Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
By not having money.
Annual RPG and Games Budget?
Jd Smith1
Hero
Overall, even though my leisure funding has grown steadily, my actual gaming purchases in the last decade have declined steadily. Part of it is that the availability of free material (actually free, not file-share free), and the fact that I use a LAN VTT at the table (free maps). But there's a couple other factors:
By the realization that reading detailed reviews of most scenarios will give me the gist of the plot, which is all I really need.
The trend for settings to have a free intro, which will generally kill my interest.
Part of it is the endless river of new products has dulled my interest.
RogueRonin
Explorer
This. I never spend what I can't afford, basically my monthly household budget has an allowance for leisure. But specially for RPG stuff, it has to fit on the shelf. My bookcase is almost full, but I am usually selling something every now and then. It's a good way of enforcing pickiness on what I purchase, so that every hyped up kickstarter isn't luring me in.
Li Shenron
Legend
I spend so little compared to the average gamer, that I never needed to set myself a budget.
Voadam
Legend
I have run out of reasonable storage for physical stuff so I no longer buy print stuff for myself, I only have stuff on my amazon wishlist for family who want to send RPG gifts for birthdays or Christmas. The last physical RPG product I got for myself was last year, either WotC's big map pack or the Tarokka deck when I was DMing a gothic horror campaign.
Even though I have more books and PDFs than I could read in a lifetime I like having stuff accessible as reference when the mood hits me and there are a ton of things I am still interested in getting that I do not have. I set myself a monthly RPG budget for PDFs more than a decade ago and then updated it a couple of times as finances and life circumstances changed.
The regular budget means I can capitalize on things that I am interested in that are on temporary sale, and I generally have the flexibility in my budget to get something directly applicable to a game I am in or something that really appeals to me. I also have plenty of interests to fill out when there are no great sales. With a lot of interests but no pressing need for anything specific I have been able to take advantage of a lot of great deals and bundles and leverage my budget well.
Even though I have more books and PDFs than I could read in a lifetime I like having stuff accessible as reference when the mood hits me and there are a ton of things I am still interested in getting that I do not have. I set myself a monthly RPG budget for PDFs more than a decade ago and then updated it a couple of times as finances and life circumstances changed.
The regular budget means I can capitalize on things that I am interested in that are on temporary sale, and I generally have the flexibility in my budget to get something directly applicable to a game I am in or something that really appeals to me. I also have plenty of interests to fill out when there are no great sales. With a lot of interests but no pressing need for anything specific I have been able to take advantage of a lot of great deals and bundles and leverage my budget well.
TwoSix
Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer
I just remind my kids that gaming books are forever, and that their need for a "bedroom" is transient. Especially when we have a perfectly nice backyard and camping equipment.
innerdude
Legend
I have a $50 (US) monthly budget for "Innerdude gets to spend on whatever he wants." The catch is, it's for everything. Board games, video games, PnP RPGs, Kindle purchases, random trips to Chick Fil A, it all has to come out of the same pot.
As someone said earlier, if there's not a 100% chance it will actually get used at the table within 18 months, it's a hard pass.
Plus, there's only so many rules systems that one person needs. I basically have my eye on 3 systems currently: Swords of the Serpentine, Dragon Prince (the Cortex Prime system), and Spellbound Kingdoms.
After picking up those 3, I honestly don't see myself buying new RPG material for a long, long time.
As someone said earlier, if there's not a 100% chance it will actually get used at the table within 18 months, it's a hard pass.
Plus, there's only so many rules systems that one person needs. I basically have my eye on 3 systems currently: Swords of the Serpentine, Dragon Prince (the Cortex Prime system), and Spellbound Kingdoms.
After picking up those 3, I honestly don't see myself buying new RPG material for a long, long time.
John Dallman
Hero
I don't set a budget, because there isn't that much I find myself wanting to buy, maybe $25/month. I mostly buy PDFs because of space constraints.
I have the benefit that I have a general aversion to buying stuff for myself - too many years of having low income, maybe, or just little personal inclination for having things. If there's things in the house for me... my wife probably bought them for me as a gift. Keeping my expansion down hasn't ever really been a problem.
I've made an active effort to change that for this year - my own income has been steady, but that can't be said for everyone. So, I've laid out far more than usual for gaming materials from small busineses, or that supported what I felt were decent charities.
I've made an active effort to change that for this year - my own income has been steady, but that can't be said for everyone. So, I've laid out far more than usual for gaming materials from small busineses, or that supported what I felt were decent charities.
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