Ghost Whistler
Legendary Pubber
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2,221
- Reaction score
- 1,411
So haven't run wfrpe for a while due to people traitorously moving house (i'll have to check for signs of mutation, I'm sure they are there).
However this week in gaming I sold off half my collection. Even though they are all games I like, I regret nothing. I haven't even finished reading them, and in all honesty I never will. In further honesty, it's just too many books. If I had to lug all those Starfinder books to a session, for instance, I think I would die trying. So now I'm thinking that I may have finally converted to the PDF market. Though i haven't replaced those games with PDF versions as yet (if ever), and PDF's are still vastly pverpriced.
It's just weird to find how preference for print is actually counter productive and, in practice, completely unwieldy. I run wfrp mostly from the pdf version (despite layout being kinda rubbish). I have only beought the book to the table twice. I copied the pdf version and gave it to the players (or, if your'e from Cubicle 7 or the FBI or GCHQ, no I didn't) and that has helped immeasurably. They can look stuff up for spending xp. This is no good with a book.
Books look great and I still feel that, when it comes to making a purchase, having something tangible in your hand makes for a more meaningful transaction than exchange of data. But even though pdf's have a ways to go before fully being 100% user friendly (they are still slow), they are just, for me right now, superior. Perhaps most importantly they can be updated. Books can't and I'm getting tired of buying game books that are full of mistakes, it's really not acceptable these days. Not from major companies. If C7 can take on the entire Games Workshop range of IP's to develop games for they can damn well find time to edit their 4e book.
Even art is something I wonder about now. I love to see good art in games, and a book with no art would be a dry proposition indeed. But I wonder how many books consider how their art is used well. Placing it everywhere and slowing down the text. Finally, 500 page books? Starfinder is huge - and isn't even complete! I just don't have the time to wade through all these enormous books. I'm not sure I ever will - and I like the game (probably, never played it).
It feels good to lighten the load, even if I do miss having the books. Regardless of the value of digital, there is something special about owning an rpg book. It's an experience: not just game, not just prose, not just story, not just setting. But something special and unique. Even if they are a bit of whit elephant sometimes
However this week in gaming I sold off half my collection. Even though they are all games I like, I regret nothing. I haven't even finished reading them, and in all honesty I never will. In further honesty, it's just too many books. If I had to lug all those Starfinder books to a session, for instance, I think I would die trying. So now I'm thinking that I may have finally converted to the PDF market. Though i haven't replaced those games with PDF versions as yet (if ever), and PDF's are still vastly pverpriced.
It's just weird to find how preference for print is actually counter productive and, in practice, completely unwieldy. I run wfrp mostly from the pdf version (despite layout being kinda rubbish). I have only beought the book to the table twice. I copied the pdf version and gave it to the players (or, if your'e from Cubicle 7 or the FBI or GCHQ, no I didn't) and that has helped immeasurably. They can look stuff up for spending xp. This is no good with a book.
Books look great and I still feel that, when it comes to making a purchase, having something tangible in your hand makes for a more meaningful transaction than exchange of data. But even though pdf's have a ways to go before fully being 100% user friendly (they are still slow), they are just, for me right now, superior. Perhaps most importantly they can be updated. Books can't and I'm getting tired of buying game books that are full of mistakes, it's really not acceptable these days. Not from major companies. If C7 can take on the entire Games Workshop range of IP's to develop games for they can damn well find time to edit their 4e book.
Even art is something I wonder about now. I love to see good art in games, and a book with no art would be a dry proposition indeed. But I wonder how many books consider how their art is used well. Placing it everywhere and slowing down the text. Finally, 500 page books? Starfinder is huge - and isn't even complete! I just don't have the time to wade through all these enormous books. I'm not sure I ever will - and I like the game (probably, never played it).
It feels good to lighten the load, even if I do miss having the books. Regardless of the value of digital, there is something special about owning an rpg book. It's an experience: not just game, not just prose, not just story, not just setting. But something special and unique. Even if they are a bit of whit elephant sometimes