D&D 5E Would you buy a D&D Next Beta Playtest Rulebook?

[MortonStromgal]

Why would you pay for a job...?

Depending on what you mean by this its actually fairly common for 100k+ jobs
You pay someone 10% to go find you your next job based on the criteria you want. They talk to the companies and negotiate for you. You show up for one interview and they do the rest (resumes, phone calls, etc) They take their finders fee out of your first year salery. Other companys charge the employer the finders fee instead.

 

[paladinm]

I did buy 5e beta books.. D&D Essentials

 

[Incenjucar]

Depending on what you mean by this its actually fairly common for 100k+ jobs
You pay someone 10% to go find you your next job based on the criteria you want. They talk to the companies and negotiate for you. You show up for one interview and they do the rest (resumes, phone calls, etc) They take their finders fee out of your first year salery. Other companys charge the employer the finders fee instead.

I will take this into consideration as soon as WotC offers me 100K+.

 

[Nebten]

I was fooled once already by buying the beta version of 4th edition's box set. (ie its first print run). There is so much errata/updates in those books half of it isn't even useful. That is why it is such a hard question to answer for somebody who wants to get into 4th edition now: which books to buy? The orginal PHB/DMG/MM or its Essential counterparts.

 

[OnlineDM]

I tend to prefer PDFs to begin with, so I most likely wouldn't bother paying for a hard copy of the beta rules. That said, if it were pretty cheap, it might be useful to pass around the table among my players as we play test.

 

[Halivar]

Printing that joker out might actually cost more than $10 for me, so I'd like access to an at-cost print. Besides, it worked for Pathfinder.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I'm intrigued enough by what I've heard about the new edition to be willing to pay to see a beta version -- I might feel gouged if it were especially expensive, but I doubt it would be.

Having said that, I think that it makes a lot more sense to make the rules available as a sort of web resource rather than as a print book -- they're going to be changing a lot, it makes sense to create them as a sort of living document.

But, bottom line, I want to support the game and the guys doing the work to develop the new edition. And I want to get my grubby hands on the playtest. So where do I pay?

 

[nightwind1]

I would never PAY to PLAYTEST any game. Either they give me the docs free, or they pay me to playtest.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Printing that joker out might actually cost more than $10 for me, so I'd like access to an at-cost print.

This could be me, too, especially if later in the open playtest the rules are more firm, but they are wanting to open it up to longer, wider playtesting in some kind of fairly stable form. Earlier than that, I hardly see the point, since the rules would presumably be changing so fast.

But then that's easy for me to say, because my current groups' meeting schedule is so erratic, we are unlikely to qualify for early playtesting anyway.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I don't really care if they offer such a thing, but I have no interest in buying a beta rulebook. I'd buy a finished product, but not an unfinished one.

 

[Sunseeker]

No. I'd download one and give it a look, maybe even be tempted to run a quick game with it, but I don't believe in paying for the ability to be a beta-tester.

I'd also be worried I might like/hate it too much and not want it no matter what changes they make later.

 

[was]

no...I'd preview it if it was online and they wanted feedback, but I'm not spending money on an unfinished product

 

[GSHamster]

I read the question as WotC giving everyone two choices:

1. Download free PDF
2. Purchase print versions for nominal cost

So you can either print it yourself or purchase a pre-printed copy from a gaming store.

Under those circumstances, I'd probably download the PDF for a read through, but buy a print version if I'm going to use it in a game.

I certainly don't see that plan as objectionable.

 

[jbear]

No, I wouldn't pay for a playtest product of any company of any sort.

I'm expecting to be sent a pdf of the rulebook (beta) at some stage so I can ... test it. If I had to buy it. No way. If buying was optional, I wouldn't be interested. pdf is just fine.

 

[Oni]

I feel like a playtest document should be mutable enough and go through enough revisions to make selling print copies impractical. If i wanted a hard copy for my use, I just want to print something out I could slap in a D-ring binder and wouldn't feel bad about making notations in, or if a revision or addition came out I could swap things around without difficulty.

 

[Consonant Dude]

If WotC sells it to me as a Beta draft, I'll be relatively interested at a low price but that seems to me like a missed opportunity.

If they don't sell it as just "Beta Rules" but rather as "getting involved in the creation of the next edition", than interest will raise considerably and, depending on the conditions, they can even ask a premium for it.

Some publishers have started playing around with such concepts. Kobold Quarterly uses patronage, for instance. I think some gamers would be willing to spend a decent amount to get access to content quicker, get the opportunity to talk to the designers, get to have a little more say in the design, etc... all the way to getting limited edition copies of the final game.

 

[The Shadow]

I'd consider it if it gave a discount for the final product.

But really, as someone said above, a web document seems to make more sense.