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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Abraxas" data-source="post: 170839" data-attributes="member: 1266">Hmm...so a lot of game designers should get out of game design and pursue more lucrative careers <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />But what differentiates bottom-, middle-, and top shelf RPG products?  It can't be quality of writing, or ingenuity of implementation.  Would you really want game companies to offer multiple levels of product quality?1) Bottom....No cover, loose leaf, no editing, no art2) Midle.......Black and white line drawn cover, some editing (most glaring mistakes fixed), pencil drawings, bound.3) Top.........Bound hard cover, perfectly edited, profesional full color art.4) Premium..As Top but extras like higher quality paper, expensive cover materials (leather or cloth), etc.   A few other things   The question has been asked why is a 32 page adventure for $8.95 a good value when a 320 page source book/compilation for $40 is too much (assuming same quality).  Could it be that the relative amount of the product that will be used is greater for the 32 page book compared to the 320 page book?  As a DM I buy products for idea mines.  In general a 320 page source book does not contain 10 times the useable ideas contained in a 32 page adventure.  Heck often they don't contain even twice the number of useable bits for me to plunder - so why pay four times as much.  Especially when most of that cost seems to be going for the cover, interior art, and extra pages containing campaign specific flavor text - things that don't enhance my gaming experience in the slightest, but may influence the collector types.   Right now there are a number of 64 and 96 page supplements selling for between 14 and 20 dollars.  In general I have found they have just as much useful information to me as the 200+ page source books some companies are putting out.   People have mentioned relative hobby costs - such as RPGs vs computer games.  I must be in a minority, because I never buy comp games when they first come out.  I wait until they hit the cheap racks in 6 months to a year or go buy the ones I want in the used bin.  I can't think of the last time I spent more than 20 bucks on a computer game.  I can't do the same thing with RPG stuff.  In order to get it in nearly new condition you have to get it early or risk it being sold out.  After being sold out you generally have three options - by it in less than mint condition (something that doesn't affect comp games), pay for the nearly mint item on an auction (in which case you rarely save money because some collector geek drives the price up above its original cost or the price you get it at + shipping negates any savings) or, wait for a reprint which according to some things being said here may cost more than the original print.Personally, I have a price threshold of about $20 dollars.  At this price or below I may risk buying something less than totally useful to me.  Above this it has to be an outstanding product.  Right now the Penumbra D20 price creep is beginning to limit what I buy from that line.  I don't even consider things like WoT because of the price and their relative value to me, the same goes for a number of other RPGs (d20 or not) such as Godlike, Hackmaster, Deadlands D20, etc.If game companies want to try for the true luxury dollar - go for it.  Produce two versions - make deluxe editions with leather covers, full color art, expensive bindings, silk book marks, signed and numbered editions and 6 months to a year later make a plain version without all the bells and whistles.  That way you can capture the high end dollar from those early adopters that want it now and still capture the low end dollar from those that want it at Walmart prices.In the end RPG designer may just be a career that will never be very profitable for the majority (much like many other careers in this world).  If you want to make lots of money, don't try to get it from me, go into another line of work. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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