Would You Purchase a d20 print product that was free online?

[Michael Morris]

Would you purchase a d20 product whose contents previously appeared online? I'm looking into publishing the Dusk spells at some point in the future, but I'm sure some d20 publishers would be curious as to the answer to this question. And I believe that just polling the folks here is adequate since only online users will have had a chance to see the product in free form. Non-online users wouldn't be influenced by the free status I would think.

A related question - but not one I'm going to poll on - would you feel cheated if you purchased a product in print only to find it online for free later??

 

[BronzeDragon]

I would purchase a product (print version) that was available online for free.

The reason for this is that I don't enjoy reading PDFs. I do enjoy reading my books, and my collection of RPG stuff has become pretty amazing in volume and quantity.

Also, let me explain that I wouldn't just buy anything. I would, of course, look at the product to see if it had quality enough to merit a purchase. But, this being a given, I would certainly purchase the print version of an online (free) product.

The obvious answer to the second question is that I would not feel cheated to find a purchased (print) product in a free online version after my purchase.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

*Shrug*

Depends on the product. I prefer hard copy over *.pdf. Chances of me purchasing a hard copy of the product depend on if it is an adventure, sourcebook, or splatbook, the quality of the product, and its length.

The longer and higher quality it is, the more likely I am to purchase it hard copy.

 

[Olive]

I've answerred yes, but it really needs a third option for probably.

I'd definitely download it, have a flick through. and i prefer to have print products myself. but it would totally depend on the product. and i probably woulnd't feel ripped off if i found out later, unless it was a really bad product. and then i'd feel ripped off anyway.

 

[Voadam]

It has been done before such as with the core rule books versus the srd and the Tome of Horrors versus the Creature Collection hosted here?

Both of those, however, have extras such as art in the print version and a little bit of additional rules material but there is precedent for it.

 

[nHammer]

Would I? Yes, but it would depend on what it is.

A new book of spells? No. There is already enough spells for D&D, at least for me anyways.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Most of what became Atlas' Nyambe setting was free online ( and still is ) . Great idea IMO!

 

[Sanackranib]

pay vs. free

Yes, I prefer my stuff to be in a more permenant form then .pdf
besides the output cost in toner and ink makes even free pdf stuff cost somthing.

 

[Nifft]

I like paper. I also like PDFs. I'd buy paper to share with my group -- it's currently less legally problematic to lend a book out. Of course, if the PDF were free, I'd probably buy myself the book and point the rest of my group to the PDF.

-- Nifft

 

[darkbard]

i voted no, though i suppose in a perfect world the answer would probably lean towards "maybe". you see, i live over here in japan [and not in tokyo or another big city], so i can't just pop over to my FLGS and pick up whatever i feel like. granted, i do order from my FLGS back in new york occasionally and place the occasional amazon/japan order. so, while i prefer to have the printed material in hand, it's sometimes easier to just download a pdf and move my focus onward. also, with the huge amount of good d20 stuff on the market right now, my attention has usually moved on to new book-only release by the time pdfs become available in book-form and my cash supply is limited.