GC 2006 - Ptolus Hardback $120!?!

[Hammerhead]

As much as it pains me, nobody's opinion is objective fact.

Except mine.

Ptolus is an extremely tempting purchase for me, given all the cool stuff that comes with it, its amazing art and other production value, and the fact that it seems to be a pretty cool campaign in of itself, although from his campaign journals it seems That There Are Too Many Proper Nouns afflicted with The Curse of Unpronounceability. Or just too many proper nouns in general.

However, the $120 pricetags leaps out at me, especially since I may never even run the thing...I already would love to run the epic Slavelords of Cydonia after my current game closes, for example.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

...It'd be interesting to see how much writers make per hour....

Depends on what we do for our day job in 98% of cases.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

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

Yes, so very simple that there is now a 12 page thread on it.

 

[Crothian]

Price is aklways a diffiicult thing and it will divide gamers. I know people on this board who don't have 120 bucks to spend on games in a year, and I know at least one person her e who could probably afford to buy this for the 1000 people on EN World right now without so much as blinking an eye. This books is made for those that have a bit extra money to blow on books.

 

[Sunderstone]

You've been saying its somehow impossible for a book to be worth $120. Not just to you, but at all, ever. Not just Ptolus, but any book, ever. Why is this?

I never said it was impossible, but do you see any WotC, Green Ronin, Necromancer, Mongoose, etc books priced this high?

In any event, im tired of arguing about this. From my initial post (#6 or #7) I made a simple comment (not directed at any one poster here btw) as one does in a forum/messageboard. I wasnt expecting to have to take up verbal arms against anyone here.

Its weird that the book isnt even in anyone's hands, yet people are defending it as they would a religious artifact. Im not doubting its a religious artifact, just the cost, atm.
How dare I insinuate that it possibly might not be worth the price tag?

 

[Crothian]

I never said it was impossible, but do you see any WotC, Green Ronin, Necromancer, Mongoose, etc books priced this high?

Not yet, but I imagine at some point they will.

 

[Sunderstone]

Not yet, but I imagine at some point they will.

I agree here. In a few years or so from now.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Depends on what we do for our day job in 98% of cases.

Well, here's what I mean. If someone has a full time job, and does RPG's on the side, vs someone that only writes RPGs, the first guy may take 3 months to do stuff that would take the other guy 1 week. Everything else being equal, they'd probably put in the same number of hours, but the first guy simply doesn't have as much time to give.
I'm not sure it could really be figured out though, without someone taking lots of notes when they work.

 

[Christoph the Magus]

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?

My thoughts exactly. As I stated in my first post, the concept of a premium gaming product appeals to me, and in the thread that Ryan Dancey talked about $200-250 products I was picturing something amazing, something that would make me drool, something bigger and better than anything I'd ever seen before. And the first "premium" product out of the gate is just a city? Big let down, IMO. It just seems so small somehow. (and I know that the page count is huge, its the concept that I'm referring to) This isn't something that sparks my imagination. It's certainly not the "bigger than life" product I had been picturing. All of the excitement surrounding it just seems silly, really.

As I said in a previous post, I understand why some people might be looking forward to it. But a $120 for a city? Assuming that it sells well, how much for the entire campaign setting? $200? $300? $400? I've checked out the website and what comes with the book. And it's still just a city. A very big, well supported city. But just a city.

Christoph

 

[philreed]

Try to keep in mind that no one person/company gets that entire $120. Assuming a fairly standard 60% discount to the distribution chain the income drops to $48. You can then assume another $12-$15 for printing and shipping (a book of that size is going to be expensive to produce _and_ deliver) and then White Wolf needs to get a percentage for their part in the publication process.

Factor in art costs -- 100+ color images is going to be at least $10,000 for the quality I've seen (and I could easily believe an art budget of $20,000 once the cover, maps, and graphic costs are totaled) -- and in the end of this it's not as if Monte is going to be out and buying a gold-plated Rolls.

Book production is expensive. VERY expensive.

I think that a large number of gamers do not understand the effort and money that goes into a release. I've been in the meetings and seen the numbers -- games are expensive to create.