Usefulness of Basic Set PDF's?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Yes, amazingly so.

I largely do the same thing, and I take the Basic Set to games in print form.

[RyanW]

I just remembered that I don't even have a print Basic Set anymore. Loaned it to a friend and haven't had cause to ask for its return.

[evileeyore]

Yeah, I was just thinking the other day that I haven't actually touched one of my physical rpg books in over six or so years, as that's when they got packed into boxes for the move and I haven't found a need to unpack them yet... pdfs for the win for me.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Me, I expect to die in whatever cataclysm befalls humanity, unless its aliens. I will embrace our new alien overlords.

I'm hoping for transhumanist cyborg overlords from Earth's dim future come back to ensure the Great Diaspora occurs as required. But otherwise, ditto.

Originally Posted by Maz

I, like RyanW use a laptop as a GM screen/reference tool.

Yup, I've been using a laptop as a GM screen for ever now. One Players still lugs all the books he'll need like a luddite... but that's likely to change as he recently acquired potent little notebook and it runs pdfs like a pro.

[Ulairi]

I'm a dead tree gamer. I got an iPad Pro 9.7" for Christmas last year and I have PDFs on it but I just cannot get into reading on a tablet vs a physical book. With the basic set, I know generally where in the book I'm trying to get to so finding things isn't that difficult.

I've also experienced gaming with tablets and laptops on the table that gamers (myself include) can get distracted. I've actually banned electronic devices (except for a mobile phone) at my table when I referee. I don't want the distractions.

[DannyBoy]

Originally Posted by Maz

Until it runs out of power...

Hehe sorry. But that has happened to me once or twice.
I, like RyanW use a laptop as a GM screen/reference tool. But when it, mid-session, suddenly runs out of power because you, like an idiot, forgot to charge it and didn't bring a cable... then it's less fun.

There's another benefit of print. Also, I don't have an outlet near my gaming table.

[lordabdul]

Originally Posted by dbm

iPad Pro 12.9 for the win...

Yep. I couldn't get into reading PDFs on tablets until I got this. Now, it's awesome -- the size of the screen is pretty much identical to the size of a physical book. I'm reading so many more books I get from W23 or DTRPG.

But it's definitely not replacing the physical books. Besides some books just being too gorgeous to not hold for real in your hands, there's also the fact that it's easier to flip through, pass around the table, etc. All the books that I need for playing I get in physical form for this reason, but these days it mostly boils down to a core rulebook and maybe a couple sourcebooks at most. And since it's not like I'm changing campaigns every 4 weeks, it means I'm buying books a lot slower than I used to.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I largely do the same thing, and I take the Basic Set to games in print form.

As do I.


When DFRPG comes out this will likely change.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Ulairi

I'm a dead tree gamer. I got an iPad Pro 9.7" for Christmas last year and I have PDFs on it but I just cannot get into reading on a tablet vs a physical book. With the basic set, I know generally where in the book I'm trying to get to so finding things isn't that difficult.

One thing PDFs are really good at is things like "find every mention of X in the book." Even those that use books at the table, I think, would generally find a lot of use for PDFs.

Originally Posted by Ulairi

I've also experienced gaming with tablets and laptops on the table that gamers (myself include) can get distracted. I've actually banned electronic devices (except for a mobile phone) at my table when I referee. I don't want the distractions.

There is that. Generally, the GM's laptop is the only one on the table.

[Bruno]

I'm in an unusual situation that makes PDFs very valuable for me. The average person gets by just fine either way, but it's worth noting when electronic copies are super-duper awesome.

I have had to rely heavily on electronics as "brain crutches" since childhood because of some drain bamage; this means I not only always have something to hand that I'm very comfortable in using, but also I'm neurotic about plugging them all in whenever I stop moving. I can't afford to have these brain prosthetics stop working any more than I can afford to have my glasses stop working. This means that there's no added financial cost or logistical cost to me for having an e-reader of some kind - I would be carrying the weight and charging it (and extra batteries) anyways.

PDFs also have the big feature of the computer-assisted search - because of said drain bamage I can have a lot of trouble finding text on a page (or finding anything, really), so searching myself is disproportionately hard. SJG books are much easier than others due to the excellent indexes, but it's still great that the program highlights the search text on the page for me, or I'd have to read the entire page to find it. I also tend to jumble numbers in my head so sometimes I'm just on the wrong page entirely and I have to waste a lot of time before I can figure that out. It also saves electronic bookmarks that I can't loose, a problem I have with physical ones.

I read my paper copies regularly, but I have to read them serially - start to finish. Using the PDF means I can reference the books usefully and quickly. Before PDFs I coped by reading and rereading and rereading and rereading and more or less memorizing everything. I still do this to an extent, but I don't have to so I have more spare time.

The long and the short of it is use whatever format makes things work best for you.

[dcarson]

Another use for me of PDFs is not just searching on the fly but searching out what I expect to need given the scenario and the PCs abilities and cut and pasting to make cheat sheets. I'll often make one for less experienced players on just how your characters Advantages work and one for me to consolidate things needed often for a given PC.