n00b Alert!

[Hillsy7]

Hi there.

Returning player after a decade and a half away from the tabletop, looking to get back into D&D (assuming you can call BG2 & NWN D&D). Couple of questions on source material I'm interested in buying first.

1) Want to get the PHBs but want them on electronic format, (.pdf, .doc...something I don't need an e-reader for). Is this even possible to buy without stealing a hokey PDF file off a torrent?

2) Would getting a D&D Insider account basically eliminate the need for the PHBs, or even possibly buying the DMG in the future?

[GMTroll]

Welcome.

Sorry for the moan, but this should really have been posted in the Commons as it is not a discussion about the 4E ruleset for FG. Can this discussion please be moved to the commons.

Anyway on to answering your questions.

1 - No! WotC did produce PDFs of some of the earlier DnD4e books but withdrew them long ago due to concerns over piracy.

2 - DDi has the potential to not have to purchase any PHB's or player options books but not the DMG's or the Rules Compendium. DDi insider gives you access to all player options and monsters either via the Character Builder or the compendium typically one month after its released in hardcopy. The compendium does enable you to look up rules, but it is not the complete books so typically no commentary, discussion or examples of the rules. AFAIK the only elements of the DMGs included in DDi are traps, monsters, player options, items, vehicles.

[Griogre]

Like GMTroll mentioned there are no legal PDFs. It should be noted the 4E PH has been very heavily errataed to the point I am doubtful its a good way to learn 4E. I'd suggest you get the Essentials PH Heroes of the Fallen Lands or the Essentials Rules Compendium if you want just rules.

I agree with GMTroll that player can more or less get by on DDI though there are significant class details particularity with the essential character classes that are not in DDI. If you did know the rules already then I think a DM could likely get by with just DDI because the most common things he would use are Monsters and Traps. If you decided to try this I'd suggest you get the Rules Compendium (it's just rules no character stuff) and use DDI.

As a DM I personally would not do this because I don't find DDI worth the monthly cost and the cheapness of books on Amazon. For FG I do get DDI for a month a once or twice a year to refresh my library modules though the latest errata has been so small I've just done the updates by hand in a few minutes.

[Hillsy7]

Ooops....sorry about that - saw the 4e tag and dove in

Well cheers chaps for the help!

Seems like a bit of a rock and a hard place - Its not really preferable to have one without the other. I've been listening to a serial podcast (Critical Hit - Major Spoilers) and so I've got a pretty decent grasp of the gameplay. After years of Computer RPGs I think people almost end up with an intuition for game systems.

I'll definately look up the rules compendium then (didn't see that before) and I suppose I can try out the DDI for about 6 quid which is no great outlay. Just very conscious of not burdening a GM with n00bness a bit of research would cure.

[Magnatude]

So you are looking for 2nd Edition rules?? Baldurs Gate is basically 2nd Edition... and NWN is 3rd.

You can find Core Rules CD's for 2nd Edition (the rules are in Help-file format and RTF), there might be a few on Ebay ($40-$90). They can run with Win XP compatibility and include 2 mapping programs. They come with all the books and supplements (if you get Core Rules Expansion, another $30-$50) There is a Yahoo group, as well as my own site, full of downloadable user-made content... we are trying to keep the stuff alive.

3rd Edition stuff, I think there are some released OGL stuff out there in PDF.