Digital PDF versions of Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, On the Origin of PCs now on sale!

[Tiltowait]

Yeah, I got nothing at all, and I did check my spam folder, nothing there either. My credit card did successfully get charged though, so the transaction did go through. I guess I'll try emailing Gumroad and seeing if they can do anything.
Thanks everyone for your help

[Douglas]

Email may usually work nearly instantaneously, but there's no actual guarantee of that in its design specification. It's rare, but I have had emails take multiple hours to arrive before.

[spruce56]

YES. Instant purchase Book 0 - international postage has previously been too much for me. Will be getting Book 1 next month

[lothos]

Just purchased both of them. No problems, got the emails within 1 minute each and the downloads completed within a couple of minutes to Australia.

I'd like to say that I think this is a great idea. I do understand the risk that Rich is taking that some people will make these available through peer to peer networks, but I think it's a risk worth taking and I applaud Rich for this new option.

I already have all the books in paper form (2 copies of "Start of Darkness" as I was lucky enough to get one of the "patience for a signed book" packages back in the kick starter drive). But it's really worthwhile to me having the .pdfs.

First, I want to support Rich's efforts and ensure that this story can be told all the way to the conclusion. I've been reading for about 5 years and now have a lot of emotional investment in the characters and the narrative.

Second, I really like having an offline copy on my phone, because I fly a lot for work and also use metro trains a lot where I often don't have 3G/4G signal. I did think about downloading each comic off the website and putting it on a local file app on my iPhone.. but I wasn't quite sure if that was OK from a copyright perspective and in any case, it would be a LOT of work.

I love this great new option for having the comics available for offline use on my phone. I like .pdf as it's so cross platform and flexible. I almost never download DRM infested media. I've never bought a single song or video from iTunes, even though I have an iPhone. The reason is that I want cross platform support and flexibility. These .pdf options are perfect.

If someone wanted to abuse these .pdfs, they could, by using a "disposable" email. But equally, they could download each graphic from the website and then scan in the bonus material from the physical books. I think that most of the people inclined to buy these .pdfs would still buy them honestly, to support Rich, even if they could download them from peer to peer locations. I know I would.

Thanks again Rich for a great story that continues to surprise me. Although I dread the day that OOTS does come to an end, the journey there has been great and continues to be very enjoyable.

[Peelee]

I almost never download DRM infested media.

Completely irrelevant story time!

Back like, 7 years ago or so, I was looking around in a Best Buy and saw the perfect birthday present for my best freind's girlfriend (now wife) - a vinyl record of the Police. It was her favorite band, and while I'm sure she had most, if not all, of their music digitally, and this gift would effectively force them to buy a record player, a rather large part of why I bought it was the very, very big sticker on the shrink wrap that proclaimed, "DRM FREE!"

Advertising works wonders, if you know what aspect to advertise. Whoever came up with that idea deserved their cut of the twenty bucks.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

If someone wanted to abuse these .pdfs, they could, by using a "disposable" email.

Not really, unless they can also use a disposable credit card, and therefore bank account - the money has to come from somewhere, even if you pay through "[email protected]". As to the feasibility of it, I would hope that as well as the visible watermark on page one, they used steganography to place invisible watermarks in other places, just in case.

Grey Wolf

[Peelee]

Not really, unless they can also use a disposable credit card, and therefore bank account - the money has to come from somewhere, even if you pay through "[email protected]". As to the feasibility of it, I would hope that as well as the visible watermark on page one, they used steganography to place invisible watermarks in other places, just in case.

Grey Wolf

EDIT. Ya know what, let me not point out how easy it is to get around these things.

Point is, anyone dedicated enough can if they want, and that will almost always be the case. The precautions against are pretty decent, I think.

[The Giant]

So only DCF has new commentary stuff compared to the print version?

Yes, that's correct.

Question - will I need to buy the PDF for DCF in order to read the new essay? I really want to read it, so I definitely will if so.

Eventually, when the current supplies of paper DCF copies runs out and I need to reprint, I will reprint this version—with the updated fonts and the extra essay—rather than the old one. However, we are likely years away from running out, and given that I know I've just reduced demand for the print version by putting the digital version on sale, we may never run out while the comic is still going.

[The Giant]

Folks, please do not discuss how to defeat the only anti-piracy measure I put on there. I don't want to give anyone any ideas.

[Sniffnoy]

Here's something -- because this version is PDF, rather than an image, it makes it possible to read text that was obscured in the original. For instance, Vaarsuvius's speech in #10.

Edit: Hm, apparently this applies only to Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, not OtOoPCs. The latter doesn't seem to have any of its text storted as text in the PDF outside of the preface and such.

[Sylian]

Have you considered selling "Ten Years of Crawlin'," for a humble price? Like $1 or $2 or something? I already have all the paperbacks, so I don't really feel motivated to shell out $15 just for an article, but I'd like to read the article.

[The Pilgrim]

As an overseas fan who never felt like paying more for international shipping fees than the costs of the books themselves:

Thank you, Giant.

[Lissou]

I would love to be able to do something like that, but there's just no logistical way. I wouldn't know how I could possibly verify that someone had bought the book previously, considering they've been sold in comic book and game stores for years; it's not like I have a giant database of who owns the books. And even if we could verify it, I don't think Gumroad has the functionality to offer individualized or restricted-use coupon codes—just general across-the-board discounts.

The only thing I can think of (and it would only work if Gumroad has a feature that allows it) would be, for future books only, having a code given to each buyer that they can use to get the book they just bought as a pdf for a reduced price. That implies knowing for sure the book will be released as a pdf at some point though, and wouldn't be retroactive for people who already bought print books. It also sounds like a huge hassle. (Actually come to think of it, previous orders made through ookoodook could probably be tracked as well, and codes emailed for those as well. Still seems to early to worry about it, and probably too much work).

I'm excited about this. I'm not sure if I'll ever buy those, I tend to prefer paper versions, but I may. They're pretty cheap. I'm extremely stoked that the PDF may means an eventual release in other languages would be easier down the line, since there may be no printing costs involved if you decided to release them in PDF form first (or only). Although of course, it may still not be worth it depending on demand, and you'd still have translation-related costs (even though some of your fans are professional translators, you may not accept a free service for a variety of reasons), and at any rate it may make more sense not to even think about it until the whole story is over (you've got enough on your plate). But still, excited that it may be a little bit more likely in the future than it has been.

I'm hoping that a large portion of the people who love the comic and read it online but haven't purchased the books will get at least OtOoPCs, which until now wasn't available digitally anywhere at all. My gut tells me it will sell better than DCFs. My gut has been knows to lie to me, though, so who knows.

[Rick_DW]

I'm a happy owner of all the dead Durkon arch-enemy versions of the books, Giant-signed and doodled on c/o the Kickstarter.

Here's my question. To GIFT these to someone, I just buy them again and enter my giftee's email? I'm assuming that will (a) put their email address on the book cover, and (b) send them the download link. If that's how it goes, I should warn them to look out for emails from Gumroad in their mailbox and spambox?

Struggling with getting them for myself too, because gotta have 'em digitally as well. It's not like I've never double-dipped on Star Wars Blu-rays, or compilation CDs...

[The Giant]

Here's my question. To GIFT these to someone, I just buy them again and enter my giftee's email? I'm assuming that will (a) put their email address on the book cover, and (b) send them the download link. If that's how it goes, I should warn them to look out for emails from Gumroad in their mailbox and spambox?

Yes, you could definitely do that, though as you say, make sure they know to look for the email immediately or they might miss it. I don't know if there's a way to retrieve a download link if they accidentally delete the email. I guess we'll all find out together when someone does it by accident.

[Gwynfrid]

Hm, Giant, for the sake of completeness, I'd suggest you add a link to Gumroad in the "Shop" section?

[The Troubadour]

Excellent news! :-D

[Alsadius]

Is there any way to get the retrospective essay without dropping another $15 on a book I already own? I don't intend to pirate it, but I do kind of want to read it.

[Scifne]

Thank you very much!

[Essence_of_War]

Edit: Question asked-and-answered in the original post, yay reading!

[Grey_Wolf_c]

As a related question, do these pdfs come with any Digital Rights Management?

I don't buy DRM'd media, and if these pdfs don't have any, I'd be very interested in purchasing them to support you and have a more portable copy of the work for when I travel.

From the OP:

• No digital rights management—just a single watermark on the front cover!

GW

[kivzirrum]

I already have the print editions, but I'm seriously tempted to get DCF for the added commentary. And when I say "tempted," I mean "going to."

As a related question, do these pdfs come with any Digital Rights Management?

I don't buy DRM'd media, and if these pdfs don't have any, I'd be very interested in purchasing them to support you and have a more portable copy of the work for when I travel.

I get how DRM works with video games, but how does one do that with a mere PDF?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I get how DRM works with video games, but how does one do that with a mere PDF?

Like so.

Grey Wolf

[kivzirrum]

Like so.

Grey Wolf

I see.

Thanks for the edification!

[Anansiil]

I am buying them now!!!


-and seriously, way to rain on the parade of someone doing us a kindness with theory crafting doom and gloom!

Folks, please do not discuss how to defeat the only anti-piracy measure I put on there. I don't want to give anyone any ideas.

[Essence_of_War]

From the OP:


GW

Yay, reading comprehension FTW :P

[Drazsyr]

I never bought the hard copies exactly because I abhor physical objects at this point in life. One, they take up room I don't have, and two, save the trees.

I am so, so, so, so happy that these are finally being released in digital format. It allows me to read those books that aren't part of the main comic, which I never had a chance to do before. It also allows me to support you when I wasn't willing, or able, to before. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

[Nighthawk4]

Great stuff.

Already have them both in paper form, but these are much better. Would love to have a full set in PDF on my iPad.


*Publish, Publish, Publish, Publish, the rest of the books on PDF*

[Keltest]

Yes, you could definitely do that, though as you say, make sure they know to look for the email immediately or they might miss it. I don't know if there's a way to retrieve a download link if they accidentally delete the email. I guess we'll all find out together when someone does it by accident.

At least for me, I can just click the links in your OP that I used to purchase them and download them from there, the same as if I had downloaded them from the email. I assume they have some way of remembering whether or not you have purchased a given PDF on a specific computer.

[Nighthawk4]

If you buy both it produces a Tweet that is too long and a Facebook link which is 'Gumroad - 404'.

I fixed the first of those but not the second.

Fortunately, the books are awesome. Can we download a second time please - so I can have a copy on my iPad and one on my PC?