Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Feel like a chump buying AP books at FLGS
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7034879" data-attributes="member: 6796661"><p>I like to support my local gaming stores, but the pricing policies of most publishers is making this hard to do. For some of the larger adventure paths, I like to have the book, but also may want the PDF for the maps, so that I can print battlemaps or use with a VTT or RealmWorks. But if I buy the book at the store, I have to pay full price for the PDF. I understand why publishers do this. If you buy directly from them, they don't have to share profit with the middleman (the FLGS) and can pass the savings on to you. What it has done, however, is made me refuse to buy APs, and just about any non-WoTC RPG print material for that matter, from game stores. </p><p></p><p>My most recent experience, and final straw, was I was browsing the 5e section at one of my local FLGS and came across <em>Trail of the Aprentice </em>by Legendary Games. It looked like a great adventure path to play with my sons and I bought it on impulse. After looking through it at home, I immediately had buyers remorse. Not because of the content--it looks like it will be a great tier I campaign to play with kids. But the maps printed in it, while nice looking, are pretty much useless for play. You can't easily remove them from the book and use them. They won't photocopy well. You need the PDF to turn them into battlemaps, handouts, DM references, etc. They don't sell a map pack for the AP, so I would need to buy the entire PDF for $30. If I were to by the book and PDF bundle from their website, I'd only pay $10 for the PDF. <strong>[UPDATE: I contacted Legendary Games and they were willing to let me buy the PDF for the discounted rate. So it is worth contacting the publisher. Very cool for Legendary Games to do this.]</strong></p><p></p><p>Paizo does the same thing. </p><p></p><p>Kobold Press is better if you only want the maps. While buying the hardcover books gives you a discount on the pdf (free in the case of Book of Lairs) that you would not get if you buy it from a FLGS, the map pack is a single price. So you can by the hard cover from a FLGS and buy just the maps from the Kobold Press store and not feel slighted. </p><p></p><p>About the only APs I would buy at a FLGS are WoTC publications. Because they don't sell PDF versions, so it doesn't matter. You can buy map packs for some of the APs from the cartographers' websites, but these are independent of the book sales, so they will cost you the same no matter where you bought the book. </p><p></p><p>Have to say, that I just do not trust buying books from a FLGS anymore. You pay more for the book and you get no discount on any digital content. It is rather sad, because I think that the FLGS is still important to the hobby. If I owned a FLGS, I would be far more inclined to support Adventurer's League over PFS, because WoTC doesn't create incentives to not buy from the FLGS and they even create material that you can ONLY get at FLGS (such as the awesome alternative cover to Volo's Guide to Monsters). </p><p></p><p>The FLGS has become Best Buy. You go there to look at the products, but you end up buying on line. Hope FLGS do a better job reinventing themselves than Best Buy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 7034879, member: 6796661"] I like to support my local gaming stores, but the pricing policies of most publishers is making this hard to do. For some of the larger adventure paths, I like to have the book, but also may want the PDF for the maps, so that I can print battlemaps or use with a VTT or RealmWorks. But if I buy the book at the store, I have to pay full price for the PDF. I understand why publishers do this. If you buy directly from them, they don't have to share profit with the middleman (the FLGS) and can pass the savings on to you. What it has done, however, is made me refuse to buy APs, and just about any non-WoTC RPG print material for that matter, from game stores. My most recent experience, and final straw, was I was browsing the 5e section at one of my local FLGS and came across [I]Trail of the Aprentice [/I]by Legendary Games. It looked like a great adventure path to play with my sons and I bought it on impulse. After looking through it at home, I immediately had buyers remorse. Not because of the content--it looks like it will be a great tier I campaign to play with kids. But the maps printed in it, while nice looking, are pretty much useless for play. You can't easily remove them from the book and use them. They won't photocopy well. You need the PDF to turn them into battlemaps, handouts, DM references, etc. They don't sell a map pack for the AP, so I would need to buy the entire PDF for $30. If I were to by the book and PDF bundle from their website, I'd only pay $10 for the PDF. [B][UPDATE: I contacted Legendary Games and they were willing to let me buy the PDF for the discounted rate. So it is worth contacting the publisher. Very cool for Legendary Games to do this.][/B] Paizo does the same thing. Kobold Press is better if you only want the maps. While buying the hardcover books gives you a discount on the pdf (free in the case of Book of Lairs) that you would not get if you buy it from a FLGS, the map pack is a single price. So you can by the hard cover from a FLGS and buy just the maps from the Kobold Press store and not feel slighted. About the only APs I would buy at a FLGS are WoTC publications. Because they don't sell PDF versions, so it doesn't matter. You can buy map packs for some of the APs from the cartographers' websites, but these are independent of the book sales, so they will cost you the same no matter where you bought the book. Have to say, that I just do not trust buying books from a FLGS anymore. You pay more for the book and you get no discount on any digital content. It is rather sad, because I think that the FLGS is still important to the hobby. If I owned a FLGS, I would be far more inclined to support Adventurer's League over PFS, because WoTC doesn't create incentives to not buy from the FLGS and they even create material that you can ONLY get at FLGS (such as the awesome alternative cover to Volo's Guide to Monsters). The FLGS has become Best Buy. You go there to look at the products, but you end up buying on line. Hope FLGS do a better job reinventing themselves than Best Buy. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Feel like a chump buying AP books at FLGS
Top