SPECIAL NOTICE
Malicious code was found on the site, which has been removed, but would have been able to access files and the database, revealing email addresses, posts, and encoded passwords (which would need to be decoded). However, there is no direct evidence that any such activity occurred. REGARDLESS, BE SURE TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS. And as is good practice, remember to never use the same password on more than one site. While performing housekeeping, we also decided to upgrade the forums.
This is a site for discussing roleplaying games. Have fun doing so, but there is one major rule: do not discuss political issues that aren't directly and uniquely related to the subject of the thread and about gaming. While this site is dedicated to free speech, the following will not be tolerated: devolving a thread into unrelated political discussion, sockpuppeting (using multiple and/or bogus accounts), disrupting topics without contributing to them, and posting images that could get someone fired in the workplace (an external link is OK, but clearly mark it as Not Safe For Work, or NSFW). If you receive a warning, please take it seriously and either move on to another topic or steer the discussion back to its original RPG-related theme.

Who buys PDFs?

Started by joewolz, September 11, 2006, 10:56:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

joewolz

Which of you buys PDF products?  I, personally, have only bought one or two non-physical products before.  I have legitimate PDFs of most of my Indie games, as well as a few of my other games.

How many of you buy PDFs, and does anyone here ONLY buy PDFs?
-JFC Wolz
Co-host of 2 Gms, 1 Mic

Mcrow

I don't buy only PDFs, in fact I buy mostly print.

I do have about 15 PDFS though and I bought most of them.

Caesar Slaad

I buy many PDFs.

I don't buy only PDFs. I do consider a print product value added. In fact, it's a hard sell for me to shell out more than 50% or print MSRP for the PDF version of the product.

How many? I count 161 from RPGNow. I probably have about 20 from DTRPG and maybe 10 from ENGS. That's not counting free, review or complimentary products.

I mostly buy d20 supplements. To be fair, many of them are small ( < $2).
The Secret Volcano Base: my intermittently updated RPG blog.

Running: Pathfinder Scarred Lands, Mutants & Masterminds, Masks, Starfinder, Bulldogs!
Playing: Sigh. Nothing.
Planning: Some Cyberpunk thing, system TBD.

Paul Watson

I've bought a few PDFs, but I found the copies I had printed out and stuck in a binder to be lacking ... something. This summer I switched to buying hardcopies only. What can I say; I love books.
My Livejournal

"The central question for our time is not how you worship God, or even whether you worship God.  It's whether you believe in this life you can be in possession of the absolute truth and you have the right to impose it on others - and therefore whether your differences are more important than our common humanity. That's the values crisis." - Bill Clinton

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." - Noam Chomsky

Keran

I bought a couple of the Forge game PDFs to try out, but the narrativist stuff leaves me cold, so there won't be any more of those.

I've bought more PDFs than physical RPG products lately anyway, picking up out-of-print classic games and a few new publications. Their being cheaper, immediately deliverable, and not needing any shelf space has sort of made up for the inconvenience of the PDF format.

Sort of.  If I were buying anything I actually expected to use often during game sessions, I'd want a file decently formatted for screen reading, or a book.  PDF is grossly inconvenient for reading onscreen and I haven't found printouts all that handy either.

Yamo

I'm too old-fashioned. RPGs are made of paper, and that's that.

And I'm not about to furnish said paper myself. That's part of the RPG maker's job.
In order to qualify as a roleplaying game, a game design must feature:

1. A traditional player/GM relationship.
2. No set story or plot.
3. No live action aspect.
4. No win conditions.

Don't like it? Too bad.

Click here to visit the Intenet's only dedicated forum for Fudge and Fate fans!

Sigmund

I've purchased exclusively pdfs for new products for the last year, as my post baby-birth budget couldn't keep up with my fav game release schedule buying the print versions.
- Chris Sigmund

Old Loser

"I\'d rather be a killer than a victim."

Quote from: John Morrow;418271I role-play for the ride, not the destination.

fonkaygarry

I've started with the pdfs, and I love the way they treat my wallet (except for the geniuses who keep their prices at 70%+ of the hardcopy, but I make a point not to buy from them.)  

They are lacking, though.  I get eye fatigue from the screen, and I miss having a big, clunky book in my hands.  I'd never get a WFRP book in pdf for just those reasons.  DotV or Iron Guantlets, though...
teamchimp: I'm doing problem sets concerning inbreeding and effective population size.....I absolutely know this will get me the hot bitches.

My jiujitsu is no match for sharks, ninjas with uzis, and hot lava. Somehow I persist. -Fat Cat

"I do believe; help my unbelief!" -Mark 9:24

Akrasia

I buy some pdfs.  Often I will buy modules or similar game aids (e.g. towns and cities) as pdfs, since I tend to mark them up during play, and I don't feel bad about doing this with a pdf I printed up at work.  

As for rules, though, I will only get the pdf if a book is not available, or the pdf is free (e.g. HARP Lite).
RPG Blog: Akratic Wizardry (covering Cthulhu Mythos RPGs, TSR/OSR D&D, Mythras (RuneQuest 6), Crypts & Things, etc., as well as fantasy fiction, films, and the like).
Contributor to: Crypts & Things (old school \'swords & sorcery\'), Knockspell, and Fight On!

brettmb2

I buy PDFs if they are cheap. If something costs more than $10, I'd rather spend more money to get a printed version if one is available. Since PIG has a PDF printing service for our customers (using a high-speed printer), I could easily print them out myself in a few minutes, but that means more work to bind them, etc. and I've got enough to do ;)

I really don't get $20+ PDFs or the people who buy them :)
Brett Bernstein
Precis Intermedia

palehorse

All the time. I've got.. shit, I don't know exactly how many. A lot.
Butch Curry
Zombie Nirvana Games: Gaming... with Braaains!

Zachary The First

I do buy pdfs, but usually cheap ones, like the map series from 01 Games and Darkfuries, as well as little supplements I think will be useful for world building. I don't think I've ever purchased a pdf much over $10, if ever. I picked up a lot of old D&D books for next to nothing from RPGNow. DrivethruRPG has some good freebies now and again, but I can't see how folks pay $20-30 for some of those pdfs. :confused:
RPG Blog 2

Currently Prepping: Castles & Crusades
Currently Reading/Brainstorming: Mythras
Currently Revisiting: Napoleonic/Age of Sail in Space

Vellorian

I have a half-a-dozen PDFs that I purchased.  I still have trouble on some internal level with "buying air."  I can't bring myself to purchase audio or video content, either.  And don't even think of asking me to buy a "ring tone" for my cell phone.  I don't use "pay-per-view" figuring that for a little more than double, I can get a DVD that will let me watch the movie as oft as I want.

The idea that people would "buy air" is baffling to me. I am simply not prepared to the "new economy" that is coming based upon paying for content.

Mind you, I've done it.  I've purchased PDFs when the game isn't available any other way or, in one unique instance, I purchased the PDF at a low cost, which was refunded to me in the purchase price of the printed product at a later date (though this was personally arranged and not a general practice).

I consider any publisher who charges more than 50% of the printed cover price for their PDF to be deliberately attempting to fleece their own fans and that publisher loses both my PDF purchase and gains my ire (which eliminates any future physical purchases, as well).
Ian Vellore
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry

Mr. Analytical

I usually buy PDFs but then I don't buy that much stuff any more, having bought everything I need in the past and being remarkably immune to hype.

But having said that $35 for the Great Pendragon Campaign? Fuck off.. Fuck RIGHT off.  That's 70% of the dead tree version.

Nicephorus

I've bought 15-20 pdfs.  There are things that love and things that I hate about them.

Electronic copies are great for editing/grabbing out bits, just paste parts into a word processor for handouts for making lists of allowable extra rules, etc.

They take less space - I can have a whole library on the laptop.  They're cheaper some times - I rarely print out more than bits.  

Like everyone else I won't buy them when they are near the cost of the print version, >40-50%.

A combination of two factors keep me from buying more.  First, the quality of most (but not all) pdf-only products is low, and I'm not talking about the crappy art.  Many of them are poorly edited and poorly thought out.  The other issue is lack of previews of many beyond a short, poorly worded marketing blurb.  With a printed book, I can leaf through to decide whether it's worth it.  So, I don't take risks on pdfs from unknown authors (or ones of known dubious quality)unless there is a decent preview of several pages and the table of contents.