Book Prices...

[Scribble]

I thought $20 was expensive back in 1979, I still do.

I think how much that $20 is valued depends on how much a person values the work they did to earn that $20.

People still work 5 hours to take $20 home. Maybe 6 hours, depending on taxes, medical, etc...

So to take a $40 book home they may have had to work 12 hours or more to afford it.

So I still think it costs a lot, even at $20.

Well, true, I think I chose the wrong wording...

What I meant was does say spending 57 dollars today really feel like what spending 20 dollars in 1979 felt like?

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

I distinctly (and fondly) remember heading to the "hobby shop" to grab modules at $6 a pop. Walked in the store with mom and then had to think long and hard to determine just which module I should get - as I'd only get one.

Opening and reading those modules (I rarely played any of them) was...enthralling.

WP

 

[Glyfair]

In my Classic Dragon Reviuews threads I was converting the price of RPGs from ads in the issues into today's dollars. Unfortunately, the early issues got lost in the board's big crash a while back.

IIRC, the first printing of Empire of the Petal Throne worked out to be about $80 in today's dollars. Other books were pretty much in the same ballpark or higher.

One thing that was pointed out to me in those threads was that there was a huge jump in the price of paper products (like books) in the late 70s/early 80s. That's something to consider when comparing the earliest RPG products.

 

[Truename]

According to the sticker on my 2e Player's Handbook, I got it for $15.99 at Toys R' Us. Assume I bought it in 1989, which is the copyright year. That gives inflation of somewhere around 75.41%, so it cost me $28.05 in today's dollars.

Today's price at Barnes and Noble for the 4e PHB is $27.96. Nine cents cheaper. Pretty astounding correlation, actually.

(List price for 2e was $20, or $35.09 in today's dollars. List price for 4e: $34.95... a whopping 14 cents cheaper.)

 

[Lizard]

Anyone good with economics/ inflation math?

Were the books back in the 1e/2e era pretty much the same cost as they are now (adjusted for inflation?)

They were much more expensive. You paid more, in raw dollars, for fewer pages and poorer art.

 

[Lizard]

Wow... So for those of you who bought books back in the 1e era... did they seem expensive?

Yes, because I was a teenager who earned minimum wage. An RPG book cost me 4-5 hours of work. An hour for a pack of four miniatures. About two hours for a module. And I only worked a few hours a week and had to save most of my money for college.

 

[Treebore]

If someone is making that little in the states, IMHO they really need to rethink buying a gaming book.

That little is called minimum wage, and there are apparently a lot of people making that little in the US.

 

[Lizard]

That little is called minimum wage, and there are apparently a lot of people making that little in the US.

Yes, and if you ARe making that little, and it's your only source of income and you're self-supporting, you probably shouldn't be buying game books with it.

(I bought game books when I was a minimum wage earner, because I was a minor supported by my parents. If I had to choose between food and rent, or game books... choosing the latter would be Really Stupid.)

 

[Treebore]

Yes, and if you ARe making that little, and it's your only source of income and you're self-supporting, you probably shouldn't be buying game books with it.

(I bought game books when I was a minimum wage earner, because I was a minor supported by my parents. If I had to choose between food and rent, or game books... choosing the latter would be Really Stupid.)

Yes, and all of this leads into why I say $20 is still a lot of money, let alone $40, and is also why I refuse to pay full price for the books. I have too many family members who make between minimum wage and $8.50/hour, and fighting to get by.

So to me acting like $20 isn't much would belittle them, so I don't treat it that way. We spend more on our monthly food bill than what they take home in the same month.

Anyways, thats been my whole point about prices.

 

[Lizard]

Yes, and all of this leads into why I say $20 is still a lot of money, let alone $40, and is also why I refuse to pay full price for the books. I have too many family members who make between minimum wage and $8.50/hour, and fighting to get by.

So to me acting like $20 isn't much would belittle them, so I don't treat it that way. We spend more on our monthly food bill than what they take home in the same month.

Anyways, thats been my whole point about prices.

But that's completely different from the issue of if the price is worth it. The books are cheaper, now, than they were 20 years ago, and have higher quality content. The fact they're a luxury item is pretty irrelevant to the discussion. Profit margins are razor thin and game companies constantly teeter on the edge of bankruptcy.