I my self will by the physical copies of the books. I will buy select DDB content. As far as the VTT's go (Roll20 & Fantasy Grounds) I do not plan on buying books for those systems. At that point it becomes not worth it to me to buy three or more of the same content unless the price point is very good.
No. Unless WotC and Curse are able to allow me to purchase physical copies, then purchase the online version at a reasonable discount. However, I do not see myself buying physical books unless it's to share with players (so things similar to SCA or Volo's).
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
From my use at my gaming table over the past two weeks, I didn't have to pull the physical book out of my bag for any rules reference. Every spell or rules look up was handled quickly through DnDB. I did have to break out the fold out map from Curse of Strahd and look a few things up in the book b/c the site was running slowly for me at that particular time (likely wi-fi issues).
Prior to the game I had a tab opened for spell and monster look up as well as one tab for the module. In the future I'm going to prep the tabs a little better and have the expected monster tabs open already along with the expected adventure sections.
So, to actually answer your question, I think I'm going to try to run with out the physical books in the future.
I haven't voluntarily purchased or read a physical copy of a single book since about 2010. I was very much a Cult of Books person -- the smell! the heft! the feel! the delightful papercuts! -- and I honestly don't miss it at all. When I do have to read something on paper, now I get upset that I have to remember to bookmark it and that it isn't backlit for reading in the dark.
It's gotten to the point where if a book isn't available digitally, I just don't bother reading it. I read at least a hundred books a year. I have a to-read list that could last me at least a year. I can't afford the time, space, or money to keep up with physical books anymore, and I love being able to take an entire library with me wherever I go. eBooks have meant that I read more and enjoy reading more than was ever possible before. Ain't nobody got time for paper.
D&D has been the giant asterisk of an exception to that and it's been grueling. I've wanted digital versions of the books and have never been able to legally obtain them before, and that's been supremely annoying. The only hesitation I have at the moment is that the content is locked to Beyond's website (and eventually, app), which is understandable but which also obviously means that there's a non-zero risk of the whole thing vanishing into the aether at some point. So in the short term, I'll probably continue buying physical copies, but in the long term, as I get comfortable with the idea of Beyond as the home of my digital content, I'll definitely phase out physical books. Probably. Maybe.
It will likely not effect my physical book purchases as up till now I had not made any purchases into the D&D 5E scene. But this seems like such a good set up for me now and the potential is great that I don't think I will buy the physical books (unless maybe a book of Vile/Exalted comes out). May wait till they do another core book sale before I start buying everything I want though, was awfully sad I waited one too many days trying out the players handbook to decide to purchase others.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I haven't voluntarily purchased or read a physical copy of a single book since about 2010. I was very much a Cult of Books person -- the smell! the heft! the feel! the delightful papercuts! -- and I honestly don't miss it at all. When I do have to read something on paper, now I get upset that I have to remember to bookmark it and that it isn't backlit for reading in the dark.
It's gotten to the point where if a book isn't available digitally, I just don't bother reading it. I read at least a hundred books a year. I have a to-read list that could last me at least a year. I can't afford the time, space, or money to keep up with physical books anymore, and I love being able to take an entire library with me wherever I go. eBooks have meant that I read more and enjoy reading more than was ever possible before. Ain't nobody got time for paper.
D&D has been the giant asterisk of an exception to that and it's been grueling. I've wanted digital versions of the books and have never been able to legally obtain them before, and that's been supremely annoying. The only hesitation I have at the moment is that the content is locked to Beyond's website (and eventually, app), which is understandable but which also obviously means that there's a non-zero risk of the whole thing vanishing into the aether at some point. So in the short term, I'll probably continue buying physical copies, but in the long term, as I get comfortable with the idea of Beyond as the home of my digital content, I'll definitely phase out physical books. Probably. Maybe.
See, I am weird in this area, as I am the same in all areas EXCEPT for my DnD books. My Kindle account grows by around 5 to 10 books a month, and I usually burn through at least one or two a week. But for DnD, it seems I prefer my paper books just because it fits. It's the same reason why I use physical dice instead of a dice rolling app. That being said, I am slowly picking up books for DnD Beyond (usually one every couple weeks til I catch up) just so I can have my laptop off to the side to quickly pull up moster stats or to help my players level up (the entire playgroup consists of new players that just started back in April, which was my first time as a DM. I was a new player last year). Things like Fantasy Grounds never really appealed to me since our group meets in person every other week, but the convenience of having everything searchable online is huge. At this point I am just (in)patiently waiting for the app so I can use my phone to look up stuff rather than my laptop, as the online interface for the site is OK, but feels slowish on a phone interface.
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I use summon instrument to summon my kettle drum, hold it overhead like Donkey Kong, and chuck it at the nearest kobold.
Time will tell. Right now, I'm expecting that I'll eventually settle on buying both DDB and physical books for rules and campaign settings in which I'm interested but will probably just buy the DDB version of published adventures.
I'll get the physical rule books as insurance against either a potential 6E I dislike or Curse shutting down the service (not being pessimistic, that's just the nature of insurance), but even just the free stuff, over the summer, convinced me that having multiple monster tabs open is much easier than trying to flip between multiple pages in a book, among similar advantages. It is possible, though, that DDB could steer me from my FLGS even for hard copies, though, since I can get even faster access to the content, since I don't even have to make a trip to the store and then just get the Amazon price whenever I feel like it.
I could also see where, assuming WotC publishes more settings, I might invest in more than I otherwise would. I'm absolutely down for Eberron, regardless of format (potentially multiple formats). I'll also buy the first handful of products that have nothing to do with the Realms, just to "vote with my dollar". After that, we'll see. Planescape (as a random example) didn't really sound like my thing, back in 2E. If I can get it for less money and it doesn't take up shelf space, it becomes a bit more appealing. I'd switched to other games when Birthright and Council of Wyrms were published, but they both sound really interesting. Easy buy, even if I don't end up caring for them.
As far as adventures go, the only module I've ever run more than once was the original I6 (Ravenloft). I don't need the insurance for those. Either I'm going to run them or I'm not. Adventures are also something that benefit from being in a digital format. If the print adventure has a poster map, I might try to order a print of it, separately, but I'd otherwise prefer digital over print.
I like the physical books for reading and studying. I like DDB as a quick reference during the game. So I will probably make getting physical books a priority (only 2 away from a complete set, soon to be 4 though lol), and then only buying what I need from DDB.
Yes, while I really do like physical, I can't afford to buy physical and digital copies of everything, and I'd rather have the online tools and searchability of the dndb versions of books.
I only bought the DMG and PHB hard copies for the sake playing the game at home with my kids. For playing with friends I pretty much always prefer searchable PDFs (for other games obviously) over physical. Due to the searchable nature of the compendium, the ease in pulling material together, the lower cost compared to physical books bought in Ireland, and reduction of shelf space from lots to zero, I'll be making all future 5e purchases here.
There's certain things I probably will splash out on for physical books just because I like that setting/art/design or whatever. For instance if Planescape or Dark Sun books were to be released I'd get them on both DDB and hard copy because I'd want the hard copy to look at, and DDB to for the sake of making my life as a DM easier. These being my favourite settings.
Edit to add:
It's probably worth noting that I almost certainly wouldn't be buying the physical books anyway or as many of them. I would have picked and chosen based on shelf space and cost. With DDB cost is low enough and shelf space is not a concern that I will get everything. Current plan is buying a book a month until the legendary bundle is around €100 and then get that.
Current plan is buying a book a month until the legendary bundle is around €100 and then get that.
Even though I "officially" don't plan to get any more published adventures (unless something specific strikes my fancy), I'll be keeping my eye on the Legendary Bundle, as well. There are a few things that have been put into adventures that I might want -- I've always liked using fiends, so the monster stats in OotA is the top of this list. I'm not sure what the tipping point is, but I'm sure there is one where I'll just buy the whole thing and be done with it.
The variable factor is the ratio between the content WotC publishes that I want to buy at "full" price (campaign settings, some rules, etc.) and the "opportunity purchase" content. So far, the scales tip towards opportunity purchase, but it sounds like WotC is testing the waters for other product types.
Right now, my feeling is that I will stop buying physical campaign books but will continue to buy physical rule/options books. I've transitioned to running my SKT campaign to dndbeyond and I love it and find little use for my physical SKT book anymore. Being able to search through books and having spells/monsters/etc linked is just too handy.
However, I don't think the benefit having a physical book to pass around the table will go away. With just a stack of rule books and no computers I can run any homebrew campaign, I can let new players read them, and they are the books I'm most likely going to be glad I have physical copies of 20 years from now. So for those, I'll probably continue picking them up physically as well as picking up the beyond versions.
Right now, my feeling is that I will stop buying physical campaign books but will continue to buy physical rule/options books. I've transitioned to running my SKT campaign to dndbeyond and I love it and find little use for my physical SKT book anymore. Being able to search through books and having spells/monsters/etc linked is just too handy.
However, I don't think the benefit having a physical book to pass around the table will go away. With just a stack of rule books and no computers I can run any homebrew campaign, I can let new players read them, and they are the books I'm most likely going to be glad I have physical copies of 20 years from now. So for those, I'll probably continue picking them up physically as well as picking up the beyond versions.
Almost an identical answer to what I'd say. Handy having rulebooks in hard copy, so I'll likely end up picking any of those up both ways to continue to support my FLGS (eventually, but certainly here first now). Adventures, I can see only buying on DDB now.
I have the rule books but I can't realistically carry them all to out-of-town AL gaming conventions, so I picked up DDB as well. I'll probably just carry the PHB and look up everything else on DDB. The extra cost is a bit annoying but it doesn't strike me as that much money so I'll live with it.
For the most part I'll continue to buy physical books. I like the feel of them and the look of them on my shelf. So far I've bought pretty much every title, though I missed out on the limited cover of volo's which makes me sad. DnDBeyond is likely not going to replace the physical books for me in that regard.
Where DnDBeyond will effect things is in supplements. I've whined a bit in the forums about the lack of a subscribe to everything tier but in the end I still wasted money on buying the core books for DnDBeyond. (Note I'm not trying to open a debate on this, my phrasing here simply is chosen to denote that I bought the core books when I could have bought something new I didn't have access to on DMsGuild or in store). A lot of this means less of the official products like the licensed DM screens for campaigns or the spell cards and character folios. But that's where it will likely end for me. See the big draw for me is the character generator. So I kinda had to buy the corebooks to populate the character generator for character building. Going forward I might continue to buy the content packs that include character related content for the generator. Stuff like the campaigns don't really interest me in DnDBeyond because I have never actually run one of the campaign modules as written.
What DnDBeyond will likely do is replace all the supplemental items I use in running my games... eventually. Right now I use things like Spell Cards, DM Screens, quick reference sheets, custom character sheets, etc. As DnDBeyond's campaign management tools and compendium reference tools become better most of these things will be phased out, I think. This is particularly true as the homebrew functionality becomes better and more inclusive.
Unfortunately the DnDBeyond model will impact my over all DnD purchasing. I normally buy the DnD physical books when they release at cover price. When there are those moments where I need both the Physical book for my collection and the compendium information for my campaign I will be forced to be tighter with my budget. Instead of buying the book new at 50 dollars I'll have to either wait for the price to drop or find a seller which has it below retail. I've resisted buying my physical books from amazon as I've always felt I had to support my FLGS. Now? I might pick that book up on amazon for the lower price and then pickup the DnDBeyond compendium data for an equally low price when it's on sale. Once the homebrew functionality is expanded I expect I might manually enter some of the data so that I can avoid having to by the compendium information until its clear I need to.
I purchased PHB, DMG & MM from DDB and though the global search is handy, the cost of re-buying the book again (for the digital form) for no realy extra benefit other than global search isn't worth it.- expecially with the issues of not actually owning anything and the need to an internet connection to use.
If purchasing from DDB resulted in a downloadable PDF copy, or a discount code for a physical copy (like 50%), or if the subscription model included access to the books/modules then my tune will change as DDB is a strong product (not overly fond of the Charater creater, but hey) - the pricing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully Cursed and WotC can come up with a better licencing agreement which will allow DDB to be more attractive.
So for the time being, physical copies for me.
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I my self will by the physical copies of the books. I will buy select DDB content. As far as the VTT's go (Roll20 & Fantasy Grounds) I do not plan on buying books for those systems. At that point it becomes not worth it to me to buy three or more of the same content unless the price point is very good.
Of course not.
Digital solutions are a matter of convenience.
You can never beat the experience of reading from a real, physical book.
Be careful what you Wish for... your DM may just give it to you!
No. Unless WotC and Curse are able to allow me to purchase physical copies, then purchase the online version at a reasonable discount. However, I do not see myself buying physical books unless it's to share with players (so things similar to SCA or Volo's).
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
From my use at my gaming table over the past two weeks, I didn't have to pull the physical book out of my bag for any rules reference. Every spell or rules look up was handled quickly through DnDB. I did have to break out the fold out map from Curse of Strahd and look a few things up in the book b/c the site was running slowly for me at that particular time (likely wi-fi issues).
Prior to the game I had a tab opened for spell and monster look up as well as one tab for the module. In the future I'm going to prep the tabs a little better and have the expected monster tabs open already along with the expected adventure sections.
So, to actually answer your question, I think I'm going to try to run with out the physical books in the future.
I haven't voluntarily purchased or read a physical copy of a single book since about 2010. I was very much a Cult of Books person -- the smell! the heft! the feel! the delightful papercuts! -- and I honestly don't miss it at all. When I do have to read something on paper, now I get upset that I have to remember to bookmark it and that it isn't backlit for reading in the dark.
It's gotten to the point where if a book isn't available digitally, I just don't bother reading it. I read at least a hundred books a year. I have a to-read list that could last me at least a year. I can't afford the time, space, or money to keep up with physical books anymore, and I love being able to take an entire library with me wherever I go. eBooks have meant that I read more and enjoy reading more than was ever possible before. Ain't nobody got time for paper.
D&D has been the giant asterisk of an exception to that and it's been grueling. I've wanted digital versions of the books and have never been able to legally obtain them before, and that's been supremely annoying. The only hesitation I have at the moment is that the content is locked to Beyond's website (and eventually, app), which is understandable but which also obviously means that there's a non-zero risk of the whole thing vanishing into the aether at some point. So in the short term, I'll probably continue buying physical copies, but in the long term, as I get comfortable with the idea of Beyond as the home of my digital content, I'll definitely phase out physical books. Probably. Maybe.
Dave
It will likely not effect my physical book purchases as up till now I had not made any purchases into the D&D 5E scene. But this seems like such a good set up for me now and the potential is great that I don't think I will buy the physical books (unless maybe a book of Vile/Exalted comes out). May wait till they do another core book sale before I start buying everything I want though, was awfully sad I waited one too many days trying out the players handbook to decide to purchase others.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I use summon instrument to summon my kettle drum, hold it overhead like Donkey Kong, and chuck it at the nearest kobold.
Time will tell. Right now, I'm expecting that I'll eventually settle on buying both DDB and physical books for rules and campaign settings in which I'm interested but will probably just buy the DDB version of published adventures.
I'll get the physical rule books as insurance against either a potential 6E I dislike or Curse shutting down the service (not being pessimistic, that's just the nature of insurance), but even just the free stuff, over the summer, convinced me that having multiple monster tabs open is much easier than trying to flip between multiple pages in a book, among similar advantages. It is possible, though, that DDB could steer me from my FLGS even for hard copies, though, since I can get even faster access to the content, since I don't even have to make a trip to the store and then just get the Amazon price whenever I feel like it.
I could also see where, assuming WotC publishes more settings, I might invest in more than I otherwise would. I'm absolutely down for Eberron, regardless of format (potentially multiple formats). I'll also buy the first handful of products that have nothing to do with the Realms, just to "vote with my dollar". After that, we'll see. Planescape (as a random example) didn't really sound like my thing, back in 2E. If I can get it for less money and it doesn't take up shelf space, it becomes a bit more appealing. I'd switched to other games when Birthright and Council of Wyrms were published, but they both sound really interesting. Easy buy, even if I don't end up caring for them.
As far as adventures go, the only module I've ever run more than once was the original I6 (Ravenloft). I don't need the insurance for those. Either I'm going to run them or I'm not. Adventures are also something that benefit from being in a digital format. If the print adventure has a poster map, I might try to order a print of it, separately, but I'd otherwise prefer digital over print.
I like the physical books for reading and studying. I like DDB as a quick reference during the game. So I will probably make getting physical books a priority (only 2 away from a complete set, soon to be 4 though lol), and then only buying what I need from DDB.
Yes, while I really do like physical, I can't afford to buy physical and digital copies of everything, and I'd rather have the online tools and searchability of the dndb versions of books.
I'll keep buying physical books and unlocking the things here that I need to share with my players.
Mostly because I have a thing for books and I I feel weird when people touch my books.
Welcome to the Grand Illusion, come on in and see what's happening, pay the price, get your ticket for the show....
I only bought the DMG and PHB hard copies for the sake playing the game at home with my kids. For playing with friends I pretty much always prefer searchable PDFs (for other games obviously) over physical. Due to the searchable nature of the compendium, the ease in pulling material together, the lower cost compared to physical books bought in Ireland, and reduction of shelf space from lots to zero, I'll be making all future 5e purchases here.
There's certain things I probably will splash out on for physical books just because I like that setting/art/design or whatever. For instance if Planescape or Dark Sun books were to be released I'd get them on both DDB and hard copy because I'd want the hard copy to look at, and DDB to for the sake of making my life as a DM easier. These being my favourite settings.
Edit to add:
It's probably worth noting that I almost certainly wouldn't be buying the physical books anyway or as many of them. I would have picked and chosen based on shelf space and cost. With DDB cost is low enough and shelf space is not a concern that I will get everything. Current plan is buying a book a month until the legendary bundle is around €100 and then get that.
Right now, my feeling is that I will stop buying physical campaign books but will continue to buy physical rule/options books. I've transitioned to running my SKT campaign to dndbeyond and I love it and find little use for my physical SKT book anymore. Being able to search through books and having spells/monsters/etc linked is just too handy.
However, I don't think the benefit having a physical book to pass around the table will go away. With just a stack of rule books and no computers I can run any homebrew campaign, I can let new players read them, and they are the books I'm most likely going to be glad I have physical copies of 20 years from now. So for those, I'll probably continue picking them up physically as well as picking up the beyond versions.
I have the rule books but I can't realistically carry them all to out-of-town AL gaming conventions, so I picked up DDB as well. I'll probably just carry the PHB and look up everything else on DDB. The extra cost is a bit annoying but it doesn't strike me as that much money so I'll live with it.
My plan is to use DDB to get my content. The pros of digital outweigh the cons, IMO.
My answer is complicated a bit.
For the most part I'll continue to buy physical books. I like the feel of them and the look of them on my shelf. So far I've bought pretty much every title, though I missed out on the limited cover of volo's which makes me sad. DnDBeyond is likely not going to replace the physical books for me in that regard.
Where DnDBeyond will effect things is in supplements. I've whined a bit in the forums about the lack of a subscribe to everything tier but in the end I still wasted money on buying the core books for DnDBeyond. (Note I'm not trying to open a debate on this, my phrasing here simply is chosen to denote that I bought the core books when I could have bought something new I didn't have access to on DMsGuild or in store). A lot of this means less of the official products like the licensed DM screens for campaigns or the spell cards and character folios. But that's where it will likely end for me. See the big draw for me is the character generator. So I kinda had to buy the corebooks to populate the character generator for character building. Going forward I might continue to buy the content packs that include character related content for the generator. Stuff like the campaigns don't really interest me in DnDBeyond because I have never actually run one of the campaign modules as written.
What DnDBeyond will likely do is replace all the supplemental items I use in running my games... eventually. Right now I use things like Spell Cards, DM Screens, quick reference sheets, custom character sheets, etc. As DnDBeyond's campaign management tools and compendium reference tools become better most of these things will be phased out, I think. This is particularly true as the homebrew functionality becomes better and more inclusive.
Unfortunately the DnDBeyond model will impact my over all DnD purchasing. I normally buy the DnD physical books when they release at cover price. When there are those moments where I need both the Physical book for my collection and the compendium information for my campaign I will be forced to be tighter with my budget. Instead of buying the book new at 50 dollars I'll have to either wait for the price to drop or find a seller which has it below retail. I've resisted buying my physical books from amazon as I've always felt I had to support my FLGS. Now? I might pick that book up on amazon for the lower price and then pickup the DnDBeyond compendium data for an equally low price when it's on sale. Once the homebrew functionality is expanded I expect I might manually enter some of the data so that I can avoid having to by the compendium information until its clear I need to.
I purchased PHB, DMG & MM from DDB and though the global search is handy, the cost of re-buying the book again (for the digital form) for no realy extra benefit other than global search isn't worth it.- expecially with the issues of not actually owning anything and the need to an internet connection to use.
If purchasing from DDB resulted in a downloadable PDF copy, or a discount code for a physical copy (like 50%), or if the subscription model included access to the books/modules then my tune will change as DDB is a strong product (not overly fond of the Charater creater, but hey) - the pricing just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully Cursed and WotC can come up with a better licencing agreement which will allow DDB to be more attractive.
So for the time being, physical copies for me.