Game book pricing

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmmm, I would pay $20.00 for the 128 page book, but not $4.50 for the adventure. Then again the last adventure that I bought was On the Edge of Dreams, considerably thicker than 16 pages. I don't think that I would bother with a 16 page adventure regardless of price.

I prefer supplements to adventures anyway, only purchasing an adventure to get a feel for a game world. (With Monkey God as an exception - what can I say? They wowed me.)

The Auld Grump

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My Tholian Carrier is launching fighters, even now...

 

[Ranger REG]

I don't think that I would bother with a 16 page adventure regardless of price.

Why not? 16 pages are too little to make a decent adventure?

 

[JoeGKushner]

OMG! MY POSTS ARE BEING MISINTERPRETED!
If I was running around screaming "THIS IS THE END!" then the sky falling bit might have some relevance. But I'm not, and it really does't.

I mean, you did say, "Sure, nobody's obligated to pay for anything they don't want.

I just hope it doesn't result in the collapse of the market entirely, which--given its size--is actually possible. (Not saying probable, but certainly possible.)"

So gamers should go out and buy stuff that they feel is overpriced or the market fill collapse? You sound like a warranty sales person. "Now I'm not saying that your computer is going to crash. It's not probable, but certainly possible, so you had better spend some money."

This conversation is the same old same old. Not taking a shot at you personally but that theory that gamers have to keep spending and it's the gamers duty to bring in more people or the industry will collapse!

 

[JamesDJarvis]

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

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

A $12.00 price tag circa 1980 is the equivalent in modern dollars of $27.95

A $4.50 price tag circa 1980 is the equivalnet in modern dollars of $10.48

So looking at it that way: 128 page book is slightly expensive but still worth it due its essential nature as it is the games PHB, while the 16 page module is certainly overpriced.

 

[Belen]

There's not an independent RPG company in the world that can afford what it would truly require to revitalize the industry. I don't believe even WotC could, if it weren't part of Hasbro. The problem is, I've seen no indication that Hasbro wants to spend the money to do so. Why throw resources at trying to expand what is, essentially, a tiny niche market, when it's more profitable (at least in the short run) to jump on pre-existing fads like CCGs?(

Well, Wizards is willing to spend a good amount of money promoting their games, although not specifically for RPGs. The Wizards delegate program is specifically designed to attract new customers and help expand the various games. The problem here is that it promotes a large number of WOTC games. So, a delegate can choose to promote D&D, which is what I do, but many times, delegates promote the games that they enjoy.

The D&D Minis game is an excellent entry level game into D&D. I have used it to recruit several new players in the last few months. It tends to be cheaper than RPG books, great paint jobs, and can be played by fewer people, so people can get a taste of D&D combat and when they do start gaming, they have figures to help during play.

I think that Wizards has a limited amount to spend on RPG promotion. It may be different if they were not attached to Hasbro, but we cannot help that now. Hasbro uses Wizards to prop up their bottom line. No other company really have the resources to promote the hobby effectively.

My solution: Use ENWorld. As a collective effort, why don't we create flyers, organize game days, do local promotions, and work with game stores to hold D&D games for newbs? I think we could pull together to do this. We have enough GMs across the world to really make an impact in the local markets. For not a lot of money, we can promote the hobby. In many cases, we'd only need an info sheet, create pre-gen characters, and eat the cost of flyers to promote the game.

 

[Mouseferatu]

So gamers should go out and buy stuff that they feel is overpriced or the market fill collapse? You sound like a warranty sales person. "Now I'm not saying that your computer is going to crash. It's not probable, but certainly possible, so you had better spend some money."

This conversation is the same old same old. Not taking a shot at you personally but that theory that gamers have to keep spending and it's the gamers duty to bring in more people or the industry will collapse!

No, I didn't say "Gamers should buy stuff they feel is overpriced." In fact, I specifically said "Nobody's obligated to buy something they don't want," and I pointed out that one possible result--if a lot of people feel the books are overpriced--might be an eventual collapse in the market. At no point did I say, or even really imply, that people were required to do anything about that. I expressed a possible result, and a hope that it doesn't come to that. It's exactly as if I said, "If there's a lot of traffic, I'm going to be late to my game tonight," and you came back with "How dare you tell people not to drive!!"

If you've gotten tired of previous discussions, and this one's pushing those same buttons, I'm sorry. But don't lump me in with other people because I'm discussing a similar topic. At no point did I try to tell people "You better spend money you don't want to spend or buy stuff you don't want to buy."

 

[Mouseferatu]

Incidentally, Joe, it occurs to me that some of my replies have appeared fairly heated. I don't want you to feel I'm majorly pissed off or anything. Just interested in clarifying my stance.

 

[Storm Raven]

Exactly. I don't see how my knowing how much paper is, or how much a printer charges, should affect how I make my choices when buying a game product. I don't break down production costs for just about anything else I buy; why should I do so for games? I simply determine whether the price is within my budget, and if my potential enjoyment of the game book I'm looking at is greater than the enjoyment I could get out of something else I could buy for the same amount of money. That's pretty much all a consumer is required to do, and we all do it almost unconsciously.

But the point of knowing this sort of information isn't to drive your purchasing decisions, it is to inform them. Some (usually very vocal) people complain about the "high" cost of books, usually implying that evil, greedy game companies are behind the "ridiculous" increase in the cost of books. As an informed consumer, you notice that these claims are specious, and the reality of the market is that the cost of printing a book has gone up, so the price of books has as well.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Incidentally, Joe, it occurs to me that some of my replies have appeared fairly heated. I don't want you to feel I'm majorly pissed off or anything. Just interested in clarifying my stance.

But how can I wreak a terrible havoc on you if you're not pissed off?

It's the internet dude. There are more misunderstood words and implied empathy than can be written.

No biggie.

It just struck me that the 'timing' of the words with X being followed by Y seemed to indicate one thing and then point at the results of not doing that.