20 Minutes of Fun ... and for How Much Money?

[Retreater]

At the bequest of my players, a couple of months ago I invested over $185 in a set of GURPS books. They wanted to try a new genre and a new system. Now, after three 4 hour sessions, we're going back to D&D 3.5.

The cost/time used ratio of the GURPS books, therefore is $61.67 per gaming session (or $15.42 per hour).

For me, the GURPS books aren't a terrible deal. They're a steal compared to some of the products I've never used.

I think most regular readers here have read the quote about gaming being 20 minutes of fun in 4 hours. In a different spin on the question, I'd like to ask, how much money do you usually have to spend before you find something that's a hit with your gaming group?

Do you find that spending more money actually increases the quality of your game?

Doc

 

[theredrobedwizard]

I'll use PPH (Price Per Hour) to try and determine overall value.

True20 - $20 for 24 hours (6 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $0.83
World's Largest Dungeon - $100 for 8 hours (2 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $12.50
D&D 3.5 Core Rules - $60 for 216 hours (52 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $0.27
D&D 3.5 Total - $900 for 216 hours (52 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $4.16
World of Darkness (New) - $245 for 4 hours (1 session) of game. PPH: $61.25
Basic D&D - $15 for 8 hours (2 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $1.88
Star Wars SAGA - $30 for 24 hours (6 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $1.25
Burning Wheel - $25 for 8 hours (2 weekly sessions) of game. PPH: $3.13

That's just what I've played in the past couple of years. I'm sure my 2nd Ed books ($15 total at a used book store, used for about 3 years of weekly 4 hour sessions) were more cost effective, but I don't have exact numbers on those.

The group had the most fun with True20 and Star Wars SAGA. We're going to give Burning Wheel another shot. I don't think spending the money is necessary to have a good time (see True20 at 83c per hour), but I do like spending money to try and improve my game (see All the dang D&D 3.5 books I've bought).

-TRRW

 

[Tumbler]

I only spend money on books for myself. It's great if other people get to use the stuff in them, and I'll even bend campaigns to make them want to do so, but ultimately I own the book. I'm not buying books for their enjoyment. I easily get enough fun out of reading a new book to make it worth having, so the game is sort of icing, or gravy, or whatever food metaphor you prefer.

Things I kind of buy for the players are board tiles and miniatures and stuff, but I still enjoy having those. I'll admit that I get a kick out of having a new miniature that wows the players, whether I painted it or pulled it out of a box. So what exactly am I buying there. Not so much the product as what it does for my ego I guess. I also just enjoy playing with the stuff, setting up scenarios. Plus my kids play various games will all of it, so that has to count for fun as well.

If you spend money on the right things, things that solve problems that your game has, that is where you will get the best increase in fun. Depending on your playstyle, that could be different things. Dungeon tiles and steel squire templates have sped up the boring parts of tactical setups, so I am not spending time drawing maps or counting squares for spell effects or breath weapons. Initiative cards (which I don't use because I can't keep things in my hands at the table) might vastly increase your fun time. We use a markerboard to track initiative and armor class. That keeps me from having to ask questions as a DM. It cost about $20, but I'll take it over asking, "Ok, who's next?" Books might solve problems, as well. The Dragonlance campaign setting book has rules for flying combat, so buying that solved the problem of having a campaign where every character could fly all the time by 8th level. That was well worth the money just for those rules, and using it for a year-long dragonlance campaign was pretty nice, as well.

Granted, sometimes I spend money on stuff that doesn't work out (spell cards). But whose to say they won't be useful at some later time. I have piles of 1st and 2nd edition stuff I've never used directly in a game, plus 2 shelves of modern and superhero stuff when my current group hates those things. But I enjoy reading them, so I don't consider it a waste.

In your case, though, if I had a group who all really wanted to try out a new system or genre, I'd say they needed to chip in on the purchases. DM's aren't responsible for funding the game.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

$59.85 - The cost of the D&D core books. In prior years, it was the cost of ink and paper to print out a friend's homebrew system. Not much, in other words. Now, we compulsive collector types are going to get stuff anyway....

 

[Arkhandus]

Keep in mind that you can try selling your barely-used GURPS books on E-Bay or on EN World's forum for trading stuff. Maybe.

Or you could try running GURPS with a different genre, I dunno. I've never played it. And I never buy anything I'm not fairly sure I'll like or get a decent amount of use out of (I've only got 1 or 2 RPG books, at most, that I'm terribly disappointed in and haven't gotten any use out of, and another 1 or 2 I don't like much but might use at some point; of those, 2 are books that I had mistaken for something else, buying a similar book to the one I had been looking for due to forgetting the exact name of the title and its publisher).

 

[Hussar]

Hrm,

WLD 80 sessionsx3 hours/session=240 hours. Price $100 PPH= $0.42
Sandstorm 20 sessionsx3 hours/session=60 hours. Price 40 bucks. PPH= $0.67
Shelzar City of Sin 60 hours. Price 30 bucks. PPH: $0.50

That's my last two campaigns in a nutshell anyway. I'm a cheap bastard.

 

[Teflon Billy]

You'll burn out on D&D again at some point, and those GURPS books will come back out.

Buying toolkit systems is never a bad deal.

 

[Nifft]

GURPS seems to me like the sort of purchase that may pay off even if you never play GURPS. You may get a handle on system design that will enhance your understanding of D&D such that you are better able to make the House Rules which enable your campaign to play exactly like you want it to play.

Cheers, -- N

 

[The_Gut]

Feh, I buy game books like candy, and read them like novels. Price ratio for my stuff sucks.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Feh, I buy game books like candy, and read them like novels. Price ratio for my stuff sucks.

That'd be true for me, too, if the ratio is strictly based on price and playing-time. You'd need to factor in enjoyment from reading the books to get a more accurate picture, but that's a lot more subjective than a nice, quantitative measure like "time used in play."