GC 2006 - Ptolus Hardback $120!?!

[WildWeasel]

I paid for it on impluse, but I am a sick rpg-impulse buyer extraordinaire. I buy it all on impulse, but I do consider the source and in some cases reviews. But when I stack 3-4 books in an FRP games or Amazon shopping cart, or grab 10 PDFs from RPGNow.com or DrivethruRPG, I am definately impulse buying.

I bought Ptolus now, instead of in 9 months, on impulse. But that doesn't take anything away from the fact that I believe it is 100% worth it. Malhavoc has a history of quality, I have always liked Ptolus, and I GM. My players will certainly get $120 of value from it and if they do, then I do. That's why I GM.

Thank you for being the excpetion that proves the rule

And you do kinda touch on what bewilders me here. If you plunked down $120 on 3-4 books, or 10-12 PDFs, no one would bat an eyelash. Yet somehow, doing so on one book, even if it offers the same amount of content, is wrong.

 

[Christoph the Magus]

The price tag doesn't really bother me, it's more the fact that it's just a city. Yes, 120 bucks is a lot more than I would normally spend on a gaming product, but I'd do it if I was interested enough. But a city? I've got compelte campagin books that detail entire worlds that I only payed $40 for! Yes, I know that there are caverns underneath, blah, blah, blah, but it just doesn't sound very exciting. In addition, while all of the extras are nice, I'd like to see some figs or terrain included as well. I simply can't imagine a 600-700 page book about a single city that includes useful/interesting information on every page. I also don't think that I would enjoy running a campaign that totally took place in Ptolus from 1-20 level, and $120 is too much for me to spend on a city that would just become a part of my campaign setting.

That being said, I do see the attraction for those of you that are excited about the product. Cities often prove to be the most difficult thing to plan out as a GM and having a good one completey statted out could be a good thing. To each their own. I'm excited about premium products (even if they have a premium pricetag!), but this one just doesn't include the things it would take to get me to open my wallet.

 

[Sunderstone]

Thank you for being the excpetion that proves the rule

And you do kinda touch on what bewilders me here. If you plunked down $120 on 3-4 books, or 10-12 PDFs, no one would bat an eyelash. Yet somehow, doing so on one book, even if it offers the same amount of content, is wrong.

Stormwrack can be used on its own. So can Freeport (a city based setting not unlike Ptolus). Both are well written and both together are available at almost half of what Ptolus is priced at. I wouldnt spend $60 on each of these books seperately though.
Now Ptolus at $60..... that I might consider. $120? No.

As far as everything being Impulse buying.... I dont see it that at all. There are products I plan to buy upon release. Stormwrack was on impulse, not something I really needed. I may never use it at all or I may use some rules here and there.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Thank you for being the excpetion that proves the rule

And you do kinda touch on what bewilders me here. If you plunked down $120 on 3-4 books, or 10-12 PDFs, no one would bat an eyelash. Yet somehow, doing so on one book, even if it offers the same amount of content, is wrong.

Because you're committed to buying 4 books that you might only want 1-2 of. Because you're getting 3 books worth of material, while paying for 3 and a half books. If to get Stormwrack, he'd also had to purchase Sandstorm and Frostburn, plus pay a bit more for a fancy cover, it may have pushed the sale away from him, even though it's the same in the end. (minus fancy cover)

Also, you're paying $35 and getting a book now, as opposed to paying $20 now, $10 for the next 10 months, and getting nothing until the end. (I'm not sure why folks would pay the $120 now, you're not losing anything between now and next year. Preordering later should make more sense...)

There's a lot of reasons folks wouldn't pay the premium for one book with such a narrow focus as a campaign setting. I look forward to the comparisons to other city books when Ptolus comes out.

 

[Sunderstone]

If to get Stormwrack, he'd also had to purchase Sandstorm and Frostburn, plus pay a bit more for a fancy cover, it may have pushed the sale away from him, even though it's the same in the end. (minus fancy cover)

You are correct, I would have passed on the whole deal. Sandstorm will never see use, I bought it to read on a train one day. Hows that for an impulse buy?

 

[WildWeasel]

Stormwrack can be used on its own. So can Freeport (a city based setting not unlike Ptolus). Both are well written and both together are available at almost half of what Ptolus is priced at. I wouldnt spend $60 on each of these books seperately though.
Now Ptolus at $60..... that I might consider. $120? No.

Once again, you are not really answering why $120 is inherently "excessive". Stormwrack+City of Freeport are a little over half the price of Ptolus. And are just a little over half the content of Ptolus (not counting the CD). If Ptolus were, say, $120 for 380-400 pages, then I could see your point about it being overpriced.

But, for the amount of content Ptolus offers, it's about the same as other RPG supplements. If that content is not of interest to you (i.e. a highly detailed city, designed to be used as the basis for an entire campaign, with an adventure woven into it), then ANY price would be too much for you.

Or to put it another way, at what point are publishers obligated to put stuff out at half the price compared to other products just to make you happy?

 

[Wolv0rine]

Because that $20 a month is already being spent on current RPG books?

What other sacrifices could you make?

What, is Monte a god now?

(Sorry, sorry, it was the wording. It was too funny to pass up. )

 

[Romnipotent]

If WotC made a 700 page Sigil/Sharn/Waterdeep book, they'd be derided as padding the word count. Every stat block would be seen as simply wasting space. We can't judge Ptolus until we see it, I only hope it's not in need or Erratta the week after it's released.

Thats because WOTC reuse material in a book over and over, and then in another book, over and over. Miniatures Handbook and Unearthed Arcana see material from its spine re used in many books now. Mostly the spells or races section.

It reminds me of the Itchy and Scratchy movie, 95% new content (I think it was 95%).

 

[Sunderstone]

Or to put it another way, at what point are publishers obligated to put stuff out at half the price compared to other products just to make you happy?

You think it's worth $120.
I don't think it's worth $120.
It's that simple.

I never said it should all be half price as an obligation to me and my happiness. Not sure what button you want to push here. I merely stated that $60 would be enough to get my consideration as a consumer.

 

[Wolv0rine]

The price tag doesn't really bother me, it's more the fact that it's just a city.

Frell, Chris, you beat me to it.

Yeah, with all the work that's gone into Ptolus I could understand some people being okay to buy a well-written, well-illustrated, in-depth campaign setting at that price. I wouldn't be one of them, but that's not the point. I could see it I guess.
But this isn't a campaign world, it's a city. One. One city. You're really willing to pay $120 for a single city? Keeping in mind that we can only presume that the world of Ptolus (is that the name of the world? I don't know honestly, but in lieu of other info...) must have hundred of cities in it... does this mean that Monte could keep pumping out cities ('pumping out' not intended to be an indication of quality) at $120 per and still make sales?

I'm just saying.. if you're going to price a campaign book at $120 (or buy a campaign book for $120) doesn't it just seem like it should have more than... you know... one city in it?

Streets of Silver was, I thought, pretty massive for a citybook. And I'm fairly sure it wasn't this big. But that was a lot of info on one city.