I was hoping that with the new version of Dungeon and Dragons, I would see a smarter Wizards who would have learned from Paizo that you can have digital copies of your game and still make money. Heck, even Games Workshop has figured it out. There is still no digital starter set (digital Lost Mine of Phandelver) and nothing announced. No announcement for a digital Player's handbook for 5th edition. It releases tomorrow and I really do not want a paper copy. I know, I know they are releasing all of the old stuff on PDF. That is great. But I want the new digital launching with the new paper copies of 5th. This is very frustrating. Anyone else feel this way?
By the way, I appreciate the free basic version. Great job with that.
There will be a digital version soon enough, now weather it is a legal version and if WoTC will make any money from it is all up to them. But I predect by Monday at the latest there will be a scanned copy available for those that don't mind skirting the law and want a copy on their portable electronic devices.
Now if WoTC makes an announcment about when and if legal for sale versions are coming a good portion of those people might wait and pay them for what they want instead of taking what they want because that is the only electronic option.
I am hopeful that Codename Morningstar has announcement soon.
Pallus wrote:
Having already purchased the PHB I still want a virtual copy that i can carry with me to conventions. I am tired of carrying dozens of books, miniatures, maps in addition to personal items in order to DM games at the conventions. Shedding the books would go a long way to lightening the load.
Paraxis wrote:
No kidding. It's ridiculous not to have digital copies in this day and age.
I'm a subscriber to the Pathfinder RPG line and get the PDF for free. And numerous times I've pre-orders a book from small publishers and it's included a free PDF.
This is tricky as WotC is allergic to directly taking our money. They have a middleman handling the financiers for both PDF sales and even DDI subscriptions. So they have no way of coordinating sales between their physical distributor and their digital distributor.
And the logistics of tying a code to books is very problematic.
I imagine one additional problem is the branding. The PDF store is DnDClassics.com. Emphasis on the "classics".
They may also be trying to do something clever and tie digital books to Project: Morningstar so you buy the PDF and get access to the content for the app.
But this is delaying a product we need right now while some small design studio makes a character builder. Software development is always slow, as seen by WotC's attempts to tie a book into the release of an MMO, which came out eighteen months after the book.
And it still won't stop piracy. As history has shown, the only thing to slow piracy of D&D books is starting a new edition and tanking sales of the old so no one wants to buy the book to scan it.
Very likely we'll see scans of the Player's Hanbook within days. Technology makes it too easy and quick. A good cell phone camera reportedly works as well as a decent scanner allowing a book to be copied in a couple hours.
(What I've heard anyway, I don't have a cell. And my iPad is a 2, with a crap camera, so no testing for me.)
Digital River surely made a mess of things. Also, I've heard that D&Di and Project:Morningstar accounts will be separate, so if you want to keep paying for 4th Edition stuff, you can, but as soon as it's not got the subscribers like it used to, I expect them to shut down the Tools and such. :/ So if you have a D&Di account, I'd take advantage of the downloads now and download every issue or article you possibly can from the archives while they're still accessible.
The magazines WILL be back, and Project:Morningstar is looking to be a much-improved upon version of the 4e Tools. When they will happen, I'm not sure. But it won't be TOO long.
My guess is they will try to soak up as much money as they can from the books before releasing a digital copy.
Anyway, I am half expecting they won't, DnDClassics has yet to even release previous edition PHBs ... for this reason I am purchasing a hard copy for each of my players.
It is pretty sad that Hasbro presumably hasn't gotten on board with them doing this. I can't believe that the guys and gals at WotC don't see the advantages of having PDF releases.
I love books. I have a library far too expansive for my domicile, with many books packed away and hard to access, simply because of space and aesthetics. I say that as a preface to this: once I got used to reading and gaming with my iPad, it definitely became my preferred method of doing things. I have not counted them, but I probably have a few hundred gaming files on my iPad. That's a lot of books and articles all at my fingertips, something I could never do with printed material.
I feel like I should get access to a free PDF copy, or at least a steeply discounted PDF copy of the books, after paying these modern hefty prices for printed versions. That seems to be a reasonable expectation, based upon what I'm hearing about Paizo's way of doing things. I hope WotC eventually gets on board.
What I won't ever be doing is paying $30 to $50 for a printed book, and then later paying another $15 to $25 for the PDF version. I could see that being something they'd try. Maybe it would work, but not for me.
I don't like reading pdfs. I prefer books. But pdfs sure are handy for quick reference. From what I've seen of the Morningstar software, it looks like it might be good enough to take the place of a pdf for quick reference, though.
pukunui wrote:
tallric_kruush wrote:
arjomanes wrote:
By "digital" do you just mean PDF?
I love PDFs, mostly so that I always have them and I can use Search, but it's pretty much the minimum definition of "digital". (I also love owning the physical books.)
But what I reall want is full rules integration with platforms like roll20. I want every monster scalable between level 1 and 20 (instead of each monster being exactly one level), which checkboxes for qualities like "Shaman" or "Archer", and then I want to just drag and drop them onto the digital tabletop. I want Dungeon Master tools that alleviate the work so I can focus on storytelling. I want modules that don't start with "read this entire module thoroughly before starting" because, you know, they're digital so you get the information you need when you need it, instead of jumping back and forth through linear pages trying to synthesize monster stats, room descriptions, maps, and plot summaries.
I have a slipcase of 4E core books in mint condition sitting on my bookshelf.
The reason they are mint is shortly after I bought them any time I referenced them I would be told by others that I was incorrect because that subject had been erratad.
I ended up with three thick tree memorials as useless souveniers of why print is dead. I'll not be repeating that mistake.
I am a D&D fan, I am nearly 50 years old and I started playing RPGs when D&D started the genre. I've played other systems but D&D is my favorite for both familiarity and nostalgia. I am no edition warrior, I am willing to play any. I am the built-in customer for these products. I am also a fan of Wizards of the Coast. Their passion for the revival of D&D in some otherwise dark times for the TT RPG industry was both infectious and exciting when they finally released 3.0... I want to be their fan. I want to be their customer.
Unfortunately, I won't be playing 5E, or buying their products if I have to be stuck with last century's method of playing these games. I will not be looking at my bookshelf at a stack of useless 5E books like I can currently at my 4E books.
Currently WOTC's attitude about PDFs and other more modern methods of distributing their game books reminds me of a dog that growls at you when you get near his bowl. Sure he's had his food taken away from him unfairly, but I'm not going to take his bowl away, I want to put more food in it. But I'm not going to as long as the dog growls everytime I get near his bowl. Justified or not in his growling, it's just not worth it to me when there are nicer dogs out there to feed.
This post isn't meant to be dramtic, it's just the truth, and it's a truth to which I don't want to arrive.
arjomanes wrote:
arjomanes wrote:
i bought my copy at my FLGS 16 minutes after they opened this morning. hey, i had to stop and get gas. 
mad props to the people who did art and layout on this. it's absolutely gorgeous. and i love the whimsy and fun in some of the art, D&D books have missed that for a while.