[RPG] What are the benefits of owning a physical book

books

I have seen this question about updates of the D&D 4th Edition books, and it got me thinking.
Since I got my Kindle I have not read a single paper novel; they have fewer drawbacks compared to digital copies than rpg rulebooks.

  • Dead-tree types have some benefits like looking good on a bookshelf, but any ebook reader weighs less with 100 novels than the usual hard-cover book.
  • If you want to look for the damage of Ares Alpha, even with a half-decent tablet it takes less than 2 seconds.
  • Digital copies do not get worn, they never get unwanted earmarks, but you can bookmark them.
  • Rulebooks do get updates, and unless you are willing to take a pen to your book, your hard copies will never contain them. The pdfs can be edited and resent to the buyers.
  • Even better is the WotC approach with the DDI, you can look up any monster or item or (almost any) rule, in the most recent form, for 3 years at the cost of seven books.

I think this is the way to go, even considering the horribly slow character builder. Although I must admit good illustrations can help build the athmosphere.

So what am I missing? Why are people buying rpg rulebooks in paper format? Why are books even published, I do not need to know if feats are supposed to be on the right page and skills on the left, I just want a list of them, filterable any way I want.

Is this just a necessary part of earning money? I understand that pdfs are copied illegally, but the Compendium is not.

Best Answer

Value Proposition

You mentioned DDI:

Even better is the WotC approach with the DDI, you can look up any monster or item or (almost any) rule, in the most recent form, for 3 years at the cost of seven books. I think this is the way to go, even considering the horribly slow character builder.

It's true, for three years that is a good deal. But what about for six years?

I'm still using my 3.5 PHB, ten years after I got it. I have a set of 3.5 books that is nowhere near the full quantity they released, and I'm okay with that because I don't care about a lot of the books they put out.

If DDI existed for 3.5, it would have cost me more than I paid for the books rather than less. Being an upfront cost, books don't cost more if you use them for longer. Subscriptions do.

And of course, online services disappear every day. Will DDI for 4e still be around in 10 years? If you want to play and it goes away, where did your rules go? I own a book from the 1800s, so I'm pretty confident that Wizards can't take my 3.5 paper books away should they decide it's time to move on and not pay for servers anymore (or go out of business).

Page Flipping & Sharing

I have bookmarks in my PHB & DMG. I also just know where some things are, because I've had to use them so many times. I can open the book and be in the grapple rules in two seconds. No matter how hard I try, I can't get there that fast on my iPad. I also can't have the grapple rules AND my encounter notes open at the same time with the electronic version, since my iPad can only show one thing at a time. With the books, I can put them beside each other. I can then also add a spell description from the Spell Compendium. The area around me when I DM tends to look like a book fort.

It's easy to share the book. I can hand someone my PHB so they can look up a spell description and keep doing what I was doing with my other books & iPad notes. If I have to hand them my iPad, I just lost access to everything until I get it back.

Subjective Stuff

There's a subjective side to this as well. I like how books feel. I find them easier on my eyes than ebooks. They work at the cottage, even with no power.

In the end, it's really about which trade offs you prefer to make.

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