This leads me to the next subject, Core rules software, it should be fairly straight forward to publish the core rules text and illustrations into e-book form, the next step is to actually have software, to help manage the game play, something that allows for storage of player characters on computers and displays the various options as well as exercising attacks against opponent characters also stored on the computer. Seems the game has gotten so complex, that software would help speed things up quite a bit without having to resort to flipping from one book to the next.
I would totally hate this idea. I want my players to focus at the table not give them an electronic device to take their attention away.
Plus i hate having to use Myscribe to look at my e-books for college (that is the campus fault to swap out of using adobe).
I have every single book in hard copy and even an pdf of them as well. I don't even use the pdf copy of it.
You have an electronic form already. The compendium suits this purpose.
I hate e-books. Give me dead trees any day.
I'm down with the e-book idea. Especially considering the device Asus just announced. It will be two panels, with a touch screen, and in full color. All of my dead-tree books, with the same look, in one device that I can carry in one hand? Sign me up!
I'm down with the e-book idea. Especially considering the device Asus just announced. It will be two panels, with a touch screen, and in full color. All of my dead-tree books, with the same look, in one device that I can carry in one hand? Sign me up!
But you can't feel the cover of the book! Or the weight of it in your hand! OR smell the ink used to print it!
I guess I'm just into the physical object more than the content within it.
I'm down with the e-book idea. Especially considering the device Asus just announced. It will be two panels, with a touch screen, and in full color. All of my dead-tree books, with the same look, in one device that I can carry in one hand? Sign me up!
But you can't feel the cover of the book! Or the weight of it in your hand! OR smell the ink used to print it!
I guess I'm just into the physical object more than the content within it.
I'm with you on this man!!!
It seems people would rather look at porn than be with an actual person. Yes I took this on a tangent; however, the principle is the same!!!
I'm down with the e-book idea. Especially considering the device Asus just announced. It will be two panels, with a touch screen, and in full color. All of my dead-tree books, with the same look, in one device that I can carry in one hand? Sign me up!
But you can't feel the cover of the book! Or the weight of it in your hand! OR smell the ink used to print it!
I guess I'm just into the physical object more than the content within it.
I'm with you on this man!!!
It seems people would rather look at porn than be with an actual person. Yes I took this on a tangent; however, the principle is the same!!!
That is completely ridiculous. Hyperbole does not make your point stronger, and only serves to anger those you offend.
Anyway, I love the dead tree versions of my books. I made the same arguments about feeling the paper in my hands, etc. when Wizards took the magazines online. However, having now used the PDFs of the magazines the utility of e-books is quite clear. (Especially when I can read them on-screen at work, and no one knows I'm reading D&D 
)
It weighs far less to carry around an e-book reader from home to a game, as opposed to the ridiculously heavy backpack I carry now. It takes up far less room, and I'm quickly running out of shelf space with these monthly book releases (I now own all the hardcovers except the "Power" books, though I do have Arcane Power. I just recently moved all my 3e books to a box to clear the shelf space.)
I'd still own a lot of dead-tree books; e-books wouldn't change that. However, I'd like to own e-copies of the books I own, and I'd also love to have the additional ones like the "Power" books that I won't bother owning in dead-tree format. The utility alone would make it worthwhile to me. The only question is price. I can't justify paying the same cost (or close to it) twice for the same book in two formats. If I own the dead-tree, it should make the PDF available for free or a nominal fee.
What I would love to see is e-books become a function of DDi. If a copy of every book were included in DDi I'd be willing to pay an increased cost for the additional subscription. Then everyone can be happy, where you can choose to purchase all your dead-trees, and have voluntary access to e-book versions of everything. Everybody wins.
I would totally hate this idea. I want my players to focus at the table not give them an electronic device to take their attention away.
Plus i hate having to use Myscribe to look at my e-books for college (that is the campus fault to swap out of using adobe).
I have every single book in hard copy and even an pdf of them as well. I don't even use the pdf copy of it.
You have an electronic form already. The compendium suits this purpose.
What if you wanted to play D&D while on a long train trip with your friends?
Do you want all those books to fill up half of your suitcase?
Do you want to look like a bunch of obsessed Geeks who spend $200 on their gaming materials to all the other train passengers?
Or would you rather have nice neat little tablets that contain all the books that you need with its memory,
and how about having a licensed copy for all the players instead of having to pass that players handbook around whenever a certain player
wants to use a particular feature of his character class. I mean these days, each player character class gets an entire chapter in the book,
you pass the book around whenever is a particular players turn, and he has to look at the table of contents to find out which page his
character class is in, and then flip to that page, deciding on what action he's going to perform, hands the book to the DM so he can determine
how to resolve the action, then he hands the book to the next player who then looks up the chapter for his character class before proceeding.,
Kind of awkward, isn't it? It would be nice if you didn't have to pass those heavy books around back and forth wearing out their pages and binding,
especially now that there are six core rule books in all! You have two Monster Manuals, two players hand books (parts I and II), and two DM;'s Guides (Parts I and II).
The latest rage in college and high schools are e-books, there are plans to publish textbooks in the form of e-books to be displayed in e-book readers. Now seeing how D&D Core rule books are heavy and expensive, just like textbooks, do you think it would be a good idea to publish the D&D Core rules Parts I and II and future editions in e-book form, so all we have to carry around are the readers?
Thing is that they just recently stopped publishing e-books
the next step is to actually have software, to help manage the game play, something that allows for storage of player characters on computers and displays the various options as well as exercising attacks against opponent characters also stored on the computer. Seems the game has gotten so complex, that software would help speed things up quite a bit without having to resort to flipping from one book to the next.
Given WotC's track record with D&D software that's utopian. Not even DDI (if they ever mange to fulfill all announcements) would contain as much as you propose
What if you wanted to play D&D while on a long train trip with your friends?Do you want all those books to fill up half of your suitcase?
I see you point here a little. But if you take one copy of each book needed (PHB, PHB2, THe "power" books that your players actually use, etc. and prep ahead of time so you don't need the DMG or MM) your looking at about 5 books thereabouts and a folder containing the DM stuff (monster/items stats and adventure/encounter details) that can be divided up among you and your friends' luggage. Unless you're traveling light that's not so bad.
Do you want to look like a bunch of obsessed Geeks who spend $200 on their gaming materials to all the other train passengers?
I am an obsessed Geek who has spent alot of money on gaming materials and the other train passengers are complete strangers. I would assume anyone who wants to play D&D to pass a long train journey doesn't seem to mind looking like a geek to others (I include myself in this).
Or would you rather have nice neat little tablets that contain all the books that you need with its memory, and how about having a licensed copy for all the players instead of having to pass that players handbook around whenever a certain player wants to use a particular feature of his character class.
Some will love the idea some will hate it. Of the two groups I play in I don't think I'd ever get a unanimous agreement on this. I personally wouldn't mind either way.
I mean these days, each player character class gets an entire chapter in the book, you pass the book around whenever is a particular players turn, and he has to look at the table of contents to find out which page his character class is in, and then flip to that page, deciding on what action he's going to perform, hands the book to the DM so he can determine how to resolve the action, then he hands the book to the next player who then looks up the chapter for his character class before proceeding., Kind of awkward, isn't it?
Preparation is your friend. In my groups we generally only need to refer to the books for unusual situations. The whole deal with power cards helps here as you have a little reference for your powers and even some class features. If you don't like the fiddly bits of paper do what one of my players did and leave them as one sheet. It's a very handy reference sheet. This will greatly reduce the amount you need to refer to the books and speed things up. Some of my players use CB power cards and some have home made ones. We've had no problems with this so far.
It would be nice if you didn't have to pass those heavy books around back and forth wearing out their pages and binding, especially now that there are six core rule books in all! You have two Monster Manuals, two players hand books (parts I and II), and two DM;'s Guides (Parts I and II).
As said before prepartion helps here. If you type up and print out all your require adventure/moster/item info ahead of time you can get away with leaving your MM and DMG at home. Those two don't need to be passed around the table anyway.
I'm not saying e-books is bad, I can definately understand the appeal. I'm just stating my opinion on this.
stuff about e-booksstuff about e-booksBunny friend, is that you?
On topic:
I'd like legit e-books, i think the pdf books you can get serve at the moment. I've never bought them myself but know people who have. Lugging round a Laptop is odd but it works.
I'd like an e-book that can connect to the internet and apply updates to the coretext.
I'd also like a version of the PHB that can be read from a Nintendo DS.
I believe the future of role playing games is in cyberspace, either the internet or in local cyberspace inside a single computer. The D&D gaming group of the future would probably look something like this, unlike MMORGs, all the players are physically present in a living room or den, sitting around a table, but instead of books and dice each of the players has a tablet computer connected together wirelessly by a single router, that way all players can swap files. Each of the PCs has a random number generating program which simulates die rolls, and there's no dice, no paper, no pencils, everything is done wirelessly by keyboard, or by mouse, touch screen or whatever they use to move a cursor or pointer around with. Published adventures are downloaded from the internet for a fee for the professional ones, and sometimes for free with alot of advertisements and popup adds to pay the freight.
So, I have been gone for a while ... what happened to the grand WotC plan to make the virtual DnD tabletop that they premiered at the DnD Experience in VA 2 years ago?
So, I have been gone for a while ... what happened to the grand WotC plan to make the virtual DnD tabletop that they premiered at the DnD Experience in VA 2 years ago?
If they could come up with an inexpensive book reader like a kindle but at half the price, that could contain a minimum of 5 books and make it book sized and shaped, I'd buy it.
If they could some how also provide anti-piracy software all the better.
Bel
If they could come up with an inexpensive book reader like a kindle but at half the price, that could contain a minimum of 5 books and make it book sized and shaped, I'd buy it.
If they could some how also provide anti-piracy software all the better.
Bel
As a consumer, anti-piracy software is a concern of the manufacturer and publisher, as a consumer, I can care less, but I'm sure the same stuff that worked for the textbook publishers would also work for the publishers of the Dungeons & Dragons e-books. I think the same readers used for textbooks can be used for the D&D e-books, no need to build unique hardware for D&D core rulebook files. That said, I think a version for computers could be published that includes software for creating characters, and resolving combat would also be a great follow on project.
I love E-Books, but they're still not conveinient for me, because I don't have a portable way to use them. I'd REALLY like to get an e-book reader like a kindle or the sony one.