GC 2006 - Ptolus Hardback $120!?!

[Wolv0rine]

My question is... just what exactly is it that makes the book worth $120? I don't mean what does Monte think makes it worth it, I mean what do You think makes it worth it? Is it the art, the layout, the bells & whistles? Is it because Monte wrote it? Would it be equally as worth it if someone you'd never heard of did it?

I've never bought a Malhavoc book, I wouldn't pay $120 for a single RPG purchace (but I'm kind of cheap). I'm not posting this to badmouth Monte, the book, or anyone who would buy it. I'm posting this to try to figure out what makes an RPG book worth $120 dollars. I can't imagine it's the bookmark(s) (fancy as they may be), I can't imagine it's that it comes with a CD (in an age where I can burn as many CDs myself on my computer for the cost of CDs). As far as I can see this book has 4 things going for it;

1) Monte wrote it (The fanboy rationale)
2) Sharp Layout (This is cool and all, I grant you)
3) Tight Art (which is unfortunately subjective to the nth degree. Would it be as worthwhile if the art was just as good, but B&W? Or does it have to be color art to make a book worth a huge amount of money in relation to other products in the industry?)
4) Pagecount (Of all the things in this list, this is the one that would influence me the most as far as a large price tag, although art comes a close second)

So, for everyone who will buy it, are buying it, have ordered it... what exactly makes an RPG book worth $120 (and no analogies about cars, please. For the sake of arguement assume that $120 is a HUGE amount of money for an RPG book. In my experience it is for a large number of gamers.). I'm just trying to understand this from a consumer's point of view.

 

[Sunderstone]

But, anyway, not really worth argueing over, since I'm not a Ptolus fan. I'm speaking of the potential disappointed fans, and for the future effects.

My point as well.
While I dont know much about Ptolus, I did like Banewarrens alot. For $60, I might have bought the book as long as it was on par with SC quality-wise.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

My question is... just what exactly is it that makes the book worth $120? For the sake of arguement assume that $120 is a HUGE amount of money for an RPG book. In my experience it is for a large number of gamers.). I'm just trying to understand this from a consumer's point of view.

A book is worth $120 if it saves me $120 worth of time. If you make $10 an hour, that's 24 hours of time. (Studies show that people value leisure time at half their hourly rate) If you think about it, that makes most pre-published adventures, etc., worth a lot of money if you're a salaried professional (techies are a substantial portion of D&D players). Most such folk make $20+/hour, so something like the Banewarrens if it cost $20, need only save 2 hours of work for it to be worth the money.

Something like Ptolus (a setting) isn't as valuable because it can't directly save me time (i.e., I can't use it without putting a lot of my own work into it), except for the 90 page adventure, which I suspect I can buy separately for much less. But something like my Dungeon subscription at $40 a year gets purchased because all I need is to use 6-8 adventures a year and it pays for itself, saving about 4 hours of prep time.

Something like the Age of Worms, if I had to buy it separately from Dungeon, could easily be worth $100. Throw in all the minatures, battlemaps, etc needed to run it, saving even more work, and it could be worth $300 or more.

 

[Wolv0rine]

The logic used makes sense, but I'm not sure if you're saying that a campaign book (like Ptolus) is or isn't worth $120 to your thinking.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I don't think we're too many years (less than five, for sure) from a $200-$250 RPG product. I'm hoping it will be a big box with several books, poster maps, and player hand-outs.

I don't think that's unreasonable either. Shackeld City was a good first step in this direction. I could see a $200 box with all the goodies, the core rules, and you have a full campaign ready to go for the next year and a half. Not just a dungeon crawl, but a bonanza of side quests and whatnot.

 

[mythusmage]

A book is worth $120 if it saves me $120 worth of time.

How much is D&D worth to you? How many hours are you willing to put into it? How willing are you to sacrifice something else to provide your players with an interesting, possibly entertaining experience?

Or is there too much work in making the game your own?

 

[tetsujin28]

A book is worth $120 if it saves me $120 worth of time.

Exactly. And it's getting to the point where $120 isn't all that many hours of time, for me (oh, the glories of higher education!). But to come up with 1,000 pages of rpg material? That's gonna take me forever. I mean, if this thing ends up supplying me with 1-3 years of campaign material, it's totally worth it.

 

[tetsujin28]

How much is D&D worth to you? How many hours are you willing to put into it? How willing are you to sacrifice something else to provide your players with an interesting, possibly entertaining experience?

It's not how many I'm willing to put in, it's how many I have available to put in. I'm a busy robot, and most of my friends are pretty darn busy, too.

Or is there too much work in making the game your own?

Yes. I can always take something like Ptolus, and make it my own.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

How much is D&D worth to you? How many hours are you willing to put into it? How willing are you to sacrifice something else to provide your players with an interesting, possibly entertaining experience?

Or is there too much work in making the game your own?

There's the trade-off. If D&D was my only hobby, I might be willing to sacrifice more hours to it. But it isn't. I've got my girlfriend, I've got reading (non-gaming materials!), cycling, hiking, backpacking, photography, a well paying job that I intend to keep (which can mean long hours), non-gaming friends, my family, etc. All of these things take time, so aside from weekly write-ups for the game, vetting the PCs, and the occasional conversion, I can't spare more time for D&D.

And most of my players are also busy professionals. We get together every week, get in 3 hours of gaming and 1 hour of socializing, and that's it. For us, this is a hobby, not a lifestyle. It's a game, not "immersive roleplay", so yes, it's too much work if I have to do much more than read the adventure/campaign setting. I love Monte Cook's work, so if he decided to do a "Shackled City" or other type of adventure path, I'd buy it even if it was $200.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

An Amazing Coincidence

There are few companies that would trust to make a hundred dollar book worth while, but Monte is one of them.

For once, I agree with you.