BRP PDF?

[Shaira]

Sorry - just got to jump in with a geeky comment. The BBC website was reporting today on Bill Gates' prediction about those new-fangled touchscreen PCs being in every house in 5 years, or some such. It's just occurred to me how cool those are going to be for RPGing! You can actually have all your minis, scenarios, etc, all stacked up and ready to go, and the table everyone's sitting around can effectively be the game board / miniatures layout / etc. Just touch your mini to move it directly on the dungeon map, etc - sound effects, animated monsters, the whole shebang. Yee-hah!

Sorry - geeky moment over. Calmer now...

Sarah :focus:

[Nightshade]

"Hey, we sit around BSing for the first half-hour waiting for people to arrive.... I end up making notes all over my printouts... and it's a pain in the ass lugging the DVD player, speakers, and all those loose CDs. My laptop holds all my notes, itunes has all my music and integral speakers, the screen doubles as a GM screen, and I can even do stuff like Initiative and HP as simple docs rather than a lot of scratch paper. Plus, I can instantly look up stuff on Wikipedia if there's a real-world question I can't answer on my own!"

So now, I generally do all of my prep on my laptop, and take it to the game. I save the relevant files onto a thumb drive and email them to myself as backup, but it's worked like a charm.

So I buy any rulebook I can in hardcopy and .pdf (if available), if I'm going to be running it more than a half-dozen times.

Out of curiosity, do you find a certain amount of window flipping and selection gets tiresome? I run off my laptop too, and prefer it for some purposes, but find I like to reference a bit more material semi-simultaneously than is quite convenient on computer, so there's still some material I tend to print out.

[Jason D]

Out of curiosity, do you find a certain amount of window flipping and selection gets tiresome? I run off my laptop too, and prefer it for some purposes, but find I like to reference a bit more material semi-simultaneously than is quite convenient on computer, so there's still some material I tend to print out.

I keep reference sheets printed out, and there's of course the core rulebook on hand.

Usually, up on my screen at any given time are the following:

- the adventure writeup

- a character information table

- the NPC document

- the initiative table (I create a table in Excel with the first column for Initiative scores, the second column for names, and then sort by descending order)

- itunes

- a .pdf of the rulebook, if available

I use a widescreen laptop, and have no trouble tabbing through all of these files when required.

[Nightshade]

I keep reference sheets printed out, and there's of course the core rulebook on hand.

Usually, up on my screen at any given time are the following:

- the adventure writeup

- a character information table

- the NPC document

- the initiative table (I create a table in Excel with the first column for Initiative scores, the second column for names, and then sort by descending order)

- itunes

- a .pdf of the rulebook, if available

I use a widescreen laptop, and have trouble tabbing through all of these files when required.

The widescreen might explain some of it, and the fact I usually have NPCs in multiple documents (though paging through one isn't much better IME).

[Jack Tar]

I use a widescreen laptop, and have trouble tabbing through all of these files when required.

Then get Vista and use the "switch between windows" desktop view!

e.g.,

[Jason D]

Then get Vista and use the "switch between windows" desktop view!

My bad... I meant to say "have no trouble" in my post.

[Zane]

Prior to receiving my Advance Readers Copy, I was of the opinion that there is no way I'd want to purchase a copy of the book as a PDF. Having seen the book, I am a lot more interested, as I'd like to be able to print out and bind just those pages that I care about. Since most of the time I won't need super-powers, or magic systems that would really cut down on the size of the book for me.

Of course what would really be great is a way to print out a custom book with just the rules I need (especially if I could add my own material in), but I don't see how that would be practical.

BTW, I'm old fashioned, I prefer no computers in use while gaming. I don't even have any kind of a GM screen, I just have a clip-board with my notes on it. Before and after the sessions I do use the computer a lot.

[Atgxtg]

Of course what would really be great is a way to print out a custom book with just the rules I need (especially if I could add my own material in), but I don't see how that would be practical.

That's not to far fetched. Especially if you have a PDF, or scan the book into a computer, and cut & paste. If the changes aren't too great (mostly deleting the stuff you don't want, replacing the weapon tables) then it would be pretty painless. Then just put it in a binder or have it bound at a print store for a few bucks. You can even do that with a real book.

I've had a couple of RPGs that were falling apart rebound at Kinko's for $3 or so. Now I can lie the books down flat.

[drohem]

I've had a couple of RPGs that were falling apart rebound at Kinko's for $3 or so. Now I can lie the books down flat.

Really? :cool:

My softcover version of RQ3 is falling apart and pages are loose. Can they rebind it? Is it cloth tape or something?

[Atgxtg]

Really? :cool:

My softcover version of RQ3 is falling apart and pages are loose. Can they rebind it? Is it cloth tape or something?

Yes they can rebind it. No it isn't a cloth binding. The best is probably the ring and spiral bindings, followed by the comb. They also put plastic cover pages, the top one is clear, and sometimes you can get the bottom clear too.

The spiral is nice, unlike the aluminum spiral used for notebooks, plastic spirals don't bend and warp[. The plastic covers give the book some protection from liquids and other abuse, and you can lie the book down flat or fold it over like a notebook.

All for around $4 or so.

I also like to print off PDFs at home and have them bind them. That way I can use high grade paper and print in color for a lot less.

[Nightshade]

Really? :cool:

My softcover version of RQ3 is falling apart and pages are loose. Can they rebind it? Is it cloth tape or something?

I was fortunate that early on I took my RQ3 books and reinforced them with library reinforcement tape and then restapled them with an industrial stapler, so they're still mostly intact. I kind of suggest investing in at least the tape (you can order it various places online) for anyone with frequently handled softcover books; they won't prevent pages from leaving if that starts, but they can do a pretty good job of protecting the spine.

[Atgxtg]

I was fortunate that early on I took my RQ3 books and reinforced them with library reinforcement tape and then restapled them with an industrial stapler, so they're still mostly intact. I kind of suggest investing in at least the tape (you can order it various places online) for anyone with frequently handled softcover books; they won't prevent pages from leaving if that starts, but they can do a pretty good job of protecting the spine.

I was not so foruntate that early on I took my SB1 book and rebound it at school with the new softcover book binding machine that was supped to add years to thie life of the shcools paperbacks.

That's how a got a copy of SB1 in a 3 ring binder.

[ajardoor]

I'd totally get a PDF if there was one.

[Agentorange]

Bah, young people today have no stamina. When I were a lad all RPG materials were carved in to clay tablets by scribes and you had to take the entire lot to each session. Not only did it keep you fit but you could use them to club opportunist muggers and thieves with. I can't be doing with all this new fangled technology...ahem

PDF ? I would say go for it. Like most folks I prefer hard copy for curling up on the sofa and having a good read, but PDF copies would be useful

[soltakss]

I remember lugging a kit bag full of all the RQ2 supplements from Northamptonshire to Warwick University every week to play RQ and that was on public transport with a half an hour walk at the end.

Everything on a DVD?

It isn't natural I tell you!

[NickMiddleton]

I remember lugging a kit bag full of all the RQ2 supplements from Northamptonshire to Warwick University every week to play RQ and that was on public transport with a half an hour walk at the end.

:eek: When was that? When I was at Warwick (many years ago now) Northamptonshire was an awkward prospect via public transport IIRC.

Everything on a DVD?

It isn't natural I tell you!

Damn straight! Young 'uns today...

More seriously, I'd also be wary of "reference paralysis", which is what has killed a lot of d20 for me: that creeping knowledge that the correct detail is somewhere in that mountain of rule books... Only having the essential notes / rules to hand means I feel free to improvise and keep the game flowing.

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[Atgxtg]

Everything on a DVD?

It isn't natural I tell you!

Shhhsh. Consider what killed RQIV:AiG, the last thing we want is a rumor that Jason got caught in an unnatural act with a DVD.

[soltakss]

:eek: When was that? When I was at Warwick (many years ago now) Northamptonshire was an awkward prospect via public transport IIRC.

I was at Warwick from 1982-1985 (Maths) but played in the roleplaying group from 1985 onwards. I caught a bus to Wellingborough, came up on the coach from Wellingborough to Coventry then a bus from Coventry to Gibbet Hill and walked down from Gibbet Hill. Then after the coach got cancelled, I caught a bus to Northampton, walked to the train station, got a train to Coventry and the bus to Gibbet Hill where I walked down to the main campus. We played in the Airport Lounge in the main Rootes building and normally took up two or three of the big multi-seater couches around a coffee table. I can't remember if we played on a Tuesday or Wednesday but I stayed the night on campus or at friends' in Coventry in an area called Paradise which is possibly the most unsuitable name for a region I've ever known.

Then I moved to Coventry and the long commute ended but the games didn't, until everyone left Uni and went their own way of course.

[NickMiddleton]

I was at Warwick from 1982-1985 (Maths) but played in the roleplaying group from 1985 onwards.

So we probably crossed over then - I was at Warwick 1986/-/1989 (Phil Lit), and lived in Coventry until 1995

I caught a bus to Wellingborough, came up on the coach from Wellingborough to Coventry then a bus from Coventry to Gibbet Hill and walked down from Gibbet Hill. Then after the coach got cancelled, I caught a bus to Northampton, walked to the train station, got a train to Coventry and the bus to Gibbet Hill where I walked down to the main campus.

Actually, now you described it, it doesn't sound as bad as I remembered it...

We played in the Airport Lounge in the main Rootes building and normally took up two or three of the big multi-seater couches around a coffee table.

Eerily well suited to running big games in weren't they?

I can't remember if we played on a Tuesday or Wednesday but I stayed the night on campus or at friends' in Coventry in an area called Paradise which is possibly the most unsuitable name for a region I've ever known.

I always assumed it was one of those blackly ironic consequences of the idiotic wide eyed optimism of the post war rebuilding when they came up with names like that...

Then I moved to Coventry and the long commute ended but the games didn't, until everyone left Uni and went their own way of course.

Funnily enough a largish chunk of my gaming crowd stayed on in Coventry after they finished at Warwick, so we were still all gaming together through the early '90's at various friends houses in Earlsdon and Tile Hill until my job was abolished during rail privatisation and I relocated to York.

:focus:

It's strange thinking back on gaming then actually - I had far fewer RPG books, and made minimal use of computers to aid with the role playing (I'd dabbled using my Amiga to keep notes, but the screen was crap and printing a bugger - I actually had more joy with the Amstrad PCW8512 I "inherited" from my in laws), albeit we'd experimented with using walky-talky radios for a dual GM campaign (it hadn't worked), and on another occasion had run a multi-threaded campaign that climaxed with four GM's running four interrelated games in the same house at the same time (and with characters occasionally slipping between them...) - THAT would have been hugely easier in a typical modern house with four computers and a network!

I do like having electronic versions of stuff that I can reference at work or easily print extracts from for players etc. but remain both firmly attached to books for actual reading and reference when I'm writing material; and I must confess I remain some what sceptical that PDF releases are automatically a good idea in all circumstances for the RPG publishers.

But, having said that, I can't help feeling it's time Chaosium did something a bit more substantial on the PDF front than simply re-issuing old OOP material via DTR.

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[p_clapham]

I'd like a PDF version. Combining the aspects I like in MRQ and BRP would be so much easier if I could cut and paste the PDF files.

[AikiGhost]

Prsonally I like everything to come as both, that way you can pick and choose. Or they could do what WEG are doing with septimus, releasing a dead tree core book that comes with a free PDF on a cd for the people who pre order.