How much stuff do your players buy?

Imaro · Jul 28, 2008

This quote...

tomBitonti said:
Am I understanding this correctly ... to have cards for all of the classes (in just the PHB1) you would need to buy eight different decks?

and the following answer...

thalmin said:
And if you only want the cards for the character you are currently playing, you would only need to buy one deck, or two if you are multiclassing.

got me to thinking about something...What do players really buy? I guess this is mainly a question for DM's... though if you're a player and want to sound off on what you buy feel free.

In my group some people will buy a PHB (though not all of them)... and I have one player whose bought his own pair of dice. As DM I buy the minis, tiles, dice, supplemental books, adventures, etc. that we use. Now I have no problem with this, as I usually enjoy what I purchase... but I've seen the argument of "players only have to buy the PHB" touted as justification for the 3 book set up (regardless of the fact that it costs close to, and is considerably less pages, than many of the single corebooks of games).

Now the same argument is used for the above power cards, which just getting one full set will run about $80, and it got me to wondering... in general what do the players of your group buy as opposed to the DM. Is it typical for the DM in most groups to end up buying the most stuff? Do your players buy just the PHB... do they buy any type of splat books, minis, tiles or dice? Just curious.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Jul 28, 2008

I am a DM and a player.

I usually also buy core books to games we play often or I consider DMing, or just want to look at.
I buy "splat books" (books with lots of character options). And then I buy any material that will be useful for my DMing - adventures, monster manuals, DMG equivalents for games I DM.

I can't really tell whether I spend more for my playing purposes then my DMing purpose. My first instinct was to say I spend more for playing, but then I considered the Core Rules and Monster Manual/DMG Type books I owned.

billd91 · Jul 28, 2008

I DM more than I play and so buy much more than most of my players. That said, I have 1 player in the Thursday Night game and 1 in the Sunday game who buy pretty much everything I buy, if not more. Most of the rest of my players buy a PH and maybe a splatbook or two that focus on their own characters' niches. Other than that, my players generally buy very little D&D stuff. Other games, they may buy a bit more (particularly Vampire and Legend of the Five Rings since they play in other games too).

Echohawk · Jul 28, 2008

Imaro said:
In my group some people will buy a PHB (though not all of them)... and I have one player whose bought his own pair of dice. As DM I buy the minis, tiles, dice, supplemental books, adventures, etc. that we use.

All of my players own at least the PH. Those that don't buy one themselves eventually get given one as a gift :devil:

. Most of my players also have their own dice, and some have bought expansion books, specifically the PH2, MIC, SC and several of the Complete books. Since the other players don't have anything except the PH, I'd guess that the average number of D&D books my players own is about 2-3. None of them buy minis, tiles or adventures. I'm a reasonably... um... ~~obsessive compulsive~~... thorough collector, so I have enough minis and tiles to go around.

That said, prior to 4e, it was easy enough for players of non-spellcasting characters to get by without a PH, but for 4e, we're finding that having a copy for each player is a must. Now that all classes have powers to reference, I suspect that more of my players will be purchasing expansion books, and add-on products like the upcoming power cards.

(Aside: Reading that last bit back to myself, I can't help but picture someone from WotC marketing reading this thread and uttering a Mr Burns-like "Eeexcellent"...

)

Crothian · Jul 28, 2008

Some players buy a lot, others don't. It realy derpends on their personality. Of the five players in my current D&D game only 4 own the PHB. Those 4 all have a vairety of books that have interested them and for past characters. The one player that doesn't own the PHb does buy RPGs just other things like Exalted.

Arnwyn · Jul 28, 2008

Imaro said:
in general what do the players of your group buy as opposed to the DM. Is it typical for the DM in most groups to end up buying the most stuff? Do your players buy just the PHB... do they buy any type of splat books, minis, tiles or dice? Just curious.

My players only buy their own copy of the PHB and their own set of dice. They will sometimes buy minis for the DM.

That's it. They never buy splats or anything else for that matter.

Scurvy_Platypus · Jul 28, 2008

I GM and play.

My experience has been that D&D GMs tend to demand that players have their own PHBs. They tend to be a bit annoyed with folks having their own MMs, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

As a GM, I've never expected people to have their own books. And to be honest, all the other GMs I've had were the same way; it was only the D&Ders that got all aggressive and pushy about players having their own PHBs.

If there's only one book to go around the table, then it means things are going to take a while. People know that, and there's no problem. If they're impatient or think the game rocks, then they go out and buy the book themselves.

Over the years it's usually been a case of one fellow going, "Hey, I just got this game and I think it rocks! I want to run some sessions, who's up for it?"

I think if a GM is all into using minis and battlemats or tiles or whatever, then it's their job to bear the cost. If the players _expect_ that sort of thing, then they need to bring stuff along to contribute. Me? I don't care about minis in a game, so I generally don't bother with it. If a GM has a desperate need for it, he's either going to have to be happy with whatever mini I bring along, or he's going to have to loan me a better one. *shrug*

Players all supply their own dice. I let my wife use my dice for a few games, but when she decided that she'd like to play regularly, I took her to the game store and had her pick out her own dice. Someone needs a loaner set for a session for some reason, it's no biggie. But in general, that's about the only requirement I've got.

I have refused to join a couple of groups because they expected me to buy books. I told 'em straight up, "Look, I'm happy to play with you folks, but I've got no idea if I'm actually going to like the game. I'm not dropping $150 or $200 just because you guys like the game."

Different strokes for different folks. I think the big difference is that people label me a "casual gamer" and those are the folks I hang with.

DeusExMachina · Jul 28, 2008

In our group you buy your own core books, your own dice and your own splat books if you want those. We're usually not very restrictive on what splatbooks are allowed.
Battlemat and minis we share, because it would be ridiculous to have 1 person pay that much more for something the whole group uses.

carmachu · Jul 28, 2008

I also DM(so i dont really count), but of the 5 other players in our group: everyone has a players book, their own dice and various splat books that pertain to their class.

I know at least one collects minis as well, D&D ones. Another one or two buys metal ones and paints them.