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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
THe RPG book you've waited for is going to be a PDF only release, do you buy?
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<blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 2928813" data-attributes="member: 10201"><p>Can't answer a binary poll. It depends on so many factors. As a general rule, if the book was originally designed for print, and is not going to be altered for PDF, my answer would be 'no'. I use as my examples of this problem Arcana Evolved and the Star Trek RPG Mirror Universe supplement. In both cases, the resultant PDF cannot be practically printed at home, unless you have a duplexing color laser printer, and are willing to spend a small fortune on toner. And, even then, readability will suffer (color laser printers don't do as well with light text on dark background, or light-colored text on white, as a printing press does), you'll have ugly white edges interrupting the full bleeds, and it'll be spiral bound (or whatever). I only bought Arcana Evolved because (1) i already owned Arcana Unearthed, (2) i wanted to be able to cut-n-paste OGC, rather than retype it, and (3) it was on sale. I suspected what the Mirror Universe supplement would look like, but bought it anyway because (1) i'd been waiting for that book for 6+yrs, and had bought multiple Star Trek RPG books solely in the hopes of seeing that one--with the exception of the mirror universe and DS9, i really don't like 'Trek; (2) had been waiting for a detailed treatment of the 'Trek Mirror Universe since, oh, as long as i've known it existed--or at least since the first DS9 crossover episode; and (3) knew there was no other way i was going to get it, </p><p></p><p>Now, OTOH, if you're talking the same content, but re-designed to facillitate home printing, then, yeah, sure, why not? I buy PDF RPG books all the time. I generally prefer hardcopy, but if i have to choose between PDF and not having it, i'll usually choose PDF. And for a small subset of RPG books, which i don't ever intend to use in their entirety, and just plan to mine a few ideas from (most D&D3E & D20 System books fall into this category for me), the cost savings of PDF are ideal--plus, it's easier to cut-n-paste from the PDF than to scan or retype from the hardcopy.</p><p></p><p>So, in summation, if you're gonna sell PDF, whether in addition to or instead of hardcopy, make it home-printer friendly, as well as screen-friendly. This means ditch the color, no white-on-black, no full bleeds, and maybe cut down on the artwork a bit, too. If you were planning on print, and decide you can't afford it, spend a bit of time and money to reformat for these concerns.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="woodelf, post: 2928813, member: 10201"] Can't answer a binary poll. It depends on so many factors. As a general rule, if the book was originally designed for print, and is not going to be altered for PDF, my answer would be 'no'. I use as my examples of this problem Arcana Evolved and the Star Trek RPG Mirror Universe supplement. In both cases, the resultant PDF cannot be practically printed at home, unless you have a duplexing color laser printer, and are willing to spend a small fortune on toner. And, even then, readability will suffer (color laser printers don't do as well with light text on dark background, or light-colored text on white, as a printing press does), you'll have ugly white edges interrupting the full bleeds, and it'll be spiral bound (or whatever). I only bought Arcana Evolved because (1) i already owned Arcana Unearthed, (2) i wanted to be able to cut-n-paste OGC, rather than retype it, and (3) it was on sale. I suspected what the Mirror Universe supplement would look like, but bought it anyway because (1) i'd been waiting for that book for 6+yrs, and had bought multiple Star Trek RPG books solely in the hopes of seeing that one--with the exception of the mirror universe and DS9, i really don't like 'Trek; (2) had been waiting for a detailed treatment of the 'Trek Mirror Universe since, oh, as long as i've known it existed--or at least since the first DS9 crossover episode; and (3) knew there was no other way i was going to get it, Now, OTOH, if you're talking the same content, but re-designed to facillitate home printing, then, yeah, sure, why not? I buy PDF RPG books all the time. I generally prefer hardcopy, but if i have to choose between PDF and not having it, i'll usually choose PDF. And for a small subset of RPG books, which i don't ever intend to use in their entirety, and just plan to mine a few ideas from (most D&D3E & D20 System books fall into this category for me), the cost savings of PDF are ideal--plus, it's easier to cut-n-paste from the PDF than to scan or retype from the hardcopy. So, in summation, if you're gonna sell PDF, whether in addition to or instead of hardcopy, make it home-printer friendly, as well as screen-friendly. This means ditch the color, no white-on-black, no full bleeds, and maybe cut down on the artwork a bit, too. If you were planning on print, and decide you can't afford it, spend a bit of time and money to reformat for these concerns. [/QUOTE]
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THe RPG book you've waited for is going to be a PDF only release, do you buy?
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