Books pricing themselves out of reach?

[Ranger REG]

The price of books is relative.... if you think RPG books are expensive, then consider the cost of textbooks if you are going to college or university. The price of text books is postively obscene in comparison.

Which is why the price of RPG books doesn't get me worked up. Now the price of textbooks....that is good for elevating one's blood pressure.

While that may be true, college textbook tend to be used by students for a semester and at the completion of the course, they'd rather sell it back to recoup some money. It would be rare to keep them, especially with the cost of a different textbook for a different course.

AFAIC, the price is decent for such a small audience (compared to mainstream).

 

[JRRNeiklot]

RPG books are WAY too expensive.

I'd love to have Arcana Evolved, Conan, WLD and several others, but I refuse to pay those exorbant prices. They may be worth the money, I don't doubt. But 100 bucks goes a long way toward a car payment. Like Diaglo, my cutoff price is 30 bucks. I might go as high as 35 for something I really, really want. Until prices drop (if ever), I'll be browsing Ebay and other places for deals I can afford.

 

[resistor]

In my opinion, RPG books are not overpriced if they fit one of two criteria:

1) They contain material I will actually use. I've greatly enjoyed my Eberron CS and my ExPsiHB, so I would call their price fair.

2) They are interesting or inspirational to read, even if I never use them. The Sharn book and Frostburn were both very interesting reads for me, and even if I never use them directly, I still consider them money well spent.

Other than that, I just tend not to buy the book. I know, for instance, that I will neither use nor enjoy reading the Races of ... books, so they're not worth the money.

 

[Steverooo]

The original question was:

So does anyone else get the feeling that the books and market is slowly pricing itself out of casual reach?

The answer to this is: Yes. For me, they have.

...

So is that being "cheap"? Hardly. It's taking care of the bills, first, then getting what's needed before what's merely desired, with the rest. Now most of you probably... don't have to worry about such stuff... but that doesn't negate these considerations for those of us who don't!

...

Are RPG books pricing themselves out of the market? They pretty much already have, for me. They have for the lower class. They are beginning to, for the LMC (Lower Middle Class). And things will only get worse.

Like one of the game designers recently said: Maybe you could consider getting the Core 3.5e books bundle, and dropping them off at Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army, or some other such place, for the kids who can't afford the modern cost of books, because their parents can't afford the modern price of necessities... If you can argue that $50-100 for an RPG book is affordable, then I'm sure that swinging a core bundle will be no problem!

 

[diaglo]

And would you wait a year to purchase a book you wanted for a current campaign?

you betcha if it meant getting close to a reasonable price instead of way overpriced.


heck, i've waited years to buy material in the past. T2 comes to mind. and been very sadly disappointed with the product when it was finally released. ... all that waiting and it was riddled with errors. T1-4 meet shelf.

 

[WildWeasel]

RPG books are WAY too expensive.

I'd love to have Arcana Evolved, Conan, WLD and several others, but I refuse to pay those exorbant prices. They may be worth the money, I don't doubt. But 100 bucks goes a long way toward a car payment. Like Diaglo, my cutoff price is 30 bucks. I might go as high as 35 for something I really, really want. Until prices drop (if ever), I'll be browsing Ebay and other places for deals I can afford.

So wait, they are "worth the money", yet "WAY too expensive" with "exorbant prices"?

One of these things isn't like the other. Yes these books may be expensive (i.e. have a relatively high price tag), but if they are worth the money, then it's hard to say they are overly expensive (i.e. higher than they putatively "should" be).

It just means that people need to put more thought into their purchases before hand. Yes, WLD is a hundred bucks...but if you're in the market for a super-module you can run a two-year campaign out of, then it is a fabulous value. Even if you have to save for two or three months. However, if you are not looking for such a product, then even at half the price it'd still be a bad deal.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

An H2 might be worth the price, too, yet I won't be buying one anytime soon. Nor will I buy a $4,000 dollar HDTV screen. Worth it in a global sense, but for me, personally? No way.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

An H2 might be worth the price, too, yet I won't be buying one anytime soon. Nor will I buy a $4,000 dollar HDTV screen. Worth it in a global sense, but for me, personally? No way.

See, I'm cool with this attitude. There is a difference between price and value. You recognize that. Great!

But what would it take for you to buy a book? If publishers stripped out the artwork and had a barcode for a front cover would you still read the book for what it is? Would you buy a book with advertisements?

 

[DaveMage]

Would you buy a book with advertisements?

There are backpage ads in a very large number d20 and D&D products.

Anyone who says they won't buy them has a very small d20/D&D collection.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

There are backpage ads in a very large number d20 and D&D products.

Anyone who says they won't buy them has a very small d20/D&D collection.

True enough. How about ads scattered through the book? Would you buy a book that had ads for those sword making companies or collectable card games?