monsters) exist both as part of the text of the book itself and as individual "bits". For example, you can find acid splash both as part of the Basic Rules and on its own page. I haven't really tried printing them out (since one of the main advantages for me is that I don't have to lug around a bunch of paper), but just looking at the print preview they seem fine.

 

[LordEntrails]

Yep, but I like to scribble on maps and put notes on paper. I appreciate the thought but I like a mix of digital and paper. The reason I started the thread was looking for ways to read digitally and also print select items from the books.

I actually prefer computers and cells be as far away as possible from the game space as all those helpful tools (and, ahem, texts and social media) ironically distract from the adventure.

I’m definitely not a candidate for VTT salesmen - the young-uns can have that.

shrug you do you. But many of the digital proponents are not young. I'm in my mid-50's and have been playing since the late 70's.

I used to travel for a living, paper is damned heavy. And hard to search and sort and store and wears out. I used to have to keep notebooks for work. More than a decade ago I decided to go digital for work. It soon followed in the rest of my life. My laptop and NAS means I don't have to worry about loss. Finding and re-use is simple. And the bits never wear out or get old (not really).

You can make the switch if you want, but you don't have to. As I said, there are plenty of digital tools and all of them you can print out the parts you want. It's just not going to look like a page torn from the print version. And that can be good or bad. I'm not a DDB fan, but it's easy to get a free account, pick up one or two of the free assets and see if you like it. You can also try FG for free and play with the free SRD and see what you think. I'm sure you can do the same with Roll20 and Foundry.

 

[DarkCrisis]

It's cute that you think that.


This is also cute!

Honestly, you can find just about every 5E book as a pdf online for free. Given that, it seems like WotC would simply sell them as well so they can cash in on it a bit.

True but it's easy to go to Drivethru RPG or to the WotC website, it's a tad harder if you have to look for (good) copies on random sites.

Not that I would know anything about that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

In my experience, and this is only with free adventures they have provided on Beyond, it is a mess and not intended to make printed materials out of Beyond easy or practical.

My experience as well. I've taken to making Word docs out of the material for offline use on the very few occasions I've interacted with D&D Beyond. I don't want to "rent" gaming material.