I would agree that I enjoy the pdf files that are around. I have a small collection of nothing very much in terms of AD&D collectors, but I have my original books from the very early 80's, my recently acquired whitey set, numerous add-on books and tons of mags...

But with so many modules, boxsets of worlds and such like, I would never be able to find, afford or collect them all.

So I bit the bullet and took a massive download file and now have around 15GB of stuff... I'll probably never read half of it to be honest, but it's nice to have.

However, on the flip side of that, I have since purchased items from guys here purely because the pdf was interesting and I wanted a hard copy as they are so much easier to read (pdfs to print are a bugger I find!   )
There are also still several (mainly UK produced sets or items) that aren't in pdf form anywhere, so I am/would also purchase those privately.

But with a pdf to Word convertor programme, it means I can adapt the content for my use and still maintain it in a decent printed format.

I think they are a typical off-shoot of the modern world of file-sharing etc and that will never go away. I guess it's a preference as to whether you use that option or not and to what gains. Mine are for me or friends only, I would never obtain pdfs and sell them, although this is practised I know...  

DnDGeek wrote:For the collector, they're fairly useless. For the time-strapped DM, though, they're invaluable. What used to take me 10 or 15 minutes to find the book I need, thumb through it and copy some information down, now only takes me a minute or so. Click, drag, copy, paste. And when I can't remember which of the hundreds of books that I own has the info I need, I can just do a search on my folder of .pdfs. It can save hundreds of hours a year or allow you to put a ton more detail into a project in the same amount of time. PDFs rock.

Ditto. I have about 40 Gig worth of PDFS for D&D and some other games.  I like them for looking at while I'm on the computer...I don't have time to haul it upstairs, unstack all my boxes to try and find the Dungeon magazine 66 that might not even be the one I'm really looking for.  As a reference source PDfs are invaluable.

Also, the better PDFs allow you to cut and paste to word, so it's easy to pull a map, picture, or item description for placement in your own adventures.

It does save a lot of time and effort I've found to simply have the PDFs of everything on your machine, not to mention the wear and tear on your original product.

Mike B.

Both rpgnow and drivethrurpg have posted that they are "in discussions with Wizards about their decision to change their approach to digital sales of their titles and will post more information as we have it."  I would imagine they may be trying to provide their customers access to at least their full slate of downloads (5 or 10?).

Semi off topic, but both of these sites have precisely the same message posted regarding the issue - are they related or independent entities?

Last chance to download previously-purchased PDFs!

DriveThruRPG (and presumably RPGNow) sent an e-mail Friday night:

WOTC DOWNLOAD RECOVERY DAY, APRIL 15TH

By now, you have probably learned that Wizards of the Coast recently decided to cease the sale of digital download versions of their books. This means that RPGNow and DriveThruRPG will no longer be able to offer you future downloads of Wizards titles you have purchased.

We are offering you a final 24-hour period in which to re-download copies of any Wizards of the Coast files you have purchased from us in the past. If there are any titles you purchased, and you need a new copy of the file for your personal archive, this is your last chance to get it.

This 24-hour period will begin at 10:00 AM EST (U.S.A. Eastern Time Zone), Wednesday, April 15th and will conclude at 10:00 AM EST on Tuesday, April 16th.

During this time you may visit DriveThruRPG or RPGNow, log in, and click the My Account link found in the upper right corner of the site. Or just visit one of these links:
DriveThruRPG http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/account.php
RPGNow http://www.rpgnow.com/account.php

For the “My Account” page you will find your order history and download links, including a handy option to view all products updated since your last download of that title (for example a file that was updated with errata since you last downloaded it). During your visit, we certainly invite you to take a look around and see all the titles we have to offer for rpg PDF fans.

As always, thank you for your continuing support of all that we do, and we welcome your feedback and any questions you may have.

Sincerely,
Sean Patrick Fannon
DriveThruRPG and RPGNow

Kosh Vorlontay wrote:
PDF's also work great for adding content to your Core Rules 2.0E program be it spells, magical items, or even whole adventures.

Currently I am converting U1 to a CR2.0E format. Got part 1 done and 80% of part 2 done  

Let me know when you are done, Kosh, I'd love to take a look at it.  I haven't seen a good 2E translation of the U series.

I have a 2E version of I1 The Forbidden City if anyone is interested....

Mike B.

Kosh Vorlontay wrote:
PDF's also work great for adding content to your Core Rules 2.0E program be it spells, magical items, or even whole adventures.

Currently I am converting U1 to a CR2.0E format. Got part 1 done and 80% of part 2 done  

apologies if this is daft, but I have CR2.0. Is it possible to drop pdf adventures in there somehow?? I dont have a user guide with mine (picked up cheap) and I've only used it for NPC creation and rough maps!!
you can PM me if its easier, cheers

ashmire13 wrote:apologies if this is daft, but I have CR2.0. Is it possible to drop pdf adventures in there somehow?? I dont have a user guide with mine (picked up cheap) and I've only used it for NPC creation and rough maps!!
you can PM me if its easier, cheers

Nothing like that. It is just easier, for me, to cut n paste than it is to type. Makes adding the content a whole lot faster!  

A familiar retailer weighs in.  Valid point or sour grapes?

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/14705.html

I found the above link on the Paizo message boards.  Most of the Paizo posters there seem to be of the sour grapes opinion.  

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizo/websiteFeedback/pDFSalesEffectOnGamingStoreOwners

Avurax wrote:A familiar retailer weighs in.  Valid point or sour grapes

Sour grapes ... and acting like a dickhead on top of it.

Who does he think he's fooling with this gem?

"I mean, if the PDF is free, why would anyone ever need the printed book?"

Oh, noes! PDFs will mean the extinction of books! Trees everywhere can rejoice!

Christ on a crutch. I'm no huge fan of PDFs, but even I understand that this is faulty logic. People use and enjoy physical, printed materials and PDFs in different ways and for different reasons.

Plus, explain this one for me, Marcus: if free PDFs mean that no one will want the actual physical product, then how is it that the Orange B3 continues to see sales in the thousands of dollars? A free PDF has been available at the WOTC site for years.