Update: Malhavoc PDFs no longer available at RPGnow (merged)

[isidorus]

Thanks Funksaw I have the older Gurps Lite. Just did not play it to much, My group is D20 all the way. Though I have play quite a bit of Hero with a older group and bought the Newest Fred, Fh,etc. If the new version of gurps is crunchy as that I be way satisfied.

 

[PJ-Mason]

Disclaimer: This for my buying purposes. I have not had time to list everyone, sorry about that. I update when I can, but I am moving from Maryland to Flordia in 9 days, so I am short of time right at this moment. if I get flamed for posting I will live with it. Hope it is helpful. If any one is in the wrong catergory let me know and how I can confirm it.

That being said here is the list for you Thanatos.

My no buy list from the Dtrpg site

Alderac Entertainment Group
Chaosium
Dork Storm Press
Dream Pod 9
Eden Studios
Fanpro
Fantasy Flight Games
Fantasy Games Unlimited
Fast Forward Entertainment
Fiery Dragon
Game Designers' Workshop (GDW)
Guardians of Order
Holistic Design
Malhavoc Press
Necromancer
R. Talsorian Games Inc.
Sovereign Stone Press
Sword & Sorcery
White Wolf

I'm quite confident that the Necros aren't trying to screw anybody. Clark says they are just trying help out gamers who have trouble getting their stuff, i believe him. Whether he had any peer pressure from WW or not.....i doubt that too i guess. He doesn't seem the type.

R. Talsorian Games? I wouldn't have guessed they would do something like this. Seems counter-character fro them. huh. Not that they are ever going to come out with more Cyberpunk books. Damn them.

Don't really care about the others, haven't really bought anything from Malhavoc since AU (which was great!). So i guess my lack of gamer bucks won't really hurt them anyway. Go for it Monte!

Confirmed non-drm pdf people

Anything on RpgNow Way to many companies to list but they are all on
the buy list.

Alternate Realities Publications(Dana Jorgensen Company)
En Publishing
Expeditious Retreat Press
Green Ronin
Hekaforge Productions (Lejendary Adventure)
Hero Games(PM them myself)
Ice (Iron Crown Enterprises)
Second World Simulations
S.T. Cooley Publishing
Steve jackson Games
Troll Lords (seems confirmed Rpgnow link still on site)
Wotc (As far as I know okay)

Man I am going to have a expensive last half of the year here. So much good stuff not bought and new stuff coming out.

Well some of these guys have only oop material and others have only like one book (Green Ronin). Atlas games has several (i think i really do love dem guys!) pdf's up there but i don't know if they are all oop or not. Don't have them all. Sorry John
So it does seem quite likely that even they are hesitant to put their stuff "up for grabs". Although if they think this DriveThru (as it is set up now)is the answer, they are in for an awakening. I think a lot of these guys need to just nut it up, pardon my french. Other game companies have and they are still in business and don't seem to be going out of it. I really think this boils down to EGOnomics, not economics. A lot game writers (or just writers) can get real attached to their material, fair enough, but at some point you need to get a grip.

I will tell what impact this DriveThru business has had.....RPGnow reports that sales are up 20% above normal.
Some of that 20% is me. I've decided that i am going to start looking into buying pdf and starting printing. To heck with the print stuff.
To heck with DriveThru, too. Forcing me to accept sloppy service is not the way to get it done. I don't mean physically forcing, i mean forcing me to go through XXX company to get your material because you'll only give them the right to sell it to me. I don't really give a darn about the particulars of DRM or whatever. Its the point that matters to me.

Except for Iron Kingdoms! That i will get in print! But to heck with all the OTHER print stuff!

 

[PJ-Mason]

I have to say that it has now been 48 hours since I used DriveThruRPGs "Contact Us" form to ask about the "Bad Encryption Dictionary" error that I keep getting.

So far, they have not responded.

Richard Canning

Probably because they are too busy reading this thread!!

 

[RCanning]

OK.

A few days have passed and what I see is the following.

People seem to be spending more time talking about the legality of P2P, or issues like that, rather than the ones that matter; the inablility of the legitimate customer to use the file they have in a way that is fair and reasonable.

I have recently found post made by a user on www.montecook.com about how many firewalls block the use of DRM. It is here. Basically this for me means that you can not activate the file on any computer that has a strong firewall setup. In this day and age, most computers should have a strong firewall, but that will stop the usage. I am an IT professional who does router configs, and it would take me a while to check header block stripping and stuff like that on a firewall. Joe Average has no hope in hell.

Printing shops all use firewalls, they have to or they will be hacked so bad it is not funny. This means that even if they try to print the file for you, you can't. I expect this is why Fuji-Xerox here in Australia has been unable to open my file to print in their print room, their firewall wont let them.

So.... The issue is not about piracy, the issue is not about Copyright or anything like that. I don't mind protection. But this is beyond that. When DriveThruRPG can come up with a form of protection that works, then I will consider using them.

Oh, on another front, there are rumours that new MS updates will include built in firewalls that can't be turned off to stop some of their security problems; people who have these files better hope that this does not prevernt you from registering your files, or you will have lots of Mb of expensive encoded useless data.

Richard Canning

 

[Dr. Harry]

I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.

I do not think that your position is unreasonable.

... Either way, it's an attempt by copyright holders to broaden their "rights/control" in a way that directly diminishes the consumer's "rights/control."

If you are okay with that, it's your decision. As a consumer, I happen to dislike that someone is trying to gain more than the law normally provides them by asking me to give up something the law normally provides me, with NO clear external benefits (i.e., I am asked to relinquish my protections with no other real benefits to either party).

It is not that I feel that I am giving up "rights", per se, but any added difficulty or limitations on use affect what I consider to be the value to me of the item, which affects the price I'm willing to pay for it. Another in this thread has written that cost does not seem to be the determining factor in whether a pdf is purchased or not, and for me that is true only as far as whether or not I think something's cost corresponds to its value. If I cannot use, for example, the Book of Iron Might, then I won't buy it, but not as part of a boycott. The amount of money I'm willing to pay for Book of Iron Might is less than I would pay for the Book of Eldritch Might as it was when I bought it, but as I considered the BoEM's as bargains, I might still buy it - once I know if I can use it.

I can't even say, "well, a side effect is that piracy is being prevented" because (demonstrably) it's not. The net effect of DRM is simply a transfer of legal rights/protections from myself to copyright holders, with the added external side effect of inconveniencing me, the consumer.

How do you mean that piracy is demonstrably not being prevented? Do you mean that it is possible to break the DRM or that it has been demonstrated that the piracy rate is unaffected?

That's a pretty darn significant amount I'm giving up for nothing in return. That is one of many reasons I don't like it.

--The Sigil

I suppose that one could say that I am looking for in return is a lower price for me to consider it a fair exchange.

 

[tburdett]

How do you mean that piracy is demonstrably not being prevented? Do you mean that it is possible to break the DRM or that it has been demonstrated that the piracy rate is unaffected?

Thanks to Cergorach I now know for a fact that, yes, it is possible to remove the DRM. It takes a right click, [stuff removed due to DCMA concerns, well, not removed as I wasn't stupid enough to put it here in the first place, but you get the idea], and then you have a .pdf file with no DRM at all.

 

[maddman75]

I have recently found post made by a user on www.montecook.com about how many firewalls block the use of DRM. It is here. Basically this for me means that you can not activate the file on any computer that has a strong firewall setup. In this day and age, most computers should have a strong firewall, but that will stop the usage. I am an IT professional who does router configs, and it would take me a while to check header block stripping and stuff like that on a firewall. Joe Average has no hope in hell.

I hadn't even thought of that. For most people that's going to mean no printing it at work either. If this is operating on a port that typically gets blocked your network firewall is probably going to keep you from authenticating. And requests from users to open ports is generally met with derision and laughter. I'd definately try it with one of the freebies at your work place before I paid for one with the intention of printing it at work.

 

[Tsyr]

How do you mean that piracy is demonstrably not being prevented? Do you mean that it is possible to break the DRM or that it has been demonstrated that the piracy rate is unaffected?

Hope is trying an unproven idea the first time.

Optimism is trying an idea that didn't work the first time again, hoping for a different result.

Beyond that, we get into various levels of insulting terminology.

This is the heart of it: Piracy protection is proven in all other venues to not effect piracy rate (at least to any signifigant level). Believing it will in this case, particularly when a format so well-known to be entierly worthless in securing a document is being used, even in the face of no hard data to prove it (Since hard data of this sort would be very difficult to gather and analyse regardless of the result), well...

I guess it's like sun. I don't have to collect data to know it's going to rise again... Because it clearly will. Common sense tells me this, coupled with a very, very basic understanding of the physics involved (Really. Half-a-sandgrain-on-an-infinite beach level of knowledge.).

 

[Wasgo]

Thanks to Cergorach I now know for a fact that, yes, it is possible to remove the DRM. It takes a right click, [stuff removed due to DCMA concerns, well, not removed as I wasn't stupid enough to put it here in the first place, but you get the idea], and then you have a .pdf file with no DRM at all.

If you mean using a virtual printer, that doesn't work perfectly. It tends to bloat the file massively, and removes the ocr'd text.

 

[Tsyr]

If you mean using a virtual printer, that doesn't work perfectly. It tends to bloat the file massively, and removes the ocr'd text.

That's actually not strictly true. It depends entierly on what type of virtual printer you are using and how you have it configured. Hypotheticly, it can be done so well that the only loss is the loss of bookmarks.