nclarke Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 They are known to sometimes pull a book and even if you paid for it it disappears from your library when you sync and you get no refund. Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoppySeed45 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 For me, I'd like both. Hard copy because I find that easier to flip through during the session (and the font is usually guaranteed to be the right size for easy reading). PDFs are good for having an "extra" at the table (especially important during character generation - for example, showing spell lists or equipment). I also would like an EPUB or MOBI version. I bought Fate Core some time ago, and it came with PDF and MOBI versions, and I and my players ended up referencing the physical book, and the other two electroic formats. Also, I'm now running a Nobilis short campaign, and I was deciding between 2nd and 3rd edition, and one of the reasons I went with 3rd was that I had a PDF for it, so, easier to do characters and show players during the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hexelis Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Hardcopy, I love books and it's easier for me at the table to be able to flip though. I agree some small adventures in PDF are ok, you can easily print the maps, handouts, what-not. I like having a PDF as a an optional back-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silent_bob Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Which format do you prefer for your gaming collection? I like physical books, but at the same time I like how electronic copies take up less space, and that I can read them on my computer, kindle, or phone. I find if I really like the book at some point I will acquire a physical copy as well. Â I like both. Â I prefer the hardcopy at the gaming table and I like to cut and paste from the pdf when making adventures. Â Of course, you can PRINT the pdf and put into a 3-ring binder so you don't have have to buy both. Printing is really handy for Classic Fantasy, where you need the BRP core rules. Â Â It is convenient to put both in one large binder separated by tabs and pdfs are cheaper than the hardcopy. Â Laser printers are cheap and toner cartridges can print 6,000 pages. Â When printed on both sides, a 400 page pdf only consumes 200 pages of paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chorpa Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 As many others I prefer Hardcopy at the gaming table and PDF as reference when working on my own adventures at home. Smaller files like adventures and such I don't mind getting as PDF only since I can easily print them out myself when necessary and easy to cut and paste important information into separate documents for example when to create maps or other handouts when I want. Â Lately I have also started to use PDFs at the gaming table too but I still do find i quicker to just use the book when I need some info from it so it is mostly as a backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I find that by the time I've printed and bound even a free PDF download at my local office supply store, I've spent between $30 and $40 -- about what I might have paid for a hard copy (depending on the product). So PDF and print is a useful option, but not one that saves me any money, especially if I had to pay for the PDF itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nclarke Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 The killer of course for buying a hard copy vs. a PDF is location. If you have no local store where you can purchase a copy of the book and it's not offered on Amazon (lots of Indie games) and the source is Kickstarter or another US based source then postage is going to be the thing that makes a European purchaser think twice before buying. (I quote a recent buyer of Monte Cook's latest work, "USD 35 for shipping!") Â POD through DTRPG where the material is printed in the UK works reasonably well but if you are left with the choice between getting a PDF and printing locally (or via POD) or paying a lot of money and potentially customs fees for a book then it has to be a 'must have' to bother. Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Yikes! Those sorts of shipping fees effectively double the cost of a product. If the book already costs $60 (like Runequest or Dr. Who), you're talking skipping a lot of lunches to pay for it.  Similar fees are why I didn't participate several years ago in a "sale" by a certain U.S. publisher even though I live in the States. The clearance RPG books were sometimes marked down to less than the cost of a fast food sandwich -- but the distributor then tacked on shipping of $20-$30, making the products cost about what they would have full price at Amazon.com. So ... what was the point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nclarke Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Larger companies in Europe (at least the English one's I know about, C7 and Mongoose) have distribution facilities on both continents and can minimise shipping costs even when sourcing the hard copy from China. The Guide to Glorantha folks at Moon Design are doing the same with bulk shipping out of the US for all the European material and then distributing it from Germany to keep the costs down. Â I've heard about one company that found it cheaper to ship to the UK then back to Canada than across the border from the US. Â The USPS charges have gone up so much on International mail that it's prohibitive to ship stuff anywhere outside the US. Â Unfortunately the US is the biggest market for RPG material in English so most companies need to deal with the US market and printing there or doing their distribution from there makes a certain amount of business sense. Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silent_bob Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Larger companies in Europe (at least the English one's I know about, C7 and Mongoose) have distribution facilities on both continents and can minimise shipping costs even when sourcing the hard copy from China. The Guide to Glorantha folks at Moon Design are doing the same with bulk shipping out of the US for all the European material and then distributing it from Germany to keep the costs down.  I've heard about one company that found it cheaper to ship to the UK then back to Canada than across the border from the US.  The USPS charges have gone up so much on International mail that it's prohibitive to ship stuff anywhere outside the US.  Unfortunately the US is the biggest market for RPG material in English so most companies need to deal with the US market and printing there or doing their distribution from there makes a certain amount of business  As a US citizen, I don't think it is unfortunate at all.  I just wish they would use US spelling more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mankcam Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Â No, using English is just fine heh heh Quote " Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nclarke Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Silent_bob, are you suggesting that US citizens are not literate enough to cope with variant spelling? I know they have problems with History, not enough of it, and Geography, anywhere outside CONUS, but I did think that they could manage to read, unlike Dan Quayle (best remembered for his spelling of potatoe). Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silent_bob Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Silent_bob, are you suggesting that US citizens are not literate enough to cope with variant spelling? I know they have problems with History, not enough of it, and Geography, anywhere outside CONUS, but I did think that they could manage to read, unlike Dan Quayle (best remembered for his spelling of potatoe). nclarke,  I may be able to tolerate the excessive use of "u" and "e" in words that don't need it, but I cannot stand the ridiculous A5 formatting!  The newest version of OSRIC is only available in A5 even though most of the OSRIC users are in North America. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nclarke Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Again Silent_bob are you suggesting that American's cannot manage to print two-up on letter size paper with the fit-to-paper option checked? Â I think you can see why the rest of the world hates things that are designed for letter-sized paper that no-one outside the US uses. Let alone legal-size or digest-size paper. Â When the Chinese economy outstrips that of slowly decaying America and you have to learn Mandarin to speak to your overlords you'll appreciate being the little guy more. Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Don't count America (or its education system -- many of us are homeschooling) out yet. Once we get this anti-American administration out of office, we may be able to straighten some things out. Former Vice President Dan Quayle -- a highly educated and articulate man -- got a bad rap, by the way, not because he was a poor speller but because he was a conservative with traditional values. Had a liberal Democratic official made the same minor goof, the incident would never have been reported. Let him who is without spelling and grammatical errors cast the first potato.  Besides, the Chinese (given the chance) may choose to be overlords, but that's never been the U.S.'s intent. We just want to buy cool European RPGs -- and supply our international fellow dice-rollers with hamburgers and pizza. You want fries with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nclarke Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Oh seneschal, trust you to spoil a little leg pulling with 'facts' from the tea party. Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam E. Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Please don't ruin yet another RPG forum for me by injecting politics into non-political threads. Â I play RPGs to escape the utterly crappy real world in which I live ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Sorry, krieder204. I don't want to spoil your enjoyment.  (On the other hand, why is it "fun" when internationals make jabs at the U.S. but "political" when someone from the U.S. jabs back?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam E. Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Â (On the other hand, why is it "fun" when internationals make jabs at the U.S. but "political" when someone from the U.S. jabs back?) Â Neither is fun. Â My remark is directed toward everyone in the thread engaging in political remarks, not just you. Â Now stop it, or I will go home and play with my dolls. Â EDIT: I mean "action figures" ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nclarke Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Nothing I posted since Silent_bob asserted the superiority of the US paper size and US spelling was political purely pointing out that he couldn't have his cake and eat it too plus a dose of leg pull about US stereotypes. Quote Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silent_bob Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Nothing I posted since Silent_bob asserted the superiority of the US paper size and US spelling was political purely pointing out that he couldn't have his cake and eat it too plus a dose of leg pull about US stereotypes. Â I am also pulling the leg of nclarke. Â I like the brits. Heck, I am a big fan of I Wanna Marry Harry and Ladies of London. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el_octogono Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 To my surprise, Chaosium is offering an Epub version of Blood Tides. Any info on this? Quote Check my Lobo Blanco - Elric RPG (now in english!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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