D&D 5E Where are the PDFs?

[M.L. Martin]

Just curious why you don't think the DS ebooks will be an acceptable replacement for PDFs.

Well, it would be nice if someone had announced that there would be DS ebooks without us having to go digging through threads here.

 

[fjw70]

Well, it would be nice if someone had announced that there would be DS ebooks without us having to go digging through threads here.

Can't disagree with that.

 

[Salamandyr]

I would happily pay money for an art free PDF of the main books.

 

[mips42]

I can only speak for myself and my own preferences but, I definitely prefer the 'dead tree' format to the PDF format of almost every gaming book I've ever had the chance to hold & look at.
I was almost incapable of sitting at my computer & reading the PDF of Basic but had no trouble sitting and reading the printed version.
The same was true of every 4th edition AND 3rd edition book I owned in physical & electronic format.
There is something unquantifiably different and pleasing to me to be able to sit down and hold that tome(yes, even the Basic I printed myself).
Is it because that's what I started with? Maybe. Does that preference make me part of the 'old guard'? Possibly.
Having said that, I know some people want PDF's and I think that WOTC should have them available for those that do. I am not one of those. I prefer books.

 

[Mark CMG]

E-books tend to trend younger (18-35 is the biggest consumer of e-books) and as we know D&D has a demographic that is greying. Those are realities.

And so . . .

 

[ppaladin123]

I checked the torrent sites out of curiosity the other day. Somebody has already created an illegal poor quality pdf. It is only a matter of time before someone breaks the spine of their book and creates a high-res, color, indexed version with embedded links. So if they are trying to stop piracy by not selling pdfs it is pretty much a lost cause.

Would like the option of legal pdfs so I don't have to carry the books with me everywhere (the books are great for curling up in bed and reading though).

 

[ppaladin123]

Just to reiterate, this is what has been said in the Morningstar/DungeonScape thread and is most likely the way PDFs will be distributed.

Ok. I am very likely to pick up these tools so that is a good option/good to hear.

 

[I'm A Banana]

]So...the PHB was officially released yesterday but, still no PDFs. Not even a straight answer on PDFs. In fact, WotC seem to be pretending PDFs don't exist.

What.

When the game has an entire site dedicated to selling pdf of every edition of D&D, it is insanely unfair to level an accusation that they are "pretending PDFs don't exist." They are actively selling you PDFs of a big chunk of their catalog!

What doesn't exist as a PDF yet is the book that they just released, what, a few weeks ago? And just because they haven't mentioned specific PDF release plans, it's like they're somehow paranoid of piracy all of a sudden?

I mean, you already have the PHB, right?

Ease up there, hombre. I'd like a PDF version as much as the next dude, but it's not like they've pronounced that they will not out of fear of piracy, and they've given PLENTY of indication that it's a release they'll be pursuing.

13th Age in PDF? Check
Pathfinder in PDF? Check
C&C? Savage Worlds? Fate? Check, check, and check.
But D&D...? Crickets.

Yeah, and what D&D has that none of those have (excepting maybe Pathfinder at this point) is an especially intimate relationship with booksellers. WotC has a retail network that's very important to them. That network gets primacy, understandably.

 

[SeRiAlExPeRiMeNtS]

I can only speak for myself and my own preferences but, I definitely prefer the 'dead tree' format to the PDF format of almost every gaming book I've ever had the chance to hold & look at.
I was almost incapable of sitting at my computer & reading the PDF of Basic but had no trouble sitting and reading the printed version.
The same was true of every 4th edition AND 3rd edition book I owned in physical & electronic format.
There is something unquantifiably different and pleasing to me to be able to sit down and hold that tome(yes, even the Basic I printed myself).
Is it because that's what I started with? Maybe. Does that preference make me part of the 'old guard'? Possibly.
Having said that, I know some people want PDF's and I think that WOTC should have them available for those that do. I am not one of those. I prefer books.

Well I'm 35 years old and don't buy paper books anymore, I read everything in my ipad.

 

[kenmarable]

I'm sorry: huh?

For the past several years, Wizards have made a lot of money through the D&D Insider program. They are shortly to launch a program that offers the entire text of the rulebooks in electronic form.

This is not clinging to a "dead tree" model. This is merely not offering up pdfs.

Agreed.

However, I also think that anyone clinging to a *PDF* e-publishing model in 2014 is clueless.