hey guys hopes everyones having a nice christmas

quick question about the pdf, I can't seem to find the characture classes, with any luck I'm being an idiot and just not seeing where their tucked away as opposed to them not being in the 25 dolla worth of pdf i just treated my self too

thanks in advance

Chris

The careers, like the actions and many other game mechanics are contained on cards. You need the core ruleset to play.

cheers for getting back to me

well that was a waste of cash plus side I wasn't sure if I was going to pick up the big box and now know I wont

cant even do characture gen with the pdf what a joke

The pdf's are there to be support for the box so the books are more available to a player group, I do beleive the pdf's also have the info in them that the books are not the complete game in them...

chiggins87 said:

No joke. Marketing.

You need to buy the game to play and can't just download (from whatever source) a few books. In modern times you can earn money this way and don't need to bother with internet-piracy.

Fossy said:

In fact, a big part of me eagerly supports FFG in this endeavour.

It kinda says, in big bold letters:

This book is not a complete game. It relies on components found in the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Set (WHF01)

Since the career cards are posted all over the dev diaries, the site, the forums, and in pretty much every picture of the game (as a whole) ever taken, it shouldn't have been a big surprise.

egalor said:

Exactly my point.

It's tough to recommend the pdfs to fence-sitters since as has been pointed out, not only can you not play, you can't even do chargen without the cards. I'm not even sure how well you could get a sense for how the game plays from just the books either. Even if you decided that you like it, you can't buy the other components separately so the pdfs do not serve as a good introduction to the game for those that are leery of the price of the Core Set and you'd actually end up spending more than if you just bit the bullet and sprang for the Core in the first place. I guess it's nice that FFG made them available, but even though I bought them, I have a hard time justifying the need for them.

To be honest, my main reason for purchasing them was that I wanted to be able to print out all the Monster/NPC pages and doing so from the pdf was easier than scanning them all in a page at a time. To that end, I could have gotten by with just the ToA, but went ahead and picked up the bundle. I guess I just can't resist giving FFG my money! Now that I have them, I'm much more willing to open a pdf, do a quick search, and cut and paste a rule bit when interacting on forums to answer questions, but I still can't justify the expense of the pdfs. I don't use a PC or laptop when I game, so it wasn't like I needed them for quick search capability at the table. Heck, with the excellent fan-created cheat sheets that are out there, I don't need to refer to the books at all during play as it is.

There is no print friendly option, so people picking them up to have a way to make a second set of books available around the table have to spring for the full color printing, unless you own a program that lets you mod pdfs. I own a color laser, and a comb binding machine, but I would hate to think what it would cost to print all four books out in their entirety. I haven't bothered with the math, but between the cost of printing, binding, and the pdfs themselves, it may be cheaper to just buy another Core Set and get all the other components too. As for having an electronic back up of the books, I'm much more concerned about wear of the other components (which is why I sleeved all my cards, including the Career sheets), than I am of the books getting damaged. As already mentioned, they don't get opened much after the initial read through so they are the component that is least likely to need backup/replacing.

Perhaps FFG should beef up the disclaimer. Even if people are aware that the game has funky dice and cards, those that don't frequent this forum may not be aware that all the rules are not actually in the books or that chargen isn't possible with just the books, so just saying that it is not a complete game may be too little information for the less informed to make a purchase decision. At least with a physical product you could return it or sell it second hand if you decided it wasn't for you; can't really do that with pdfs.

If FFG ramped up the disclaimer to mention these are to 'supplement' teh core game and are not intended to be used to play the game alone (I know they do now, but emphasize the 'supplemental rulebooks' part) people wouldn't feel so upset. I'm looking forward to buying them so I can read up on the core rules before the game is back in stock at my LGS and then I can have an electronic copy on the laptop while the players pass around the hardcopy books.

It's a great idea, IMO.

Considering the amazingly poor quality of the books, buying PDFs of them is a complete and total ripoff. They should be free downloads like the rulebooks for their other games that have lots of components.

Is this harsh? Some might say yes. But I think charging $25 for something that you cannot use without spending another $100 (retail) is pathetic.

Even though I have a hard time justifying the $25 I spent on them, I can understand FFG not just giving them away. None of their board games that they've given the rules away for have 288 pages of rules. Do I wish they were cheaper? Yes. Do I wish FFG had included a coupon code in the Core Set that entitled you to a free digital copy? Even better. However, there was considerable demand for pdf copies of the rulebooks after the game was released. FFG listened to their fans.and decided to make them available. I applaud them for that. It's just that I think that the disclaimer isn't clear enough for those casual shoppers who may not be as familiar with the game to make an informed purchase.

I haven't bought them yet, but I'm planning on getting at least the ToA so I can print the monsters. I'll probably get the bundle though 'cause it'd be nice to have a search function on the books.