Game book pricing

[jmucchiello]

Assuming you wanted/needed it for your game, is $12 a reasonable price for a 128-page D&D book? Is it low, too high?

How about $4.50 for a 16-page D&D adventure module (printed)?

Quasqueton

AD&D1 Player's Handbook (circa 1980) = 128 pages, hardback = $12

AD&D1 White Plume Mountain (circa 1980) = 16 pages = $4.50

Quasqueton

Q, I get the feeling people haven't noticed that you posed the original question as well as this explanation. Some people are just cheap and will never notice that these prices are 25 years old and that similar books today MUST be more expensive by necessity.

Well observed, Q.

 

[Quickbeam]

I'd say both those prices are plenty reasonable in theory, and cheap by today's standards. The problem arises in that the value you receive on any given purchase (whether it be a $4.50 purchase or one that runs up to $45.00) can differ dramatically. There are $4.50 modules which aren't worth the paper they're printed on and others which are worth way beyond that price -- especially those like White Plume Mountain, Tomb of Horrors, etc. which become classics. Similarly, there are hardcover books I find nearly indespensible and a value at nearly any plausible price...and some which I'd pay someone else to take off my hands.

 

[S'mon]

Oh, I should say - $20 for a hardback like Castles & Crusades is good value IMO - especially when the exchange rate makes that £10. $20 bumped to £15 for a falls-apart softback like the Quints I bought (Fighter & Rogue) is not good value, $12 would have been about right.

A 16 page module seems too short to be worth buying, but I'd conceivably pay $9/£5 for a 32 page classic style module with several sessions' gaming in it.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Assuming you wanted/needed it for your game, is $12 a reasonable price for a 128-page D&D book? Is it low, too high?

How about $4.50 for a 16-page D&D adventure module (printed)?

Quasqueton

Too low for the first and I dunno for the second.

There's no way you can get the profit margin on a 128-page 12 dollar book to the point where a vendor will take it. If you charge $12 That means you are selling it to the vendor for at least $8. Given a sales run of 500 to 1,000, which is what you can expect, I'd love to hear how you can print your books for $4, which is what you'll need to do.

Oh, and don't forget you have to pay artists and adverting and whatnot. Whatnot can be very expensive.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

AD&D1 Player's Handbook (circa 1980) = 128 pages, hardback = $12

AD&D1 White Plume Mountain (circa 1980) = 16 pages = $4.50

Dude ....


If you adjust for inflation those prices are $30.48 and $11.43 repectively.

AND the production values were lower in those days.

AND this does not account for the huge jump in the cost of paper that occured in 1995


So, you're looking at about $35 and $15. Both of which I would find too high for those books.

 

[Zappo]

Both too low - by today's standards. They would be a bit too high - for a PDF.

 

[philreed]

If you adjust for inflation those prices are $30.48 and $11.43 repectively.

Shhh Don't mention the "I" word. How dare you bring economic reality into unresearched dreams and faint nostalgia.

 

[MonsterMash]

Respectively for print
book - bit low
module - about ok, but not sure how good a 16 page module would be for 3e due to length of stat blocks.

For pdf both a little high as costs much lower - probably about $10 for the book and $3 for the module with this distribution method.

 

[ssampier]

Shhh Don't mention the "I" word. How dare you bring economic reality into unresearched dreams and faint nostalgia.

ECO-Nom-icks?!

What be these things!

I want my books cheap and I want them perfect dang it.

 

[Ranger REG]

I want my books cheap and I want them perfect dang it.

And I want cheap employees that won't sleep on the 12-hour job and won't ask for a raise, dang it.

But that's life.