Current D&D Products in PDF form 73
sckeener writes "The latest Wizards of the Coast D&D product Frostburn has also been release as a PDF. There are also older D&D products in PDF format at RPGNow. The current products are being tested at Drivethrurpg.com with the catch being Adobe DRM locks on the PDFs."
Hmmm... (Score:2, Interesting)
Would probably be blocked..... (Score:2)
Re:Would probably be blocked..... (Score:3, Informative)
Adobe might have to get involved, but drivethrurpg gives the number to call to get this done.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
now if only I played RPGs, I could carry the books on my Palm, yay!
Heh. I used to run my dungeons in a FileMaker Pro database on a borrowed PowerBook Duo. I built the worlds on my Quadra 700 and transferred it to the Duo via floppy disk (the owner had a dock). The most fun was coming up with sound effects to deal with game events: chimes for treasure, screams for player deaths, howls for monster deaths and a soundbite of Letterman saying "You babies!" for player complaints.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2)
Grab them through official channels... (Score:1)
Seeing as RPG books usually come jam packed with additional cut out pieces with permission granted to photocopy and all that, then maybe it would be an idea to make these extra bits available to download from the publisher's website.
Not everyone can afford / be arsed to find a colour photocopier in their neighbourhood.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:4, Informative)
Support the people who are publishing these materials, or don't and let the people who make them go out of business...
That said, I bought a couple modules offboth RPGNow and drivethrurpg.com two weeks ago. First off, the RPGNow PDFs are *NOT* Adobe DRM protected, and secondly, you can't read the drivethrurpg.com PDFs on a non-windows machine. In other words... Buy from RPGNow, and not drivethrurpg.com.
Anybody have an updated version of that Elcomsoft utility?
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:1)
Somehow, I'm not worried about Hasbro [hasbro.com] going out of business.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:1)
Unless, of course, you can scan, copy edit, and publish a PDF of a 100+ page book in under a minute.
Call me crazy, but the smart money says you can't. I guess if you insist on violating the copyright of others, no one says the copyright holder has to make it easier for you.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:3, Insightful)
Secondly, just because you can get the book out of the library doesn't make it legal or ethical for you to make a permanent copy the book for yourself out of the library copy rather than buying your own.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
What incentive do people have to publish these things in the first place if everybody is going to have your attitude? If nobody published them, there wouldn't be anywhere for you to go to get free copies of this stuff.
Secondly, a PDF you buy instead of scan is smaller in file size, and higher in image quality than a scan. Plus, you can text search an official PDF, but you can't text search a scan.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
I really have no sympathy for WotC's plan.
As for text searching, an OCR copy of Frostburn has been circulating P2P services since about the day before its retail release, and on Usenet soon after.
The current distribution model does not work. Somebody is going to go out of business. Maybe publishers. Maybe retailers. But someone's gonna
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
I'll support them, but at a fair price.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:1)
In good old slashdot parlance...
1. Obtain electronic rights to old geeky stuff.
2. Price at original cost for hardcover.
3. Skip the ??? step.
4. Profit!
Baen books sells its first run issuance DRM-free for 5-6$ -- heck, you can't even get them in pdf -- where the dead
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
RPGNow prices it's PDFs at half or less than the hard cover price. I don't recommend buying anything from DriveThruRPG.com. They're over priced and you can't read them on Linux or MacOS.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:1)
And the OP referred to both sites.
I was contrasting DriveThruRPG.com's price for a first-run D&D manual at 34.95$ (with bonus DRM!) vs. RPGnow.com's second-run at 5-10$, noting that other successful electronic publishers also use the same model as RPGnow.com.
Baen books has been demonstrating that e-publishing without DRM at significant discount to dead-tree prices is a workable model. Of course, you have to settle for Profit! rather than OBSCENE PROFIT!, but you'll likely make it up in volu
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:1)
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
Legitimate files tend to be much smaller than scans, unless someone took the time to OCR the text.
Re:Grab them through official channels... (Score:2)
Given the price of some items, while I know that it adds to the ease that these can be pirated, I think that some of the larger 'campaign sized' modules should come with a CD giving you the text of the module plus the maps. Examples would be "Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil" or "World's Largest Dungeon".
The edge to edge printing on many of these modules make them a pain to work from directly. RttToEE has statblocks together at the back of the module while it has the room descriptions at the start -
Overprice (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Overprice (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Overprice (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Overprice (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Overprice (Score:2, Funny)
You're still living in your parents' basement saving up to get the Star Trek:TNG series in the DVD-Borg-Cube edition. And nobody really cares which third level spells your Paladin half-elf pulled on that hot chick at the bar.
Re:Overprice (Score:2, Funny)
Now, let's get back to doing something productive, like playing City of Heroes. :D
Re:Overprice (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, and not being able to copy it among my various machines dooms this too. I do my session notes and creative work on my desktop machine. Then I bring my laptop to the sessions with me... Actually, at this point, pretty much my entire group has a laptop or desktop at the table when we play. So am I going to buy a hardcopy version I can pass around to people as needed, or a software version that I can't? Hmm...
I think what I'm actually going to do is buy the hardcover, and download the scan of the same book on my P2P network of choice!
Oh wait, that's what I already do.
I call this idea DOA, but let's see how it plays out.
Re:Overprice (Score:1)
Passing around is possible under DTRPG scheme, as long as you register all the machines under y
Re:Overprice (Score:2)
Oh wait, that's what I already do.
obviously you didn't read where this was posted from...here you go:
Posted by Zonk on Monday September 27, @05:22PM
from the legal-pdfs-mean-designers-can-eat dept.
Re:Overprice (Score:2)
I tend to do the same thing -- buy the hardcover, both because I want to support the industry and because having the real deal is just handier in a lot of cases, and then P2P download a
Now, the publisher could make this easy on me by providing a unique access code for a copy of the
No p2p for Frostburn (Score:2)
WotC is doing more than most of the Record Industry or MPAA. They are actually working with e-distributors to release a product. The least we can do as consumers is respect the designer's method of releasing a product. Either buy a hardcopy or buy the PDF, but do not download the PDF from a P2P network.
Re:Overprice (Score:1)
They can recommend whatever they like, but the actual pricing is up to the publishers. WotC is the first one I've seen where the PDF is the same cost as the deadtree.
Adobe DRM locks? (Score:5, Funny)
Monte Cook (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Monte Cook (Score:2)
For those looking for legit non-drm'ed versions... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:For those looking for legit non-drm'ed versions (Score:1)
D20 SRD [wizards.com](RTF files) Information from the core rulebooks, Deities and Demigods, the Psionics Handbook, and the Epic Level Handbook. Crystal Keep D20 Compilations [crystalkeep.com] Compilations of rules content indexes from various products(about six months out of date-last update included the Player's Guide to Faerun)-these indexes are expanded far beyond the standard, often including all the needed information for those feats/spells/whatevers.
P2P Networking: A downloaded copy of Unearthed Arcana can be ren
Re:For those looking for legit non-drm'ed versions (Score:2)
Hey, I helped write that character generator! It wasn't medio... um... well, actually I guess you're right.
Still, the manuals in RTF were cool. Core Rules 2.0 (which is what I actually worked on) came with the manuals in RTF, Windows Help, and sweet, sweet HTML. Absolutely no DRM or anything similar; you could copy them onto your hard disk and do what you wanted with them. If you got the expansion, you even got all of th
Re:For those looking for legit non-drm'ed versions (Score:1)
Growing up, character generators have been one of the primary motivators for learning new languages and platforms. From the HP28C calculator to the blackberry, and everything in between. The bar was pretty high for that one application. (have I properly backpedaled here?)
Ah, what a small world... Wish they had done the same with the newer books.
Re:For those looking for legit non-drm'ed versions (Score:2)
Heh, no offense taken. Core Rules 1 and 2 were both full of compromises and had their weak points. That sort of compromise are why lots of money was invested in the goofy movie in CR1, why the interface is custom (and thus harder to use). I'm proud of lots of CR2, but there are big parts I wish could have been different, but it wasn't an option given the demands of TSR/WotC, the budget, and the release schedule. Still, for first job out of college, it rocked hard. (How many job interviews feature your
Re:For those looking for legit non-drm'ed versions (Score:1)
Looking at your site you may have seen some of my krufty bioinformatics code. Didn't work for Accelrys, but I know they licensed some of the C code that could have used a bit more time. (g
Kinda miss real books (Score:4, Interesting)
Now you can drop it on a laptop? I applaud the advance in technology, don't get me wrong (Save your backs, kids! Don't stuff all those books in your backpacks!). However, it just strikes me that something is lost, just like the first time, many years ago, I saw a computer printed dungeon map as opposed to a hand-drawn one on hex or graph paper...
I feel old.
Re:Kinda miss real books (Score:1)
Only problem is they only have the crappy "Legends and Lore", not the original "Deities and Demigods" with Elric and Cthulu.
God. I really haven't grown up one bit in the last twenty years.
Re:Kinda miss real books (Score:2)
Having said that, I own the books because the quality of the hardcover manuals is superior to any other RPG manual I have ever seen. They're worth owning because the authors, artists, editors and designers put so much work into every book.
That's a fine way to prevent piracy - producing a product that you know anyone can just copy, but making the product
Gaming V2.0 (Score:5, Funny)
Warrior - I bash the screen with my fist.
Rogue - I sneak around back and unplug it.
Wizard - I cast Bigby's Typing Hands to press Ctrl-Alt-Del
Cleric - I cast a curse on Bill Gates
Sorceress - I summon Tech Support
Re:Gaming V2.0 (Score:5, Funny)
Warrior, you fail your saving throw and take 6D6 electrical damage
Rogue - I sneak around back and unplug it
Rogue, you fail your electronics skill check and end up unplugging the desk lamp. You are now hidden in shadows
Wizard - I cast Bigby's Typing Hands to press Ctrl-Alt-Del
Wizard, You fail your arcane skill check and are unable to interpret the glyphs on the keyboard. Your spell hits 3 random keys, with no apparent effect.
Cleric - I cast a curse on Bill Gates
Cleric, Bill Gates resists your spell. He stares at you quizziclly, smirks, and says "Wise adventurer, answer me this question; where do you want to go today?"
Sorceress - I summon Tech Support
Sorceress, Tech support speaks to you in a foreign language. You are unable to communicate with him.
Re:Gaming V2.0 (Score:2)
The first post seems like typical players and the reply post seems like a typical killer DM.
What kind of DM throws a Blue Screen of Death at a party except the sadistic killer DM type? I can just imagine the screams of frustration from the players. Even if the players escape the BSOD, they still might have lost what they were working on! All their goals dashed in one BSOD encounter.
They need to switch Role Playing games and go to one that is more solid where a surprise BSOD won't happen.
Reading books on computer monitor is BAD!!! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Reading books on computer monitor is BAD!!! (Score:2)
OK Kids, nothing to see here.
This is the future (Score:5, Insightful)
The nice thing about this setup is that it allows startup companies to sell their work without having to go through all the trouble of getting publishers to publish a book, and it allows established companies to put out short books.
PDF versions of books also are nice for people who run MUDs or games on IRC, where it is often more convenient to have a pdf on the computer.
While these are not the types of materials that one would want to get for reading on a PDA on long flights, there are many advantages of having electronic distributions of gaming text. [obligitory self-whoring]
Year of the zombie should be released soon, anyone interested in zombie themed D20 modern games should check it out
[/obligitory self-whoring]
Re:This is the future (Score:2)
Personally I would prefer them in RTF format - I like to be able to easily take the relevent chunk of the module that I need for that session along with me to GM from. I have a preferred format for NPC and monster stat blocks (the WotC stat blocks make me dyslexic, I can never find the number I want in that crushed up little block of text). Putting it in a PDF just means I need to cut and paste it out into a text editor anyway, and hope that column control doesn't make too much of a hash of it for me.
Dead Products, White Wolf (Score:5, Interesting)
Take White Wolf for example. This year they killed off the entire line of previously existing World of Darkness games so that they could "reset" the whole world and start fresh. There are many similarities between the old games and the new games which have risen from their ashes (e.g. Vampire: The Requiem is very much like the previous Vampire: The Masquerade). However, there have been a LOT of changes, not just in rules, but primarily in setting.
This has a lot of WW purists cheesed off... "Where is my favourite clan? How could you get rid of them and keep clan X!", etc. There are a lot of people that would be happy to just keep continuing playing the old game, and that also includes people who like the new game as well.
Problem is, now all of the books for the old games are out of print. If you already have the books, well, you're golden for now... until they wear out (and yes, if you actually use them regularly they DO wear out quickly). For now, yeah, you could buy them online, or at your local game store, or whatever, but there is a finite supply. Eventually, they will be either impossible to find or too expensive to buy. At that point, the game will start to die as new players can't get books, etc.
IMHO, some fixed time after they kill off a game, I think they should just take every book that was ever released for it, and jam them onto a CD as PDFs. Sell that sucker for $20 or whatever. Then at least the game will live on forever in theory.
Luckily, I have a copy of the Vampire Revised CD-ROM that they came out with a few years ago, which has the core books on it. But, it doesn't have all the books, and it really really sucks for anything but a quick fact check as the viewable area of the pages is so damned small. A so-so solution at best I'm afraid
Mechanik
Re:Dead Products, White Wolf (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Dead Products, White Wolf (Score:2)
Currently over 343 products from WW are sold there. Here is a more direct link to their products. link [drivethrurpg.com]
You are correct. I can think of several RPGs that have disappeared over the years. It would be nice if I could legally get them some where without having to bid for it on an auction site.
WOTC has been doing this for years (Score:3, Informative)
Enworld link (Score:5, Insightful)
below is a cut&paste of the comment. It should be noted that I disagree with his views on DRM and the price of Frostburn. I am fine with both. I just think his comment sums up the pluses of PDFs in a table top RPG environment.
Sigil:
Speaking from my POV as an avid PDF consumer (though since I am also a PDF publisher, you may wish to take it with a grain of salt; I am trying as best I can not to bring publisher bias into the equation, but in the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you I write PDFs too - though I should also tell you that my policies as a PDF publisher are essentially governed by, "if I were buying this product, what would I want?").
Quote:
Originally Posted by rowport
Hey, there! I am glad that you posted about this, because I am curious of the opinion of a true pdf fan: do you think that pricing the electronic document the same as the MSRP for the hardback volume is reasonable?
In two words, "{expletive edited for Eric's Grandma}, NO!"
Traditional (non-DRMed) PDFs have the following advantages over print products (in no particular order):
1 - They don't take up shelf space - when you have a collection of over 500 PDFs, as I do (at least, I'm pretty sure it's approaching 500) you appreciate not having to find room for 500 books.
2 - "Take only the parts you want" - As an extension of the above, you need only print small sections of the PDF that are relevant to you instead of lugging the whole thing around to your games. Alternatively, a DM can print only those portions of a PDF he wants his players to see.
3 - Cut and Paste - Again, related to "take the parts you want" but very nice for quickly pulling material from a dozen sources to create a customized "sourcebook" for your PC.
4 - Searchability - The "search" feature of a PDF lets you almost instantly find that nasty little rule to stump (or be) a rules-lawyer.
5 - Backups - PDFs are easier - and much cheaper - to "back up" in case of catastrophe than traditional print items. In some cases (such as RPGNow.com), you have the ability to send yourself re-download links of products you've already paid for in case of true catastrophe (e.g., the house burns down - at RPGNow.com, you can simply use a few clicks to regenerate your PDF collection for free).
6 - Cost - In theory, part of paying for a print product includes the cost of printing, binding, warehousing, and distributing - including the cost of materials (paper, ink, & glue); a PDF needs not include these costs (IIRC, a good rule of thumb is that publishers get around 25% of the MSRP for each book and that's BEFORE they have to account for printing costs). Of course, Economics 101 tells you that the price of a good has NOTHING to do with the cost of production and everything to do with how much people are willing to pay (soft drinks, for example, have HUGE profit margins for this very reason).
7 - Instant, Free Updates - Some PDF vendors update their products for free... again, because the cost of distribution, et al, is negligible... don't you wish you had gotten a free 3.5 PHB if you had bought the 3.0 PHB, for example?
It should be noted that DRMed PDFs often (not always) take away some of these advantages. In particular:
3 - Cut & Paste - Most Drivethrurpg PDFs limit your cut & paste ability to 10 cut/pastes in a 10-day period. This doesn't do away with the utility entirely, but does mitigate it considerably, as most people (a) don't want to be bothered rationing their cutting/pasting and (b) in my experience, want to cut lots of small sections rather than a few large ones.
5 - Backups - As has been discussed before, some of Adobe's limits (6 computers) can come into play; also, a computer without an internet connection (e.g., a laptop) can't be used at all to display things... not to mention the trouble with remembering
Re:where's the 1981 Basic & Expert rules? (Score:2)
they also have 1st and 2nd ed.
ICE understands the price better! (Score:2)
$23.77 on Amazon.Com (Score:2)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078