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Digital RPG Books (split from Gloomhaven thread)

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PlatinumWarlock
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Digital RPG Books (split from Gloomhaven thread)

MindWanderer wrote:
Jeysie wrote:
And yeah I'm also kinda with speedyolrac in the "I would rather simply play an actual RPG" bucket, especially since that's a far cheaper route.

 

Yeah, even at, say, $40 for the core rulebook, $10-$20 per adventure set, and $30-$40 per supplement, it'll take a lot of material to add up to the cost of one Gloomhaven.  And with that, you get a lot more flexibility and story.

Beyond that, most PDFs are much cheaper than their hard copy counterparts.  Get yourself a cheap tablet and load it full of PDFs, and you've got an easy-to-use rpg library that fits in a backpack or purse.

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Jeysie wrote:

 

Blackfang108 wrote:
Tell that to my wallet.  (I... may have an RPG purchasing problem)

 

Yeah, me too admittedly, I just love reading RPG sourcebooks for fun. :3Still, as MindWanderer notes, it takes a lot of books to add up to the same price point. And certainly the bare minimum for playing a game is usually much smaller.

Indeed.

 

Now if only I could stop throwing money for Torg Eternity...

Phantom5613
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PlatinumWarlock wrote:

Beyond that, most PDFs are much cheaper than their hard copy counterparts.  Get yourself a cheap tablet and load it full of PDFs, and you've got an easy-to-use rpg library that fits in a backpack or purse.

I've been looking for a cheap tablet for just such a use. I normally prefer physical books to PDFs(Mostly so there's no digital distractions at the table), but I've gotten so many books thanks to drive-thru rpg and bundle of holding that it's kind of wasteful to just keep them on my PC.

PlatinumWarlock
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Phantom5613 wrote:

I've been looking for a cheap tablet for just such a use. I normally prefer physical books to PDFs(Mostly so there's no digital distractions at the table), but I've gotten so many books thanks to drive-thru rpg and bundle of holding that it's kind of wasteful to just keep them on my PC.

I actually agree; I like having a hard copy to work with, but I'm finding more and more that the ability to use a hyperlinked index (which any corebook worth its salt has) incredibly speeds up any rules-referencing needed.  Plus, I'll be honest:  I'm 35 this year, I'm down to about 20% of the connective tissue in my left knee, and I don't want to cart a 20 pounds backpack full of paper across a convention hall.  Ease of use plus light carry weight make the decision easy on my end.

 

MindWanderer
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I got a 10" Kindle Fire, on Black Friday sale, for the purpose of reading rulebooks and comic books.  Had to sideload Moon Reader+ (the Kindle Reader isn't great for non-Kindle books, and they don't carry many competing products on the app store), but I'm very happy with it.


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PlatinumWarlock
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I got my wife an 8gb Samsung tablet for Christmas two years ago; she uses it almost exclusively for crochet patterns and gaming books.  If memory serves, I think I paid $65.

Jeysie
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Yeah, I have a higher end tablet myself, but cheap ones aren't too hard to find. You probably just want to make sure it's got a reasonable SD Card compatibility; gotta make sure you have room for all those lovely books.

That said, like MindWanderer I really need to find a better reader than the Kindle app for PDFs.


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Blackfang108
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Yeah, I've got a pretty nice Samsung 10inch that I got for myself as a present for surviving 2015, after getting a big bonus at work.

I just use Kindle to read the pdfs, but I may look into something else

 

Jeysie
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I have a Samsung too, and also decided to splurge for myself when I needed an upgrade, but went with an 8in because I need to be able to cart it around in my jeans pocket. I am basically a weirdo who has an incredibly basic stripped down cell phone I rarely use, so I need the full blown portable computer thing going on in another form.

Kindle is technically OK for PDFs, but getting them loaded into the app so it recognizes them is annoying and there's basically zero features, including not even letting you see the cover. Meh.

Probably should try Foxit Reader's mobile app, since I like their PC version well enough.


"If life gives you lemons, make a lemon cannon."

Not always the best at social skills; I apologize in advance. I don't apologize for any corny and morbid jokes, though.

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speedyolrac
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Give me hard tome, I love paging through books. It makes me feel like a Wizards. I have and will keep using PDF for character making (most systems have a complicated character creation. It is also easier to read a thing quickly while I am out and about.

 

I do wanna state that I did enjoy Decent and probably GloomHaven, both being fun game.


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Ehkrickor
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I do love paging through the books, being able to hook my fingers through multiple pages and flip around quickly is nice. Though my only experience with PDF rule books is Pathfinder and they don't have hyperlinked text to my knowledge, without the links it's actually harder to use the PDF instead of the normal book, but i also understand the weight problem, I had screwed some wheels and a handle to an old milk crate, Not sure if it broke because of the wight or because i put the screws in the wrong place but w/e