Boxed Sets 2018 Style

[Jester David]

Gamers here have long called out for a return of the classic boxed sets of 2nd Edition, especially for campaign settings and mega adventures.
The accepted wisdom is that boxed sets are simply too expensive. That they're cost prohibitive.

And yet...



Here we have the collector's edition of Art & Arcana, the D&D Art book by Ten Speed Press.
And... isn't this a freakin' boxed set?!



So, would you like a similar approach done for other books, where you have a regular hardcover and a collector's box with maps and other accessories?

 

[robus]

Well the MSRP is $125 though Amazon has it for 50% off so either the profit margin is massive or they’re really trying to kill the FLGS...

 

[Hjorimir]

Yes, I'd pay for a boxed set if I was interested in the offering.

 

[Parmandur]

The base Starter Set is also a box set, and has sold well for years.

Biggest downside for a EotC game product, though, is browsability: hard to flip through a boxed adventure set in the store.

 

[Morrus]

They're still around. The D&D Starter Set is a boxed set. Rodney Thompson's Dusk City Outlaws and Spectaculars are boxed sets.

Sure, there are premium ones, too (Invisible Sun, that Beadle & Grimm's platinum edition of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist) but they're not all super-expensive.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't think "too expensive" is the issue. I think it's more a case that they take up too much shelf space for non-specialist high street bookshops to stock.

 

[Azzy]

I don't think "too expensive" is the issue.

Nah, for many of us it is.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nah, for many of us it is.

I'm talking from the publisher's perspective, not the purchaser's.

Products like the one in the OP have a very high mark-up because the publisher only expects to sell a very small number of units, and they are not intended to be sold through high street bookshops.

 

[Azzy]

I'm talking from the publisher's perspective, not the purchaser's.

Products like the one in the OP have a very high mark-up because the publisher only expects to sell a very small number of units, and they are not intended to be sold through high street bookshops.

Ah, that makes more sense.

 

[dave2008]

Yes, I think now though it would have to come with more than I got in my old BECMI boxed sets. I think that you could sell the book and then a boxed set with the book, maps, handouts, etc. like you suggest.