40 Dollar Cap?

[Crothian]

Why does this sentence mystify so many people??? It could not be any truer!

It depoends on why the price rises. If the price rises becasue the books are of higher quality and larger, then it's a good thing. If the money is used to promote the hobby and bring in fresh blood it is a good thing. Like many things, this could be good or bad. It's rarely the outcome but the reasons for it that determine such things.

 

[GILGAMESH]

Re: Re: What Dancey says, what Dancey says!

Which is mosty college kids. I'm not sure what you mean by "proof is in the stores". You might want to refrain using caps as it does nothing to help your point.

CHECK with YOUR local STORES. THEY will TELL you THAT the TARGET of WOTC is ANYONE with MONEY. NOT specificly COLLAGE kids. MR. dancey CAN state (AND you CAN quote) THAT the TARGET is 18-22 ALL he WANTS but THAT does NOT reflect THE fact THAT wotc WANTS all THE revenue IT can BRING in! NO just REVENUE aimed AT the 18-22. Many people have stated that their first experience at DnD was at very young ages. That hasn't changed at all! And I'm certain that Wizards knows this. Don't let someone elses ego fool you.Mr. Dancey HAS done great thing for this whole D20 thing, but I'm certain that he does not speak entirely for WOTC. It would be crasy to limit your revenue when the market is much larger than all the 18-22yr old. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS!!! I hope so......... so....ahh, that's my POINT!

 

[GILGAMESH]

Re: Re: What Dancey says, what Dancey says!

By the way, you might want to tone down the caps and exclamation points; it comes off as yelling, which seems rather aggressive and not conducive to a friendly discussion.

Just got a bit excited. Not yelling , just excited. I do respect the opinions of everyone else< I'm sorry if I come off a bit agressive. All is good here.

 

[Vrylakos]

Re: Re: Re: Re: 40 Dollar Cap?

Me too!

I'm also looking forward to the Lance & Laser minis that are in the works already to accompany it. Imagine, a monster book, and figs of the new monsters that you'll be able to pick up as well!

"You're walking down the passageway, when suddenly out of the dark leaps... THIS!!"

Holy moley!
I hope some of my 11 beasties get figs!

When my critters got accepted, I thought "Wow, 11 monsters. I wonder if that's a lot? I wonder what percent of the pages will be my work?" Yup, ego talking, but hey, it's my first d20 freelance gig.

But now I see it's going to be over 200,000 words!?! Wow... I feel like a tiny cog, an earnest member of the freelance proletariat, happy to just do my part for the sake of Mother Atlas.

And it feels good...

VRYLAKOS

 

[GILGAMESH]

For the record.

For the record. I certainly am not in any way flaming Mr. Dancey or Corinth or anyone. In a discusion, sometime the Italian in me comes out. It's not meant to be personal or combative, it's just that I get very expressive and animated. I'll tone it down.

 

[Vrylakos]

Breaking $40...

BTW, not a d20 book, but Hogshead Publishing put out Nobilis, a very nice looking, good crunch & fluff book. It is $42, I believe, and I very much like the book. I haven't found a typo yet, and the art is excellent...

http://www.hogshead.demon.co.uk/Nobilis_index.htm

Has examples of the game, and sample pdfs of the book so you can see the layout and some of the art. It looks like a coffee-table art book in many way. If, say, Book of the Righteous had a similar 'total package' good gamebook/sexy looking book version for a $40+ price, I'd buy it...

VRYLAKOS

 

[Corinth]

Apology accepted, Gilgamesh.

 

[Henry]

Re: Re: Re: 40 Dollar Cap?

hardly! i should know, i led the charge against the call for high prices - virtually alone. it was a flamefest, though, against me! just about everyone who chimed in seemed to forget which side of the counter they were on and couldn't tell ryan fast enough how they wanted him to double their prices.

Being also a participant in that thread, I find this a very interesting version of the events. I seem to recall a much more level-headed discussion - you were against price-hikes for certain, but the main point made by the other posters was that in order for the RPG business to grow and expand, publishers had to STOP short-changing what their products were actually worth. As it was until recently, d20 publishers were clearing maybe 3 or 4 dollars on a product that MIGHT see a 2000 copy print run. Would YOU like to make the equivalent of 500 dollars' salary on a project that took 6 months to produce? Even with prices increasing, there ain't nobody getting rich off of RPG products.

Two factors are playing there - the industry is maturing from garage-basement enterprises, and inflation is naturally driving up the cost of printed material. Consumers must face facts if they want RPG products that are worth top-dollar, much less worth the prices they are paying now.

 

[jgbrowning]

Re: Re: Re: Re: 40 Dollar Cap?

Two factors are playing there - the industry is maturing from garage-basement enterprises, and inflation is naturally driving up the cost of printed material. Consumers must face facts if they want RPG products that are worth top-dollar, much less worth the prices they are paying now.

How is inflation naturally driving up the cost of printed material. Has it dramatically changed in the past two years? I haven't noticed it on other books...

personally i think the businesses have realized they have to make more money or its not really worth their time to be in the biz.

also, i think the RGP market is tremendously competative as it, honestly, doesnt take that much money to get into and since it is a hobby, there are many who are willing to make small profit from what they do.

the big guys will have to keep watching the little ones who will continually undercut the prices if the price of the books go up to 50$ or more. because there are quite a few gamers out there who can't really afford such costs and the'll try to find alternatives (pirating or buying less) or buying stuff from the smaller companies who are willing to print for less return.

just my .002$

joe b.

edit: also its only a matter of time before a web site goes up that hass all of the OGC on it. It will only take one persistant gamer who wants to "damn the man."

 

[Psion]

also, i think the RGP market is tremendously competative as it, honestly, doesnt take that much money to get into and since it is a hobby, there are many who are willing to make small profit from what they do.

This is true. The problem comes in that some are charging more for products that aren't worth more IMO, e.g., putting crappy material and poor art in slick packaging and hiking the price. These companies deserve to go out of business, IMO.

To be fair, though, one of the companies I think of when I say this is improving substantially. Surprisingly, the one I think that deserves it most seems to be doing well. Small RPG companies often operate by different rules than larger companies, if for little more reason than they tend to have very low overheads and tend to be driven by vanity. Such companies can operate for years on paltry returns.

the big guys will have to keep watching the little ones who will continually undercut the prices if the price of the books go up to 50$ or more.

FYI, the companies that seem to be holding the prices down aren't little guys. They are medium to big guys. Which sort of makes sense, since they can benefit from scale economies.