Water Marks on purchased pdf'

[Forcegypsy]

How difficult would it be to make sure there are watermarks (name and purchase order) on all Crafty PDF's. I had an issue with printing the Darkest Hour Pdf at a Staples (stationery chain) because the wouldn't print copyright, not even a single copy. I went to an independent print shop, but it cost me an extra hour of what should have been game time. I'd like to be able to avoid the issue in future.

[Crafty_Pat]

How difficult would it be to make sure there are watermarks (name and purchase order) on all Crafty PDF's. I had an issue with printing the Darkest Hour Pdf at a Staples (stationery chain) because the wouldn't print copyright, not even a single copy. I went to an independent print shop, but it cost me an extra hour of what should have been game time. I'd like to be able to avoid the issue in future.

DriveThruRPG already adds a watermark to both these titles but it's just purchaser name. As for expanding that watermark to allow printing, well, to be honest it's not the purpose of products sold through DriveThruRPG. We sell actual books for folks who want physical copies.

[Forcegypsy]

Trust me Pat, I'm really a hardcopy guy, I own every single printed book you guys have put out. The Pdf's are a convenience and in the case of the Darkest Hour, my personal printer had gone down temporarily and if I'm not mistaken pdf here was my only choice. I don't own a laptop.

My issue was that while my copy of Fantasy Craft has my name on the watermark, the same cannot be said for Darkest Hour (I assumed the watermark was there, but found out differently when I tried to get it printed). From what you are saying, the watermark is added on drivethrurpg's end. It's not a big deal, I'll just mention to their customer service that one of your products is missing the watermark (or at least the copy that I got).

In any case, as always, thanks for the quick response.

[Number Three]

My issue was that while my copy of Fantasy Craft has my name on the watermark, the same cannot be said for Darkest Hour (I assumed the watermark was there, but found out differently when I tried to get it printed). From what you are saying, the watermark is added on drivethrurpg's end.

A-ha!  Here's your issue:  drivethrurpg apparently can only watermark .pdf downloads, and Crafty is nice enough to give us .zip files containing both full color and printer-friendly, all-text layouts.  Drivethrurpg can't watermark through the .zip file, so they come unwatermarked.

I was honestly surprised Crafty bothered with an all-text version of Darkest Hour when the original is already in black & white, and printing costs usually get prohibitive only when color is involved.

[Forcegypsy]

Well then, everyone involved was obviously doing their best to serve the customer...except Staples, they were useless. I wonder if Crafty is aware of the .zip limitation on the watermark issue (aside from now obviously). Thanks for clearing this up for me Number Three.

[Crafty_Pat]

We are indeed aware - I thought you were talking about the core book.

On the print version, what's everyone's thought on this? Is it helpful? Because it's better for Crafty in lots of ways to only release the one PDF version when possible.

[spinningdice]

I prefer print versions for things that are rules heavy, but for an adventure I'm not particularly bothered, especially if it's in B&W anyway.
Though I've inherited a colour laser at home now, so it's less of an issue regardless.

[Forcegypsy]

For adventures, my vote is for one full copy, watermarked.

[MugMug]

I invested in a color laser, so don't really care (EDIT: I thought about it a bit more, and now I prefer the full version because I have a color laser ). Before that I'd have preferred a watermarked full version (based on your typical B&W interiors).

Walter

[Desertpuma]

I like to have both full and print versions of books. However, if the full version of a mod is black & white then I'm with it that way.

[Crafty_Alex]

I like to have both full and print versions of books. However, if the full version of a mod is black & white then I'm with it that way.

There's no way we can start doing printer-friendky versions of book PDFs - the question is whether it's worth the time to do printer-friendly versions of PDF exclusives, or just to release what we're calling "the full version" only (which would mean we wouldn't need to zip the file, and thus the document could be watermarked).

[Desertpuma]

Entirely understandable, Alex. I mistyped and didn't realize it until you responded. I meant the pdfs of products like OotS or Spellbound.

[Crafty_Pat]

I like to have both full and print versions of books. However, if the full version of a mod is black & white then I'm with it that way.

There's no way we can start doing printer-friendky versions of book PDFs - the question is whether it's worth the time to do printer-friendly versions of PDF exclusives, or just to release what we're calling "the full version" only (which would mean we wouldn't need to zip the file, and thus the document could be watermarked).

And, frankly, that said products would be easier to produce.

[Psion]

Maybe I'm unique because I have a color laster printer, but I sort of prefer printing "screen" pdfs than print PDFs. (I actually lurve my hardcopy selections from my WoF pdf, because the color art looks so purty in... well, color.)

Adventures I'm not going to reference so much... yeah, having a print version is nice to save me a little ink.

[Aldus Vertten]

i think it's a nice touch to add printer-friendly files, but in my case, i usually print the Full version.

In a partially related note, since i got my copy of the pocket edition, i'm planning to print all my pdfs in a smaller scale, 2 pages per page, and i think it would be very nice to have a booklet version of the book (so when you fold the sheets, the order is the proper one). i saw this in the Octane game and it was very useful. I know never editions of acrobat already do that by themshelves, but the printer i usually go to have older versions, so its kind of a headache...