Are you going to buy an EXTRA copy of the PHB?

[Brown Jenkin]

Most of our group has their own books. Just the DM and one other person actually have them at the game though and we seem to do fine with 8 people sharing 2 sets of books during the game.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I like to have an extra copy of the PHB around for newbie gamers to use. Also, it gives me something that I can throw at disruptive players, otherwise. I'll probably do the same thing with 4th edition.

Later
silver

 

[Jhaelen]

I definitely won't. I generally except every interested player to get her own copy. I don't have a problem with lending my copy to a potential player who is still undecided, however.

 

[Ahglock]

2 full sets pf PH, MM, DMG and I put in a order for a special edition PH, don't know if that is happening or not anymore.

It really isn't that much money, I mean a set is like 2 video games, or heck 1 meal from the restaurant at the bottom of the hill from where i live.

 

[Ahglock]

Dude.. seriously? Do you read how mean that sounds?

The guy who runs our game wants to play 4e, but screw him -- he has to buy everything and make all the investments of time and money before we'll give it a chance.

I feel bad for your DM man.

It does not sound that bad to me. I don't expect people to buy a game they don't want to play. If I want them to play it the burden is on me to make it worth there while.

 

[Brund the Decrepit]

I won't, because the artwork on the front is totally ugly, so one copy will be enough, and I expect nobody else among my friends to want to buy another one unless really really needed...

Ditto... Bleh

But I usually do like to get extra copies because I have a hoarding disease.. or so my wife says..

 

[Darrin Drader]

I have 4 copies of the 3.5 PHB, including two of the leather bound ones. IF I end up playing 4.0, it only makes sense to have an equal number of them so that people can't opt out of games on the premise that they don't have the book.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I'm getting a boxed set from Amazon and a PHB from my LGS.

I got the boxed set from Amazon too. There's a good chance I'll go out on the day of release and pick up a PHB. I don't have a LGS...

 

[mhacdebhandia]

At this point, I've got the gift set pre-ordered from Amazon. I'll actually be in California and Texas visiting my in-laws right after the game comes out, so that's cool.

I imagine that, just as we did with revised Third Edition, my wife will buy her own Player's Handbook when I get a game running. I should ask her if she wants one right away, I suppose . . .

 

[delericho]

In what way?

There are six people (including me, the DM) in my group and three copies of the PHB (one per household, again).

Ah, that's the difference between our groups.

For most of the games we play, the GM supplies all the books (that usually being me). Until fairly recently, none of my players owned their own PHB, either making do with the SRD (without laptops at the table), or by using the table copy.

So, when I said "having a second copy is useful", I actually did mean a second copy. Obviously, when players bring their own books, that doesn't apply.

Is my experience, where people actually spend $15-$30 for an ongoing game, that unusual. Is yours?

No idea.

My experience has been that there is a small number of people who own a lot of RPG books (and who generally GM a lot of games), there is a second group who own a core rulebook and maybe a splatbook or two for the group's system of choice, and that there is a third, larger, group of players who don't own any books at all.

Any or all of these observations may be atypical of gamers as a whole.

It is perhaps worth noting that all my current players have active subscriptions to multiple MMOs. I don't, having sworn off open-ended PC gaming a decade ago, after I lost an entire week to "Civilisation II" when I should have been studying. Despite this, I would be shocked if any of my players signed up for the DI, where I might if and only if the Virtual Tabletop blows me away.