I've lived through Netflix deleting the D&D episode of Community. Hell, I've lived through Netflix deleting entire shows when Disney decides they don't want Daredevil on a competing service anymore. I've lived through HBO Max deleting entire animated series, because their CEO prefers live-action TV. I've lived through Activision sunset-ing the servers for their online games (RIP Fall of Cybertron ;_;). I've lived through downloading Dragon Age DLC from Bioware's online store that was retired in favour of Origin, meaning if I want to play those DLC again, I have to buy it again. I've lived through musicians removing songs from Spotify, or Spotify replacing a great live performance with a less-than-great one.
Hell, I've lived through WotC uploading the 3rd Edition racial traits for the Killoren, Hadozee, Goliaths, and Darfellans, all given freely on their website without needing to buy their associated books--traits which are now no longer available through official means, even if I want to give WotC money.
Hell, if I want to buy Volo's Guide to Monsters for 5th Edition, I need to rely on physical copies, because I can't buy it on D&D Beyond anymore. WotC will retire books for 5e at any time. Fizban's Treasury of Dragons could get retired tomorrow for all I know.
Put simply, I've been burned before.
I genuinely don't believe that, when 5e ends and One D&D begins, that my 5th Edition D&D content will continue to be available. At some point, maybe not in 2024, maybe not in 2025, but at some point, the cost to keep those servers up and running will outweigh the number of active players for 5th Edition, and WotC will decide to retire the 5e servers.
It'll happen, it's happened before.
People still play AD&D. People still play 3rd Edition. People still play 4th Edition. People still play vintage Vampire the Masquerade and Pathfinder 1e.
So, I'd like it if .pdfs were available for the free content on D&D Beyond. Because I like 5th Edition, and in 20 years when me and my friends are in a nursing home together, I'd like to crack open Lost Mine of Phandelver, and invite my friends to run through the adventure with our 10th Edition characters, just for old time's sake.
I mean, I've already done what Wizards want--I have an account--that's the reason Monstrous Compendium 2 and Vecna are locked behind a D&D Beyond Account, because they want users.
Well, I'm a user.
So why not allow us to download a .pdf so I can print them out when we want to play a technology-free game (we've all had players distracted by their phones, it happens).
It's not like they're combating piracy--these compendiums are already free!
I don’t get it. You want a way to have the content in a file so you can print it and/or use it offline or when DNDBeyond takes it down.
But the option to do this is already there to do it. So basically you want a PDF button not because you are scared the content will be unavailable but more because you don’t want to go through the steps to get the content.
I don’t get it. You want a way to have the content in a file so you can print it and/or use it offline or when DNDBeyond takes it down.
But the option to do this is already there to do it. So basically you want a PDF button not because you are scared the content will be unavailable but more because you don’t want to go through the steps to get the content.
No worries! I'll try to be more concise.
WotC already released a pdf for Monstrous Compendium 1, so this is me asking them to be more consistent, by continuing to do the thing they've already done.
Furthermore, the Youtube videos for the Vecna Dossier show them using a pdf which already exists for their promotional purposes, but is unavailable for users. I'd like them to make it available.
I had this in the accessibility forum originally and one of the mods moved it, but what I'm asking for is for their content to be more accessible, essentially.
I don’t get it. You want a way to have the content in a file so you can print it and/or use it offline or when DNDBeyond takes it down.
But the option to do this is already there to do it. So basically you want a PDF button not because you are scared the content will be unavailable but more because you don’t want to go through the steps to get the content.
No worries! I'll try to be more concise.
WotC already released a pdf for Monstrous Compendium 1, so this is me asking them to be more consistent, by continuing to do the thing they've already done.
Furthermore, the Youtube videos for the Vecna Dossier show them using a pdf which already exists for their promotional purposes, but is unavailable for users. I'd like them to make it available.
I had this in the accessibility forum originally and one of the mods moved it, but what I'm asking for is for their content to be more accessible, essentially.
Yes, I can make a pdf myself.
That's not the point, man.
Ahhh like that! That does seem like an accessibility step backwards. I’m sorry!
Folks, the accessibility forum is intended for folks discussing how to improve the D&D Beyond toolset's accessibility for people with disability (folks who use text to speech programs, and various visual assistance technologies, etc. It's not the place to ask for D&D Beyond content to be produced in formats more handily preserved or as a safety against D&D Beyond "changing stuff", etc.
As for the request, you can ask and it's been asked before; but I don't see it being accommodated because it's pretty clear Vecna and the compendiums are designed to encourage engagement with D&D Beyond, and to sustain that engagement. Making it so you can grab and go with the PDF and not have to come back here to consult the material through D&D Beyond is counter to the point of the freebie in the first place.
Sure you can Ctr-C Ctr-V, but as mentioned in this thread that's a step most users would find too much a hassle to do evidently and thus will keep coming back here to access that content and keep coming by to see what else may be going on around here.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Leaving OGL 1.0(a) untouched and making SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0 is a great first step. The next is a promise to do the same for future editions. Here's a discussion thread on that.
There was some confusion on the OP's part as to putting this originally in the accessibility forum, seeing their thread moved here, and both OP and main respondent thinking the PDF issue was one of "access"ibility. Folks do it all the time not understanding what that forum is for.
Boy do I feel this. Months ago I noticed that I could no longer find the PDF for the Monstrous Compendium Volume 1 and I thought: "Huh. Well I know it did exist at some point because I still have it, which means they've removed it." Then I noticed in the video for the Vecna Dossier that there definitely was a PDF made for the thing, we just weren't getting it. I feel your desire for consistency OP, but we're past the point where Hasbro and by extension WotC have stopped caring about people with a desire to have and play the game, their only desire is now for "recurrent spending". The investor meeting where the Hasbro and WotC CEOs complained about the hobby being "undermonitised" basically spelled it all out; they want players to spend more money, so getting you to spend more time on D&D Beyond increases the chance that you'll spend that money here. I feel bad for the creative team, honestly, since they've probably put a decent amount of work into the PDFs we'll never get.
Such is the way the winds are blowing, I suppose. I'd rather, it not - heck, I'd rather they put the PDFs up on the DM's Guild for like 5 bucks or whatever because then I'd have the PDF to print without making my own. But sadly, there's little chance. I myself am weaning off D&D. Not going to buy the new stuff anymore, its just starting to lack that "made with love and care" aspect that older 5th edition stuff had. Everything after Tasha's Cauldron is just feeling too corporate, probably because those books were finalized after the pandemic boom for D&D got the attention of the suits in high places. I've got a near complete collection of the books so far, so I can keep my friend group going off of what I got forever, essentially. I homebrew most of my crew's campaigns anyway. I'm probably gonna branch out into something new now though. I've got a handful of books for that Star Wars RPG that came out like a decade ago and have had some fun in my initial forays into that, and am looking to try out Lancer because the setting appeals to me.
D&D's just had the misfortune of getting "noticed" by corporate. Happens to the best of them, quite literally. What's happening now is the inevitable reaction to that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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I've lived through Netflix deleting the D&D episode of Community. Hell, I've lived through Netflix deleting entire shows when Disney decides they don't want Daredevil on a competing service anymore. I've lived through HBO Max deleting entire animated series, because their CEO prefers live-action TV. I've lived through Activision sunset-ing the servers for their online games (RIP Fall of Cybertron ;_;). I've lived through downloading Dragon Age DLC from Bioware's online store that was retired in favour of Origin, meaning if I want to play those DLC again, I have to buy it again. I've lived through musicians removing songs from Spotify, or Spotify replacing a great live performance with a less-than-great one.
Hell, I've lived through WotC uploading the 3rd Edition racial traits for the Killoren, Hadozee, Goliaths, and Darfellans, all given freely on their website without needing to buy their associated books--traits which are now no longer available through official means, even if I want to give WotC money.
Hell, if I want to buy Volo's Guide to Monsters for 5th Edition, I need to rely on physical copies, because I can't buy it on D&D Beyond anymore. WotC will retire books for 5e at any time. Fizban's Treasury of Dragons could get retired tomorrow for all I know.
Put simply, I've been burned before.
I genuinely don't believe that, when 5e ends and One D&D begins, that my 5th Edition D&D content will continue to be available. At some point, maybe not in 2024, maybe not in 2025, but at some point, the cost to keep those servers up and running will outweigh the number of active players for 5th Edition, and WotC will decide to retire the 5e servers.
It'll happen, it's happened before.
People still play AD&D. People still play 3rd Edition.
People still play 4th Edition. People still play vintage Vampire the Masquerade and Pathfinder 1e.So, I'd like it if .pdfs were available for the free content on D&D Beyond. Because I like 5th Edition, and in 20 years when me and my friends are in a nursing home together, I'd like to crack open Lost Mine of Phandelver, and invite my friends to run through the adventure with our 10th Edition characters, just for old time's sake.
I mean, I've already done what Wizards want--I have an account--that's the reason Monstrous Compendium 2 and Vecna are locked behind a D&D Beyond Account, because they want users.
Well, I'm a user.
So why not allow us to download a .pdf so I can print them out when we want to play a technology-free game (we've all had players distracted by their phones, it happens).
It's not like they're combating piracy--these compendiums are already free!
Ctrl C
Ctrl V
Export as PDF
Oh no way? Microsoft should make some kind of program that I can put... words... in, then
Of course I can copy and paste it myself, I can also compile entire books into my own hand-made pdfs, so why have physical books?
I don’t get it. You want a way to have the content in a file so you can print it and/or use it offline or when DNDBeyond takes it down.
But the option to do this is already there to do it. So basically you want a PDF button not because you are scared the content will be unavailable but more because you don’t want to go through the steps to get the content.
No worries! I'll try to be more concise.
WotC already released a pdf for Monstrous Compendium 1, so this is me asking them to be more consistent, by continuing to do the thing they've already done.
Furthermore, the Youtube videos for the Vecna Dossier show them using a pdf which already exists for their promotional purposes, but is unavailable for users. I'd like them to make it available.
I had this in the accessibility forum originally and one of the mods moved it, but what I'm asking for is for their content to be more accessible, essentially.
Yes, I can make a pdf myself.
That's not the point, man.
Ahhh like that! That does seem like an accessibility step backwards. I’m sorry!
Folks, the accessibility forum is intended for folks discussing how to improve the D&D Beyond toolset's accessibility for people with disability (folks who use text to speech programs, and various visual assistance technologies, etc. It's not the place to ask for D&D Beyond content to be produced in formats more handily preserved or as a safety against D&D Beyond "changing stuff", etc.
As for the request, you can ask and it's been asked before; but I don't see it being accommodated because it's pretty clear Vecna and the compendiums are designed to encourage engagement with D&D Beyond, and to sustain that engagement. Making it so you can grab and go with the PDF and not have to come back here to consult the material through D&D Beyond is counter to the point of the freebie in the first place.
Sure you can Ctr-C Ctr-V, but as mentioned in this thread that's a step most users would find too much a hassle to do evidently and thus will keep coming back here to access that content and keep coming by to see what else may be going on around here.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
We're not in the accessibility forum, though.
Leaving OGL 1.0(a) untouched and making SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0 is a great first step. The next is a promise to do the same for future editions. Here's a discussion thread on that.
#OpenDnD
DDB is great, but it could be better. Here are some things I think could improve DDB
There was some confusion on the OP's part as to putting this originally in the accessibility forum, seeing their thread moved here, and both OP and main respondent thinking the PDF issue was one of "access"ibility. Folks do it all the time not understanding what that forum is for.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Boy do I feel this. Months ago I noticed that I could no longer find the PDF for the Monstrous Compendium Volume 1 and I thought: "Huh. Well I know it did exist at some point because I still have it, which means they've removed it." Then I noticed in the video for the Vecna Dossier that there definitely was a PDF made for the thing, we just weren't getting it. I feel your desire for consistency OP, but we're past the point where Hasbro and by extension WotC have stopped caring about people with a desire to have and play the game, their only desire is now for "recurrent spending". The investor meeting where the Hasbro and WotC CEOs complained about the hobby being "undermonitised" basically spelled it all out; they want players to spend more money, so getting you to spend more time on D&D Beyond increases the chance that you'll spend that money here. I feel bad for the creative team, honestly, since they've probably put a decent amount of work into the PDFs we'll never get.
Such is the way the winds are blowing, I suppose. I'd rather, it not - heck, I'd rather they put the PDFs up on the DM's Guild for like 5 bucks or whatever because then I'd have the PDF to print without making my own. But sadly, there's little chance. I myself am weaning off D&D. Not going to buy the new stuff anymore, its just starting to lack that "made with love and care" aspect that older 5th edition stuff had. Everything after Tasha's Cauldron is just feeling too corporate, probably because those books were finalized after the pandemic boom for D&D got the attention of the suits in high places. I've got a near complete collection of the books so far, so I can keep my friend group going off of what I got forever, essentially. I homebrew most of my crew's campaigns anyway. I'm probably gonna branch out into something new now though. I've got a handful of books for that Star Wars RPG that came out like a decade ago and have had some fun in my initial forays into that, and am looking to try out Lancer because the setting appeals to me.
D&D's just had the misfortune of getting "noticed" by corporate. Happens to the best of them, quite literally. What's happening now is the inevitable reaction to that.