Deluxe Gaming Products - Lessons from Ptolus

[mythusmage]

Cergorach,

It's worth the read. Monte's writing is accessible, and with diligent application of your imagination you'll find lots that'll evoke the feel of the city. Think of Chicago or Los Angeles in the 30's. Or David Dinkins' New York City. Corruption runs rampant, beer is overpriced, and an ogre mage just might be the last, best hope for mankind.

My concern is not; what did they put into it? My concern is; what can I get out of it?

BTW, with Ptolus you don't need adventures.

 

[grodog]

To provide some historical context to this query, Chaosium solicited for "One Night" c. 1987, a super-deluxe adventure box set, described at

Unfortunately, it didn't generate sufficient interest for Chaosium to produce it. I think that there's more of a market for that kind of product now, with Ptolus leading the way, and the general rising prices of standard rpg books pushing $30-50 (WotC's MM4, GOO's Game of Thrones, WW's Great Pendragon Campaign), with other higher-price/higher-quality products hitting the $60-70-ish mark (Paizo's Shackled City, NG's Wilderlands of High Fantasy and Rappan Athuk Reloaded).

For more info on One Night, see the Yog Sothoth CoC boards @ http://www.yog-sothoth.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=917

If Ptolus came with a chaositech pocketwatch/orrey, some vile-looking tomes of chaos complete with bloodspatters, and other really-cool nifties, I couldn't resist it. As it stands, it's a neat book, but with copies selling on eBay for $60 already, I'm not too worried about having to pay $120 for it if I do decide to pick it up.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, I think AEG really did open a can of worms with the World's Largest Dungeon. It may not be a pretty book and it may not be the most carefully proofread, but it did prove that people will buy a high priced book.

 

[grodog]

Heh, I think AEG really did open a can of worms with the World's Largest Dungeon.

Actually, the can has been open for awhile: Pagan Publishing's Delta Green was the one of the first $40 softcover gaming books, back in 1996.

 

[Hussar]

What was the first 100 dollar supplement? Forty bucks is expensive, but, not terribly more expensive than a hardcover book.

 

[grodog]

What was the first 100 dollar supplement? Forty bucks is expensive, but, not terribly more expensive than a hardcover book.

Not sure offhand: WLD is the first that comes to mind, and the limited edition of GOO's Game of Thrones was 100 too, but they're both pretty-recent books.

The LUG edition of the Dune rpg retailed for $50-ish IIRC when it was first sold at GenCon, but it may have been more, but even so it's still recent too (and isn't $100 for that matter ).

 

[mythusmage]

As it stands, it's a neat book, but with copies selling on eBay for $60 already...

There's been some talk about that over on Monte's boards. Along with Amazon's listing of Ptolus for a deep discount. Trouble is, those listings were put in before the book's release, with pricing based on the assumption they'd be able to get it for a deep discount from a book distributor. Monte has said Ptolus is game trade only, no book store sales. Ebay sellers want to buy copies for resale, they have to pay full retail.

Some people jumped the gun here, and they're going to get burned for it.

 

[grodog]

Monte has said Ptolus is game trade only, no book store sales. Ebay sellers want to buy copies for resale, they have to pay full retail.

Some people jumped the gun here, and they're going to get burned for it.

Sure, but with standard distributor discounts being 60% off retail, and retailers paying 50% off retail, there's a lot of leeway to discount the book heavily while still selling it for $30-50 off of retail....

 

[MulhorandSage]

Okay, we've learned one lesson: regardless of quality. if you charge a lot of money for a product, not everyone can afford it. Also, some people are going to complain about its cost. We get it. We really, really get it. We get it on a "the Pope is Catholic" or "ducks can swim" level.

So are there any *other* lessons that go beyond the pricetag into actual content?

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Okay, we've learned one lesson: regardless of quality. if you charge a lot of money for a product, not everyone can afford it. Also, some people are going to complain about its cost. We get it. We really, really get it. We get it on a "the Pope is Catholic" or "ducks can swim" level.

Hahahahahahahaha!

That was awesome.