GC 2006 - Ptolus Hardback $120!?!

[mhacdebhandia]

All of those elements were pretty much saturated throughout the previews . . . so one wonders why, exactly, you subsequently bought even the PDF.

 

[Sammael]

All of those elements were pretty much saturated throughout the previews . . . so one wonders why, exactly, you subsequently bought even the PDF.

Because I liked the idea behind Iron Heroes and it was so cheap that I couldn't resist checking it out to see what I can salvage from it? Anyways, i don't think my buying habits have anything to do with the post I replied to; I was simply responding to someone who apparently couldn't imagine that someone didn't like Iron Heroes.

 

[Buttercup]

But this assumes that the buyer can do what the book does as good as the book does it. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the book is worth more than the time it saves the buyer, since, in general, it's doing something many (but of course not all) of its buyers could never do half as successfully.

True. Experience has taught me, however, that I never use campaign settings for anything other than idea mines. My homebrew concoctions might not be as good as what the pros put out, but brewing 'em makes me happy. I suspect many other DMs feel the same way.

Don't get me wrong--if I wanted this book I would buy it, were it twice the price. I'm flawed that way. But I think I'm done buying campaign settings. I've got all that I'll ever need.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

If Monte's campaign setting is a good as his other products then the price is not all that important to me. I would much rather pay 120 bucks for top of the line items than 30 bucks for something which does not meet my expectations.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

While I'm by no means pissed about it, there's always the possibility that this will contribute to other books like it, meaning that some books WON'T be published as affordable books. the Premium PHB is a niche product, the regular PHB is not, as it were.

Well - that's great! More high end products (my most anticipated one is World's Largest City) can only be a good thing. Your line of reasoning that low end books won't be published is weak and fatally flawed.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

So what happens next, do we green light all companies to produce $120+ books?
Shackled City was $60, Ptolus $120... where do we go next?

Yes - that's exactly what "we" do. The amount of flawed reasoning being tossed about in this thread is mind boggling.

I fail to grasp what you are up in arms about Sunderstone. If you don't want it don't buy it. Does this books mere (future) exsistance so infuriate you? If it was 3 $40 books would that somehow be better?

 

[Psychic Warrior]

"We" don't greenlight anything. Companies will decide whether it's worth the risk to publish such expensive products, and then we decide if we want to buy them. It's not like these will eb the only choices available for us to buy - there are, and will be, plenty of less expensive items to buy.

Quoted for truth - thank you Colonel.

 

[Grimstaff]

foolish optimism

I think its admirable that Monte has enough fans on these boards that he can garner large support for his price gouging.
Yes, price gouging.
If you dont realize it, youre kidding yourself.
Most industries indulge in these occasional probes to explore what sort of price range the market will allow. The problem with this is that quite often fans are willing to splurge once in a while like this, but the market interprets this as a willingness to spend more all the time and prices start to creep higher across the board.
A good example I'm sure most people on these boards can relate to is the price of rock concerts. For a great many years, ticket prices capped out at about $60.00 for prime seats. THen a couple of bands (Eagles and Prince are good examples) decided to test the waters by charging $120 for general seats and up to $300 prime seats. And guess what, people paid! Of course the concert business interpreted this as an ability for the market to handle higher ticket prices across the board. Of course, they were horribly wrong, and big-arena concert tours quickly died out, replaced by smaller venues to reflect the dwindling number of people willing to pay ridiculous prices.
What Monte is charging for his product isn't a question of value, its a question of need and market impact. Why do you think SUV's cost as much as some houses? WLD is a great example, and ultimately led to Ptolus' price. Sure, WLD gave you a lot of pages for your $100.00.
But how good were those pages?
Everyone who finished this module and got your $100 worth raise your hand.
Everyone who paid $100 to see the Eagles "last" tour (3 tours ago) raise your hands.
I suspect anyone who gets Ptolus will get exactly what they deserve: about $20.00 worth of playable material and $100 worth of vanity and market abuse that is going to make things more expensive for gamers across the board.
But then, I suspect Monte is concerned more with selling a quick 2 or 3 thousand print run and pocketing just enough dough to keep himself in business than he is on any long term market ramifications. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Mr. Cook is some black-hearted menace, we all know Ptolus is his baby and he will want to pull out all the stops. But as one of the people behind the rebirth of D&D he should remember how important the low price of the first 3 corebooks was for establishing a huge new fan base.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I think its admirable that Monte has enough fans on these boards that he can garner large support for his price gouging.
Yes, price gouging.
If you dont realize it, youre kidding yourself.

You're right, Grimstaff. Crack cocaine is a hell of a drug.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I think its admirable that Monte has enough fans on these boards that he can garner large support for his price gouging.
Yes, price gouging.
If you dont realize it, youre kidding yourself.

I don't think you realize what it costs to produce an undertaking of this scope.

You have any idea what it costs to fill 600+ pages with color artwork? Quality color artwork? Including cartography?

Occam's Razor and all, I would be willing to bet Monte is charging relatively the same as he'd charge for any other product. He's going to be investing a LOT of cash in this thing, and as someone who (on a smaller scale) has invested a lot of money on an experimental RPG product, as a labour of love, I wish him great success.

Wulf