Why is reading a .PDF rulebook so much harder than reading a paper copy of the same? For me, there is definite resistance to any reading task that requires me to use a digital copy. In comparison, picking up a printed rulebook and reading it cover-to-cover garners very little resistance at all.

Perhaps it’s the tangible sense that a printed book gives you of just how big the reading task might be. Along with this, I recognise that the PDF is unsatisfying to read zoomed up on a device. For this reason, I bought an iPad Pro for the 11″ screen so that the page was (near enough) full size for PDF rulebooks.

But still, even with the iPad, I find myself unwilling to read rulebooks in digital format. Is it perhaps that, with a printed tome, it’s easier to reference other sections? Page flipping is natural and fluid with paper, less so with a PDF. In fact, the act of finding your way around a digital book ought to be easier.

The lack of digital links in many game PDFs surprises me. The possibilities for connecting different reference points in a rulebook to allow for fluid one-click shifts to other parts of the text is surely a big opportunity digitally. Strangely, even the utility of specific and swift searching in a PDF is less compelling than I expected.

Truly, this is a mystery to me.

My suspicion is that there’s a great deal of psychological attachment to the use of paper rulebooks. It’s how I learned to read, how I learned to use rulebooks, and I deeply value books as objects in all genres of writing. Perhaps had I grown up post-2000 then I would have learned to read in digital formats.

I still want to have the PDF but, in truth, I am far less likely to read that rulebook until I have it in print. Weird though that is to admit.

Game on!