GC 2006 - Ptolus Hardback $120!?!

[Reynard]

I pretty much guarantee you that if the price was set at $60, you'd see the same people bitching that $60 was too high.

Again, because it deserves it.

As to whether this is going to induce other publishers to put out more, high-end products -- it may very well do that. So what? or rather, Excellent! And you know what? Even if we get two years worth of companies putting out crappy, expensive products, so what? The market will take care of itself. After the third such stinker, no one is going to buy them anymore -- unless it is produced by a trustworthy publisher -- and things will normalize. Some people here are acting like THE END HAS COME for the normal game product. BS, I say. i mean, we have more cheaper (and free!) game products now than ever before in the form of PDFs. Now, we might see more premium products than ever before. Holy crap! the game industry suddenly looks like every other industry on the planet!

It wasn't too many years ago that every game book looked and cost about the same (though quality varied). Is that really what you want?

 

[Kanegrundar]

I think Reynard has it right. Even if the market gets flooded with high-end expensive books, you'll see the market even out in time. An occasional $100 + book isn't going to really affect the industry. I dare say that most D20 publishers (likely most RPG pusblishers in general) couldn't even afford to put out a book like Ptolus, so it's getting worried over nothing.

Kane

 

[philreed]

I know that there's no way I could afford to spend over a year of my life producing one product (and even if it did I don't have the necessary connections to have any hope of seeing the effort succeed). I think it takes a lot of guts (and hard work) to attempt a book the size of Ptolus and I hope that it's successful.

 

[Kanegrundar]

My thoughts exactly, Phil. Even if I don't end up buying Ptolus (the pdf option may be the way I go to get it), I hope it works out for Monte seeing as how this is his baby and he is putting a LOT of effort into every facet of it to make it the absolute best book on the market.

Kane

 

[WildWeasel]

I prsonally, would rather see the product split up. Say, 6 books for a total of $150-$200. That way I could pick and choose what parts I wanted. I could have the campaign setting and any prestige class feats, yet pass on the adventure, or any other combination. Plus, flipping through a 600, 800, or wahatever page book just seems tedious. I have enough trouble finding what I'm looking for in the DMG.

Well, part of what the Ptolus product is going for is that it is being designed for an ease of use and cross referencing not really seen before in gaming books. It's not 4 or 6 books glued together, but a singular work, tightly integrated and cross referenced.

 

[philreed]

My thoughts exactly, Phil. Even if I don't end up buying Ptolus (the pdf option may be the way I go to get it), I hope it works out for Monte seeing as how this is his baby and he is putting a LOT of effort into every facet of it to make it the absolute best book on the market.

The sample pages certainly impressed me enough to go ahead and pre-order.

 

[Kanegrundar]

The sample pages certainly impressed me enough to go ahead and pre-order.

I've thought about it. I'll likely pre-order in the next week or two. Depends on finances.

Kane

 

[Arnwyn]

So, for everyone who will buy it, are buying it, have ordered it... what exactly makes an RPG book worth $120... I'm just trying to understand this from a consumer's point of view.

I can answer this for myself:

1) it's a city book - I find cities brutally time-consuming to design, but necessary to do so to make the experience for my players worthwhile.
2) the city is insanely detailed - which is what I want out of a city book
3) it's easily insertable into my long-running FR campaign (it's a city, after all)
4) it sounds very interesting (city + dungeon + other mentioned things that just sound cool)
5) pagecount (including additional material on the CD on top of the massive pagecount)
6) utilitarian additions (coloring, indexing, footnotes, "mnemonic" stuff, etc)
7) d20

 

[sinmissing]

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.

You know, you are probably right. My expectations were divergent from the author's design goals. - nevertheless, I'm a consumer of a variety of game material from high-fantasy to recreationism, and I've yet to find a MP product that appeals to me. - strike that, I did like that alternate bard idea (in theory)

I'll not derail this thread anymore regarding IH, and while I completely agree with you regarding my mistaken expectations, I feel there is no need to discuss this further here.

On a completely side note, I wouldn't mind RPG authors making better money, and if MP manages to raise the bar so that some of my personal favorite authors make the money they deserve, I'm all for paying a little more. The RPG hobby has evolved beyond the flimsy type-written text, and almost "Mom's Basement" level of production values, I think the pay scale should change with the times.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

The book will be a success, financially. If the next time someone wants to make a MEDIUM range product (not "low end", that's your strawman, not mine.) and decides instead to make it High End Exclusively, it will leave plenty of fans out.

This product is not for you; other high end products may not be for you either; but you can rest assured that someone will be around to meet your needs and accept your money.

As others have said, "The market will take care of itself."