With some many games, settings and adventures, and little space to accommodate everything... I suspect not just me, but other people too are using PDFs.

Personally when I play, I use my laptop with my own previously edited PDFs with my notes into the document. With my physical books I use sticky notes, no issue when using those. But sometimes I want just to chill and read a PDF book, to read a new rule, an adventure, or something.

Any of you bought a tablet to read PDFs? What tablet do you recommend for easy read and taking notes?

Maybe is a weird question in an RPG forum however usually a tablet use epub or mobi format and the book is text. In the RPG world are PDFs, not just simple PDFs, and we typically move between pages to read different sections and taking notes in the different sections.

I know is possible I want to know if anyone here uses a tablet for this purpose and which tablet.

I haven't bought one, but I have been gifted two from my old job that I have loaded up with PDFs. I have a few rulebooks as PDFs on my phone and they get more action than anything else PDF, just because my phone is more convenient.

We use the largest one we can afford.
I recommend picking one with a lot of RAM, as that seems to be the biggest slow down.

I have an old Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition.
My wife uses a newer Samsung, not quite as large.

I'm waiting to see what the One Plus Pad costs.
https://www.oneplus.com/us/buy-oneplus-pad

I have an Ipad which my job issued me. When my kid was born and I had to spend a lot of time just sitting on the couch with him, I read hundreds of pages of RPG pdfs on it. It was an absolute godsend in those particular circumstances, and if I were to change jobs and have to return it, I would definitely buy another.

What I've found in practice is that tablets are awesome for reading pdfs at your leisure, but kind of useless for referring to them while you're actually playing. They're just not set up for flipping back in forth or jumping to specific pages. Hard copy books are the best for that, but a laptop with a mouse plugged in will beat a tablet every time.

Lots of RAM is of the utmost importance. You want to be able to swipe through pages like you're perusing a paper book. A partial-second delay between pages gets old rreeaallll fast.

Apart from that just get as large a screen as you can afford.

I just recently bought a Galaxy Tab S8+, not specifically to read RPG PDFs, but I have started doing it too. So far I'm quite happy with it. The screen is large enough to support A4 PDFs, and the S Pen and digitizer are good enough for nearly natural writing, so annotation is easy.

Quote from: Cathal on April 15, 2023, 12:16:41 PM
Any of you bought a tablet to read PDFs? What tablet do you recommend for easy read and taking notes?

I know is possible I want to know if anyone here uses a tablet for this purpose and which tablet.

I got a cheapie, used tablet, and it really sucked. Not just that it was a cheap tablet with some off-brand operating system, but the general task of "flipping through" a document while playing was frustrating. I gave up.

I use hardcopies at the table, and PDFs at home on my PC.

I have an iPad Pro with 128GB of storage, all of which is RPG pdfs. Well maybe 90%. Some of the storage is taken up by map generators and whatnot.

Honestly...I have been trying to actually use portable devices for gaming for over 20 years and I still hate it. I'll browse a pdf for 5-10 minutes but inevitably get annoyed and pull out a hard copy. Or if I'm drunk enough I'll buy a hard copy if I don't already have one. Using it for play is even worse.

So while the idea of the iPad is phenomenal, in use it's nonexistent. When we play via roll20 or whatever I STILL use a book even when the pdf is up on my laptop screen. I have a three monitor setup, main game window, rules pdf, character sheet, I'll still use the damn book. I'm beginning to think I'm just a Luddite who tolerates technology to make money which is the ultimate irony.

Quote from: Brad on April 15, 2023, 03:49:59 PM
I have an iPad Pro with 128GB of storage, all of which is RPG pdfs. Well maybe 90%. Some of the storage is taken up by map generators and whatnot.

Honestly...I have been trying to actually use portable devices for gaming for over 20 years and I still hate it. I'll browse a pdf for 5-10 minutes but inevitably get annoyed and pull out a hard copy. Or if I'm drunk enough I'll buy a hard copy if I don't already have one. Using it for play is even worse.

So while the idea of the iPad is phenomenal, in use it's nonexistent. When we play via roll20 or whatever I STILL use a book even when the pdf is up on my laptop screen. I have a three monitor setup, main game window, rules pdf, character sheet, I'll still use the damn book. I'm beginning to think I'm just a Luddite who tolerates technology to make money which is the ultimate irony.

Interesting.

I'll read the PDF through on the tablet.

But during a game session, have it up in another window. The search functionality with keyboard and mouse is just better for me.

Re PDFs are worst than printed books:

It all depends on how well done the PDF is:

Does it have an electronic index? If it does then searching through it isn't hard at all, even better if it's fully indexed and hyperlinked so you can follow the links.

Now as for the OP question:

No, because my eyes are even worse than they were when I first started using glasses at 15, I need to be able to make the page bigger without it going out of the screen.

Now, ePub edition books? Those I can read anywhere because the text adjusts to the font size I choose and the screen.

If I had the money to buy me a laptop (the ones the keyboard folds behind the screen) I might do so, especially if I can turn the screen to the other format since it fits better to books in general.

Specifically to read PDFs, no, but that has been a delightful bonus. I will forever be a physical book person, but when space is an issue (like during travel) or I just don't have the physical book yet, I can't hate on PDFs/ebooks. That being said, when I'm running a game, physical books every time. I even printed out the entire Dragonbane quickstart because just "flipping" through the PDF at home while prepping to run it for a con was annoying me.

Greetings!

I keep PDF's on my main laptop computer, which are typically PDF copies of books I already have in hard-copy, second-tier game books or modules, or merely stuff where there is only a PDF available. They are *ok*--though I don't tend to use them that much.

Admittedly, I'm a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and firmly stuck in the bygone age of physical books. I routinely read books, reference them, and use them for campaign work; as well as referencing them at the game table.

No different than I have been doing for decades, long before the popular use of computers or certainly tablets and cell-phones. I also generally ban all such electronic devices at the game table.

I sometimes wish I could be all tech-savy and get excited about screens and beeping lights. I just can't though. I keep my laptop computer at the game-table to provide soundtrack music for game sessions. That's it though. I get excited about holding an actual book in my hands, the scent of new books, looking at it, and paging through it with my hands, page by page, using it for whatever.

I know, I know. I'm just a dinosaur Luddite. *Laughing*

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I didn't get it specifically for rpgs, but I do have a pretty beefy iPad Pro that I use as a musician and for other work related projects. Since I had it I also use it for rpgs. It's nice having a decent sized portable screen to help organize game elements.

I just use my phone (Moto G Stylus currently; old iPhone 5 (I think) before that). I also use my laptop sometimes, specially when prepping stuff. But when it comes to actually reading through the whole PDF, I usually just lay down with my phone and some reading glasses (started needing them these past few years). For actual play, I'll use either my laptop or my phone. Phone is more convenient overall for purposes of carrying it around, but laptop is a bit better for organizing stuff during play, just inconvenient to haul around, specially now that my monitor is busted and can't close without breaking.

Quote from: VisionStorm on April 15, 2023, 09:09:38 PM
I just use my phone (Moto G Stylus currently; old iPhone 5 (I think) before that). I also use my laptop sometimes, specially when prepping stuff. But when it comes to actually reading through the whole PDF, I usually just lay down with my phone and some reading glasses (started needing them these past few years). For actual play, I'll use either my laptop or my phone. Phone is more convenient overall for purposes of carrying it around, but laptop is a bit better for organizing stuff during play, just inconvenient to haul around, specially now that my monitor is busted and can't close without breaking.

I used to bring my laptop to gaming sessions, but would up distracted by it, so I leave it behind unless I explicitly need it. For running an X-Wing tournament, for example.