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

[Scribe]

I understand what you're trying to do, but IMO the price/value of something is equal to what people are willing to pay for it. Convincing folks to pay more for no additional benefit is going to be an uphill climb.

The cost of RPG products, are insanely low. Just look around at the various locations for these things. PDF work is practically given away.

I mean props to those willing to do it, but it would never support my life/family.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The cost of RPG products, are insanely low. Just look around at the various locations for these things. PDF work is practically given away.

I mean props to those willing to do it, but it would never support my life/family.

I agree the pricing is not sufficient to support oneself, but that doesn't change the fact that just asking people to pay more for the same stuff is unlikely to work.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Or you have to convince people that they're underpaying and the price increase is reflecting the real value. Either way it will be an uphill battle.

Yeah, I don't see that happening either. Give me an example of someone successfully convincing people to pay more for something without a corresponding increase in value (assuming said item isn't considered a necessity or there is otherwise some kind of force involved).

 

[Corinnguard]

Sometimes an RPG company comes out with a product that is so good that it sets a high bar for those that come after it. This happened when Paizo came out with Blood of Angels and Blood of Fiends for PF1. Both books did a very good job fleshing out the Aasimar and the Tieflings for the Golarion setting. I was expecting Paizo to give the same treatment for the Genie-kin in Blood of Elements because of the first two. No such luck.

 

[Scribe]

I agree the pricing is not sufficient to support oneself, but that doesn't change the fact that just asking people to pay more for the same stuff is unlikely to work.

Right, as RPG players have been conditioned to expect very affordable rates.

And the issue if I understood @Reynard is that inability to well, live, in our modern society as a creator (for most?) is preventing growth and innovation which MAY be possible, because folks have bills to pay.

So the wider hobby remains at a hobby level.

I would say there are other factors limiting the art, but pay is for sure one of them.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah, I don't see that happening either. Give me an example of someone successfully convincing people to pay more for something without a corresponding increase in value (assuming said item isn't considered a necessity or there is otherwise some kind of force involved).

Does the fact people with access to pirated material still sometimes pay for the pay version count?

 

[Desdichado]

Who knows? I've made several purchases recently that I know for a fact that I won't use and may not even read. But I wanted to have a copy for "posterity" or whatever.

I like buying stuff.

 

[Voadam]

I mean, if there wasn't Humble Bundle or whatever, people would buy Pathfinder books and not complain that THIS massively undercharged bundle has some overlap with the last massively undercharged bundle.

Obviously, it must work for Paizo and I respect that. But it works for Paizo because people refuse to pay fair prices for entertainment.

I am not going to speak for others but I have bought a lot of Paizo’s 2e humble bundles and I would not have otherwise bought any of their 2e books at their individual listed prices.

I have never played in a Pathfinder 2e game and I don't expect to run one, these are all just extra non essential lore books for me as I use some aspects of older Golarion in my 5e homebrew setting and I have plenty of setting material from the 3.5 and PF 1e Paizo eras.

I just am not going to spend $30 on the Tian Xia setting PDF. I have a mild interest in the setting and some Asian fantasy stuff in general but I already have the earlier Pathfinder 1e short sourcebook on the area which I have not really gone through and have not incorporated into my homebrew setting. I also already have a bunch of other fantasy Asian stuff from Kara Tur to Rokugon to Mists of Akuma and others.

But I did spend $30 on the bundle with that big PF2e Tian Xia setting sourcebook, their giant character options book fleshing out the new races for the setting and such, the associated Adventure Path, the new Monster Core with things like their new core dragons and outsiders, a bunch of short pathfinder society adventures, a bunch of flip mat PDFs, and so on even though the first bunch of PF2e core big book items in the bundle are duplicates from previous ones I bought. The 20 or so new things were worth it at the $30 bundle price for me.

 

[Reynard]

I am not going to speak for others but I have bought a lot of Paizo’s 2e humble bundles and I would not have otherwise bought any of their 2e books at their individual listed prices.

I have never played in a Pathfinder 2e game and I don't expect to run one, these are all just extra non essential lore books for me as I use some aspects of older Golarion in my 5e homebrew setting and I have plenty of setting material from the 3.5 and PF 1e Paizo eras.

I just am not going to spend $30 on the Tian Xia setting PDF. I have a mild interest in the setting and some Asian fantasy stuff in general but I already have the earlier Pathfinder 1e short sourcebook on the area which I have not really gone through and have not incorporated into my homebrew setting. I also already have a bunch of other fantasy Asian stuff from Kara Tur to Rokugon to Mists of Akuma and others.

But I did spend $30 on the bundle with that big PF2e Tian Xia setting sourcebook, their giant character options book fleshing out the new races for the setting and such, the associated Adventure Path, the new Monster Core with things like their new core dragons and outsiders, a bunch of short pathfinder society adventures, a bunch of flip mat PDFs, and so on even though the first bunch of PF2e core big book items in the bundle are duplicates from previous ones I bought. The 20 or so new things were worth it at the $30 bundle price for me.

You probably would have done more good spending $30 on a book from a publisher you like (barring, of course, that you went with the HB specifically to support the charity attached).

My guess is Paizo (and others, obviously) views these bundles mostly as marketing, with an added benefit of a write off and helping out a charity.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Does the fact people with access to pirated material still sometimes pay for the pay version count?

Sure, although clearly there isn't enough of that to make pirating not a thing. People also fear retribution and/or social stigma for pirating, and might not want to go through the hassle of finding and downloading the product in question, so there are factors other than financial cost.