I have physical copies of most third and first party materials but in the case of very Golarian Specific books and about half the third party stuff I have I only have PDFs.
What's appropriate and what's not appropriate when it comes to making digital material available to your players?
I could just put it all in DropBox and give players links but It would be like giving away free pdfs for them to use and later reuse. I get most of my pdfs from Paizo so whatever trouble that causes can be linked right to my account. Is this ever an issue?
I don't want (or think I can) to make hard copies of EVERYTHING I have due to price, nor bring tons of books to every session. I GM with a tablet but I've already broken one tablet due to letting a table full people touch it all the time. (I'm on my third Core Rulebook and second Ultimate Equipment for the same reasons. My girlfriend is GMing with my books and my Bestiary 1 isn't looking too good either, especially since her co-GM spilled soda on it last week.)
Another obstacle is that not all players are very tech savvy. I used to run campaigns on Obsidian Portal. I stopped because it was too expensive for something only half my players even used successfully.
How do you people handle pdfs in your games?
I personally don't give out my PDFs. If there is a map or something that needs to be shown to the PCs I will copy it as a smaller PDF and show it to the PCs. The newest DM in our group has a computer monitor at the head of the table if there is anything he wants us to see he throws it up on the screen via a connection to his tablet. It's kind of nice especially when fighting monsters to see a picture of what you are fighting. He'll also use if for descriptive purposes. Ex. the room is filled with trash and then he shows us a trash filled room.
The comments seem like they assume that the information on the pdfs are things that are campaign/environment-based. I'm referring to things that are player options. like classes, feats, archetypes and spells. Things they would not know exists unless they dug through the 900MB folder of pdfs labeled '3pp Player options' and/or sorted through the multiple physical third party books I have.
No we assumed right. Player options are also considered campaign options and therefore campaign material dude.
Again, for the 3PP stuff much of it is on the d20 site if its one of the contributing authors. As for the official Paizo prods it's on various SRD sites as well, to include their own.
Now, my answer about distribution is based on Paizo. If you are using a 3pp you need to read the legal info on its first few pages.
Oh, okay.
So, how do I give players access to the material?
Computer isn't an option because it's a lot of material, is a one man at a time station, and most of it is not on the OGC or Nethys. Computer is also tucked away from where guests are normally situated.
My tablet has similar problems but the worst is that it's difficult to actually look for options in dozens of pdfs.
Printing is less of an option. I've asked about it before and printed a few things I found absolutely needed for my games now, but I have tons of little pdfs with feats and stuff.
Considering almost all 3pp stuff is off balance, I would restrict it to stuff found on the PRD, d20pfsrd, and archives of nethys. It sounds like you have those materials and honestly that provides a HUGE selection of stuff.
I can't agree. I don't approve of everything on d20pfsrd.com as balanced work, and I've come across plenty of good third party work. Also I personally read through and vetted everything before I allow it. My useless PDF folder is actually pretty small. Then there are the materials that are purposely off balance in an unbalanced class' favor.
While not everything that is official PF is balanced, most of it is, and it's a good starting point. For my games I say anything PFS legal is my game legal, anything beyond that is up to my discretion. 3pp is right out barring extreme circumstance. Also, my usual playgroup has pretty good system mastery and we have a gentlemen's agreement about playing busted characters. It's worked out so far.
If you have vetted everything you want the players to have access to then I would just put it on a dropbox. I don't personally use it since I allow anything from the SRD/Nethys, which is more than enough tools for the players to work with.
Printing it out is also an option, but it is not always ethical or economical.
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I feel like this thread is full of confusion.
You want to offer class/feats/archetypes etc, and it's in PDF format. What's appropriate is if everyone has their own copy, especially for Pathfinder Society (I'm assuming you're not referring to PFS though, you didn't mention it).
If they just need to know the rules and might buy books later, they can just use the PRD, which covers about 8 books.
Other than that, it seems like the problem is players accessing the PRD without a tablet/smartphone? Or without the internet? I mean, if that's the case, they need books. They can prepare their characters at their PCs at home and bring them to the game and hope they can rely on your rulebook. But if they can't, it comes back to them needing their own copies.
I feel like this thread is full of confusion.
You want to offer class/feats/archetypes etc, and it's in PDF format. What's appropriate is if everyone has their own copy, especially for Pathfinder Society (I'm assuming you're not referring to PFS though, you didn't mention it).
If they just need to know the rules and might buy books later, they can just use the PRD, which covers about 8 books.
Other than that, it seems like the problem is players accessing the PRD without a tablet/smartphone? Or without the internet? I mean, if that's the case, they need books. They can prepare their characters at their PCs at home and bring them to the game and hope they can rely on your rulebook. But if they can't, it comes back to them needing their own copies.
Lots of confusion.
Basically when it comes to the Paizo books and many player companions there isn't an issue. d20pfsrd.com has most of the rules and players can get access to them at home at their leisure. At the table players have access to their own computers/tablets/ect. When it comes to third party materials I want them to have access to classes/feats/archetypes/spells.
The obstacles in that are:
1) Accessing the information using my devices is impractical for several reasons.
2) There is too much material to print and bind in an inexpensive manner. Also bringing that many books to the table becomes a problem.
3) I am somewhat sensitive towards over-access to my physical copies of any material including my personal devices due to previous destruction from general wear and tear.
There are materials shared on d20pfsrd.com but most of what I have is not available there.
I am wary about simply allowing players access to my dropbox because of the potential interpretation of distribution.
TL;DR: I want my players to be able to look at my pdfs. Printing and looking at my tablet are impractical or not an option. What do?
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If this:
At the table players have access to their own computers/tablets/etc
isn't a problem, then why is the this a problem when:
d20pfsrd.com has most of the rules and players can get access to them at home at their leisure.
Are the rules you're talking about not on d20pfsrd?
If that's the case, here's how it goes:
- you can't give them a copy of your copy
- you can show them your copy, but they can't have it on hand because, as you said, it's impractical. This is as far as "letting them have access to your copy" can go.
- if they need their own copy at the table, they need their own copy.
That's the bottom line.
Are the rules you're talking about not on d20pfsrd?
That is correct
There are materials shared on d20pfsrd.com but most of what I have is not available there.
The main thing I needed to know was whether or not it was appropriate to allow them access to my pdfs via dropbox and if not what would be the best means to grant access efficiently.
