WizarDru said:
I'm not sure I agree. Warhammer is closer to a CCG than an RPG, but the point is that it has a high-cost of investment for the game, and a continuing one at that. Furthermore, from my (very limited) experience, the cost of most warhammer minis is fairly inelastic. The big difference between an RPG book and many of the other entertainment examples, however, is directly attributable cost.
Your not sure you agree but do not that Warhammer is closer to a CCG? Okay... The big difference in Warhammer, AFAIK, is that they actively support the hobby with places to play, tournaments and other big events. Fans have a huge impact on the settings via games. Once again, more like a CGC than a RPG. Outside of the RPGA, which is rarely brought up here, where can you play? Your house or your friend's hosue. Ther'es no 'community' to speak where you can share your 'painted miniatures' or a secondary market where what you do with your miniatures can raise their initail value. Outside of some RPGs going out of print and becoming collector's items, most RPG's go down, significantly in price after you buy them.
In addition, while this part may seem strange, part of the hobby, the painting and collecting of miniatures, can occur in a void. You don't need another single soul to paint up a figure.
You also don't have to buy the whole goat in one setting. You can spend as much or as little as you want. Try getting a Player's Handbook with just the 'core rules' without spells or classes. Can't be done. Want a pack of dwarven troll killers or a gyrocopter but not a unit of Whitebeards? No problem.
Once again, apples to oranges.
WizarDru said:
That is to say that a movie, video game and miniature generally have very straightforward fixed costs of production...while the main part of an RPG book, like a fiction book, has difficult costs to quantify. Not every author is as swift or proflific as a Stephen King or Isaac Asimov. Which is more valuable: Wolves of the Cala, A New Spring or A Feast for Crows? Which one cost more to produce? The only real way to gauge is by previous sales and writer's contracts...how easy or difficult it was for the writer to actually write it isn't reflected in the costs, afaik. For example, I may consider a work by Mike Mearls to be worth more than Bruce Cordell...but did it cost more for one to write an article about Psionics than the other? What if I changed it to Ryan Nock or Ben Durbin?
Oh. So when a movie goes overbudget, they increase the ticket price or something? I'm a little confused by what this last point is supposed tu actually mean. For example, your author question, I imagine that there is a very real cost to hire one author over the other. We're not talking Dragon magazine with fixed rates per word (which changes once again, depending on how experienced and well known you are.), we're talking about a specific product with a specific author. Heck, might as well throw in illustrators, editors, and layout specialist as some companies have prooven superiority in that field to others.
