Quote from harrisben >>

The majority of the complaints are coming from people who have purchased the physical and/or digital products already and are not pleased about purchasing it all again. Comments like "You don't have to buy it" are spot on, but you'll have to forgive those of us who can see how great a tool D&D Beyond could be. It's eating many of us up to possibly miss out on making use of the promise of D&D Beyond.

Ok, my only question, is if I buy a Digital sourcebook how do I use it? I have a Kindle Fire, if I can read the book off line on the fire, I'll buy (save a ton of carrying books around)  if not. no deal I just use roll 20 for on line play and keep carrying books. For $20-$30 bucks off line viewing on a tablet is the only feature to get me to pay again for books I have... or twice for new books.... or new adventures....

if it requires and internet connection for me to read the book I bought, no sale..... 

Quote from Timoon >>

Ok, my only question, is if I buy a Digital sourcebook how do I use it? I have a Kindle Fire, if I can read the book off line on the fire, I'll buy (save a ton of carrying books around)  if not. no deal I just use roll 20 for on line play and keep carrying books. For $20-$30 bucks off line viewing on a tablet is the only feature to get me to pay again for books I have... or twice for new books.... or new adventures....

if it requires and internet connection for me to read the book I bought, no sale..... 

Can't be looking at 2mil words.  There aren't that many in the English language needed for the game.  I know because I am conlanging my own languages for each of my major cultures (plus the deital good and bad guys).  A little over 7k words needed, and that was going through the books I have.  Even expanding to specific monster names instead of types (ie. giants) would only add a few hundred more.

It is cross checking for bugs that will have been the greatest hassle and cull of time.

Quote from Catbus >>

Exactly this. And the thing is, businesses stay in business not by gaining customers but by gaining repeat customers. Curse is going to earn most of its money on this application from subscribers. Charging owners of the hardcopy books an additional 40 to 60 percent per book to use the content in them with D&D Beyond is enough of a hurdle that many of those owners will never become subscribers.

Catbus:  Considering that it will mostly be DMs buying the rules, and the Master Tier subscription is $6 per month, surely there's some breakpoint at which additional subscriptions make up for more reasonably priced rules unlocks.

The DM's buying the rules and the sub covers their players.  The price could be mitigated by the DM's being crass enough to ask their players for compensation, or charge them for access.  There is a limit to the number of players covered by the DM's purchases (I think 12).  Frankly, I have never physically seen a game with that many players and it would take a master chess player used to playing multiple games blind folded to have the kind of mind needed to track that.  Which means, on top of hours spent preparing for everyone else's fun, the DM will be hit with the majority of the cash cost.

Quote from Whithers >>

Can't be looking at 2mil words.  There aren't that many in the English language needed for the game.  I know because I am conlanging my own languages for each of my major cultures (plus the deital good and bad guys).  A little over 7k words needed, and that was going through the books I have.  Even expanding to specific monster names instead of types (ie. giants) would only add a few hundred more.

It is cross checking for bugs that will have been the greatest hassle and cull of time.

Quote from Whithers >>

Can't be looking at 2mil words.  There aren't that many in the English language needed for the game.  I know because I am conlanging my own languages for each of my major cultures (plus the deital good and bad guys).  A little over 7k words needed, and that was going through the books I have.  Even expanding to specific monster names instead of types (ie. giants) would only add a few hundred more.

It is cross checking for bugs that will have been the greatest hassle and cull of time.

Quote from Whithers >>

The price could be mitigated by the DM's being crass enough to ask their players for compensation, or charge them for access.[/quote]

If anyone thinks "Hey, group of friends who share in the enjoyment of this activity with me, can we all pitch-in some to afford the things which enable and enhance our shared enjoyment?" is actually fitting of the word "crass", they are not the kind of person worth keeping association with. There is nothing crass about splitting movie ticket costs when viewing a film as a group. Nothing crass about having your buddy pay for lunch because you paid the golf course fees. And having players pitch in to buy gaming materials is in the same category as those things.

... it would take a master chess player used to playing multiple games blind folded to have the kind of mind needed to track that.

...hours spent preparing for everyone else's fun...

Quote from Rubahak >>

Quote from Whithers >>

Can't be looking at 2mil words.  There aren't that many in the English language needed for the game.  I know because I am conlanging my own languages for each of my major cultures (plus the deital good and bad guys).  A little over 7k words needed, and that was going through the books I have.  Even expanding to specific monster names instead of types (ie. giants) would only add a few hundred more.

It is cross checking for bugs that will have been the greatest hassle and cull of time.

 I'm not really in the mood to count out the number of words on a page in the PHB, but I would say that an average 12 point Times New Roman font is about 700 words, based on the pages I write.  If we want to be conservative, to include pictures, we'll say that each page averages 500 words.  The PHB alone is around 300 pages, so using that nice round number, that's 150k words in the just the PHB.  The DMG is another 300 pages, so we're at 300k words, and we'll say 300 words for the MM's 350 pages, to add another 105k, making it a over 400k words for just the core books.  Volo's is about 200 pages, the SCAG is another 150 pages, and EE is 20 pages, so that's another 185k, bringing us up to about 490k words.  About a half a million words for the core books and ones with player options.  The only adventure book I have is Yawning Portal, so I don't know what the average one of those looks like, and am therefore not going to wager a guess.  Even if I go super conservative, and drop it down 100 words per page, that's still nearly 450k words for the core books, plus all the adventures.

Quote from AaronOfBarbaria >>

Quote from Rubahak >>

Quote from Whithers >>

Can't be looking at 2mil words.  There aren't that many in the English language needed for the game.  I know because I am conlanging my own languages for each of my major cultures (plus the deital good and bad guys).  A little over 7k words needed, and that was going through the books I have.  Even expanding to specific monster names instead of types (ie. giants) would only add a few hundred more.

It is cross checking for bugs that will have been the greatest hassle and cull of time.

 I'm not really in the mood to count out the number of words on a page in the PHB, but I would say that an average 12 point Times New Roman font is about 700 words, based on the pages I write.  If we want to be conservative, to include pictures, we'll say that each page averages 500 words.  The PHB alone is around 300 pages, so using that nice round number, that's 150k words in the just the PHB.  The DMG is another 300 pages, so we're at 300k words, and we'll say 300 words for the MM's 350 pages, to add another 105k, making it a over 400k words for just the core books.  Volo's is about 200 pages, the SCAG is another 150 pages, and EE is 20 pages, so that's another 185k, bringing us up to about 490k words.  About a half a million words for the core books and ones with player options.  The only adventure book I have is Yawning Portal, so I don't know what the average one of those looks like, and am therefore not going to wager a guess.  Even if I go super conservative, and drop it down 100 words per page, that's still nearly 450k words for the core books, plus all the adventures.

 Your figures are actually very conservative. My earlier 750 words per page average was arrived at by copying a page of text from the basic rules PDF into a word processor that would count the words, then figuring that between pages with art that only about 80% of a page on average is devoted to text, and then just dropped pages off the count like you did to arrive at 300 pages (specifically page 6 of the player's basic rules has just over 900 words on the page)

Quote from Stormknight >>

Approx 230k words for the PHB.

Quote from Stormknight >>

Approx 230k words for the PHB.

Exactly what I'm asking for, one amount paid (with all 3 core books and the Homebrewing) and done.  I don't want a monthly ANYTHING cost.  I won't mind buying adventures I may want in the future, at my leisure. 

22 days left to go. 

Quote from Fjw70 >>

22 days left to go. 

Quote from Catbus >>

Original sourcebooks $50 apiece. Electronic access to the data they contain, an additional $20 to $30 apiece. I can't afford to take this hobby into the 21st century. Gonna have to play it 20th-century-style.