GC 2006 - Ptolus Hardback $120!?!

[BryonD]

You're missing the point.

Actually they're not the ones missing the point.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

You're missing the point.

I don't think so. Anyone living paycheck to paycheck can't afford a lot of things. I know, believe me. But I don't get bent out of shape because I can't afford caviar when I go grocery shopping. Is there supposed to be a price cap on game materials so everyone can afford everything? What would be the incentive for someone to do anything with high production values? I can answer my own question, based on my own feelings - there wouldn't be. Besides, is every. single. product. supposed to be priced so they'll attract new gamers?

 

[Renton]

Really this is pretty good value for money. Given what I've paid and am likely to pay on the new Warhammer frp line over the next few months, (c. $40 for main book, $30 each for the Armoury and Bestiary, another $25 for the Middenhaim campaign = $125, more if you buy the GM/character pack or plundered vaults, plus Sigmar's heirs is coming up etc etc) I don't see Monte's price as unreasonable at all. You're just paying it all upfront rather over six months. But hey, Monte gives you a layaway option, and preordering nets you even more goodies.

I likely won't buy it, but out of flavor preference rather than value for money. To call it price gouging is a real stretch.

 

[sinmissing]

Yeah, I don't like Iron Heroes. It's not very "low magic" at all, or at least not how I'd describe low magic. If low magic = no fireballs, then yeah, IH is low magic. If anything Iron Heroes is exlusively Transmutation Magic (in the D&D sense of the word). Archers, for example, can make useable ladders my shooting arrows into objects (as well as foes!) It just isn't my style, and after, oh the last three or four MP Products that I bought but never used, I just think that while MP might produce well written high profile products, they just don't work for me. IH is not bad, it's just not for me, and I serously doubt any MP products ever will be.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

To call it price gouging is a real stretch.

Agreed. What I suspect it is, is that people feel they can't afford something they like the looks of, so they feel left out. It's not like those who buy it will be forming a secret society so we can smoke big cigars in our luxuriously-appointed game rooms while laughing evilly and looking down on the "little gamers."

Or will we...?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Yeah, I don't like Iron Heroes. It's not very "low magic" at all, or at least not how I'd describe low magic. If low magic = no fireballs, then yeah, IH is low magic. If anything Iron Heroes is exlusively Transmutation Magic (in the D&D sense of the word). Archers, for example, can make useable ladders my shooting arrows into objects (as well as foes!) It just isn't my style, and after, oh the last three or four MP Products that I bought but never used, I just think that while MP might produce well written high profile products, they just don't work for me. IH is not bad, it's just not for me, and I serously doubt any MP products ever will be.

To be honest, I never saw it described as "low magic." Well, excpet on the part of fans who didn't quite understand what Mike Mearls' design goal was. Rather, it was described as doing away with the D&D PC reliance on magical items for much of their power.

 

[Renton]

It's not like those who buy it will be forming a secret society so we can smoke big cigars in our luxuriously-appointed game rooms while laughing evilly and looking down on the "little gamers."

Or will they...?

Another brandy, Colonel?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Another brandy, Colonel?

Why thank you. Here, let me light your cigar with this pesky fifty dollar bill...

 

[SWBaxter]

It would unquestionably be a bad thing for RPGs to price themselves out of the reach of "new gamers," but Ptolus is obviously a DM's purchase (in a market that is already heavily DM-purchase driven anyway), and a sophisticated one at that. I'd wholeheartedly agree with you that a 16-year old is unlikely to get full value from Ptolus-- but then I don't think Ptolus (or any campaign setting of this magnitude) is really aimed at a younger crowd. Their exposure to Ptolus will cost them nothing: A veteran GM with the wherewithal to invest $120 in Ptolus will present it to them free of charge.

On something of a tangent, I'm actually happy to see Monte experimenting with a product clearly not aimed at everyone. I have different gaming needs than a demographically average gamer - I'm older, have been playing longer, have less free time but more disposable income, and am probably more jaded about "vanilla D&D" supplements and settings. Any company that wants to target people like me as a customer is taking a risk, because they're giving up on mass appeal to market for a niche. And of course to try and balance that risk, they're going to have to up the price. I consider that a worthwhile tradeoff.

Will I buy Ptolus? I dunno, it's a year away and I don't make gaming decisions that far in the future. But I do hope that the experiment works, because I'd like to see more designers and publishers focusing their efforts on my particular niche of the gaming market - it's kinda depressing to read about how the publishing industry is struggling, then walk into my local game store and find shelf after shelf of relatively generic products that don't interest me in the slightest.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Agreed. What I suspect it is, is that people feel they can't afford something they like the looks of, so they feel left out. It's not like those who buy it will be forming a secret society so we can smoke big cigars in our luxuriously-appointed game rooms while laughing evilly and looking down on the "little gamers."

Or will we...?

"Membership access to the Delver's Guild website, featuring exclusive new Ptolus content direct from Monte every week until the project's release. These articles are bonus features not found in the book or in any other website or publication. (Site is scheduled to launch in September 2005.)"

SOOO, HAA!