What makes a TTRPG purchase "worth it" to you?

[GrimCo]

It's worth it if i like it. It's in the same "wants" category ( as opposed to "needs") as bunch of other things i buy cause i like it and want to have have, no matter how much will i actually use it. Good things with physical books is that i can resell them if i make impulse purchase based on nice cover and after reading some, find i don't like it.

 

[grimmgoose]

It's changed over the years. Up until recently, it was a very non-specific, "if I think it looks cool/does something interesting/is a genre I like".

Nowadays, it's, "is there a realistic chance I and my group(s) will actually want to play it?" I have so many RPG books taking up space on my shelf that realistically, I will never play. So now, while I will look longingly at an Ennie-award-winning TTRPG, I recognize that the chances of my group playing it are basically nil.

The best part is that both of my groups play a lot of different games! But there's just so many!

 

[Belen]

yes. Cover price is $29.99, subscribers get free pdf and advanced shipping. You can qualify for pathfinder advantage and get a 15% discount, however you need to have 4 subscriptions. So you have to spend more money to get it down to about $25.

Not really worth it in my opinion unless you’re all in PF2

paizo.com - Store / Subscriptions

Ouch. An entire AP is now $180+tax. I stopped doing them about 8 years ago. I needed to drop my Paizo subs when I had a job change. That is a 50% price increase.

 

[Voadam]

I pretty much only get Paizo stuff when they pop up on Humble Bundle now. I picked up the current Asian Fantasy bundle at the $30 level which includes the Fists of the Ruby Phoenix AP PDFs and other stuff like the Tian Xia big setting and character option PDFs.

 

[Reynard]

The endemic undervaluing of RPG material is what keeps the industry from maturing because it means almost no one can make an actual living working in it.

 

[carmachu]

The endemic undervaluing of RPG material is what keeps the industry from maturing because it means almost no one can make an actual living working in it.

Frankly overvaluing RPG material seems worse.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I don't know, it seems like there's a point where if your view is "The amount you need to charge for RPG material to be able to make it financially viable is greater than the amount is worth to people" seems to translate into "This is a doomed industry", as those two pieces of rope don't seem to meet in the middle.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The endemic undervaluing of RPG material is what keeps the industry from maturing because it means almost no one can make an actual living working in it.

Define "maturing" beyond raising prices. What immature about the industry now?

 

[Reynard]

Frankly overvaluing RPG material seems worse.

How so? Can you explain?

 

[Reynard]

Define "maturing" beyond raising prices. What immature about the industry now?

Having a robust and self sustaining industry, with enough market to go around that can support both bog standard popular material and new and experiemntal ideas.

Don't get me wrong, there has never been more variety in RPGs than right now, and some folks are doing very well. But there is a LOT of labor of love stuff, and if people could make a living at it, I think we would see not just innovation, but polish and professionalism.

What I worry about is that the kind of people that are only willing to buy material when there is a humble bundle or whatever are the same folks that are going to drive the use of generative AI in the industry and drive out even more folks. Not because they support AI, but because they don't support paying what something is worth.