Revision as of 05:35, 31 January 2012

Portable Document Format or PDF is an electronic file format widely used in publishing, both within and beyond the role-playing hobby industry. Many Ars Magica products are available for sale in PDF format.

Obtaining Ars Magica PDFs

Please support Atlas Games by legally purchasing your PDFs, instead of illegally copying or downloading them.

E23, the electronic download store of Steve Jackson Games, sells PDFs of most Ars Magica products, except very old or very new ones. This includes the Ars Magica Fifth Edition rule book and the free PDF of the Ars Magica Fourth Edition rule book.

The Atlas Games website has free, downloadable Web supplements for some Fourth and Fifth Edition books: for example Book of Mundane Beasts for ArM5 or Secrets in Sand from Blood and Sand. These Web supplements are listed in Project: Redcap's Product List or you can find them by browsing or searching the Atlas Games site.

Reading PDF Files

Software for viewing PDF files is widely available. See the List of PDF Software at Wikipedia.

Advantages and Disadvantages of PDFs vs. Printed Books

PDFs have both advantages and disadvantages compared to print books.

Some of the advantages include:

They take up no storage space and are easy to carry on a DVD, USB drive, laptop, or other device
They are easy to search (which is especially useful for books that lack an index)
They cost less than print books

Some of the disadvantages are:

They are hard to pass around the gaming table
It is easy to lose them if you are not careful about keeping backups
Some readers find print books easier to browse and skim

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 = Obtaining Ars Magica PDFs =
-Most Ars Magica products, except very old or very new ones, are available for sale as PDFs from [http://e23.sjgames.com/ E23], the electronic download store of Steve Jackson Games. This includes the [[Ars Magica Fifth Edition]] rule book and the free version of the [[Ars Magica Fourth Edition]] rule book.
+Please support [[Atlas Games]] by legally purchasing your PDFs, instead of illegally copying or downloading them.
-Some of the Fourth and Fifth Edition books had free, downloadable Web supplements written for them. These are available directly from the [http://www.atlas-games.com Atlas Games website].
+[http://e23.sjgames.com/ E23], the electronic download store of Steve Jackson Games, sells PDFs of most Ars Magica products, except very old or very new ones. This includes the [[Ars Magica Fifth Edition]] rule book and the free PDF of the [[Ars Magica Fourth Edition]] rule book.
-Please support [[Atlas Games]] by legally purchasing your PDFs, instead of illegally copying or downloading them.
+The [http://www.atlas-games.com Atlas Games website] has free, downloadable Web supplements for some Fourth and Fifth Edition books: for example [[Book of Mundane Beasts]] for [[ArM5]] or [[Secrets in Sand]] from [[Blood and Sand]]. These Web supplements are listed in Project: Redcap's [[Product List]] or you can find them by browsing or searching the Atlas Games site.
 = Reading PDF Files =