Have Your RPG Purchased Dropped Off?

[mearls]

Looking over the list of WotC's releases for this year, and going over the new d20 stuff that's come out in the last 12 months, I've come to an interesting conclusion:

I spend way less on RPG books now than I did a few years ago.

There was once a time when my weekly trip to the game store meant I bought at least one new RPG book. Now, I might pick up 1 book a month, if that. WotC books used to be automatic buys. Now, no more. The last book I bought was the Conan RPG. Before that, I can't remember what I bought.

The thing is, when 3e first came out I bought everything up until The Foundation came out, then I stopped. Since then, my purchases have steadily dwindled.

(Note that while I'm a designer, I don't get much stuff for free. I swap author's copies of my books for other people's stuff sometimes, mainly from WotC, but otherwise I make myself buy something if I want it. It keeps my collection manageable and forces me to keep an eye on the market. And obviously, I get a copy of everything Malhavoc.)

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has gone through this and their thoughts on it.

I'll post *why* I don't buy stuff anymore later. I need to sleep, and I don't think it's something I can answer when I'm about to fall over from a looong day of work.

 

[Nifelhein]

My purchases surely have decreased, when 3rd edition got out I got every book, then i skipped stronghold builders, then I should have skipped book of challenges and then there were too many books scheduled...

last year i bought D&D 3.5 Core Gift Set, Midnight Setting (all 4 books) by FFG, Dynasties and Demagogues, frrom what I remember of the last half of the year. This year has seen worse times and I am completely out of money, meaning that i can only buy what really gets me, the remainig books go to my wish list.

The problem is that we have too many books going out and many times i feel like one book could be better if it took some more time to be done, this is true to WotC and the 3rd party publishers. So far i think that only Expeditious Retreat holds a high standard, since they take their time and then lauch a massive work.

Maybe pdf is my best choice right now, as I should cut shipments and spare some money, printing it might be a problem though.

Cheers,

Nif.

 

[Creamsteak]

I'm not a big RPG book buyer, but some of the new product lines from different companies are finally getting up to the level where I want to buy certain books just for their reading and shelf value. I've purchased somewhere around $150 worth of books in the past 4 months, and for me that is a rediculously large sum. I also bought $120 worth of miniatures, which is just beyond my own comprehension (though I plan on selling my extra Silver Dragon and 2 Aspects of Llolth, which should get me back some of that).

 

[wedgeski]

Conversely, I find myself buying more books now than I did a couple of years ago, which is still not to say that I buy very many. There was a time when all I bought was the real core stuff - WotC hardbacks, as long as they seemed decent. Since my main campaign was Dragonlance and there wasn't much officially around, I had to write or convert my own material which meant all I *needed* were the core books. Not only that, but I was tired of the pointless 2ed products I'd wasted my time on and had made a conscious decision to stay focused with the new edition.

Nowadays I have several campaigns that I DM or play in, which naturally expands my interest, and I find myself drawn to a lot of extra material. I'm obviously more comfortable with the game now and am able to make better decisions about what looks useful to me. Reasons: many. A bigger RPG budget; massive on-line resources to weed the wheat from the chaff; the PDF revolution. S&S, Malhavoc, and a couple of others have all seen a share of my wallet.

It's because I'm in this comfort zone that I hope 3.5 survives for a good few years.

 

[johnsemlak]

My spending has definitely gone up, but there are a lot of personal factors for me. I got back into gaming two years ago after a long hiatus spanning most of 2e. I've had some modest pay increments of late (though I'm still too poor to spend what I do on gaming ).

I wasn't buying stuff in at the birth of 3e/d20, though I probably would have bought a lot of stuff I was gaming then.

 

[Olive]

I haven't answered the poll, cos there's no 'other'. My purchases HAD gone down, and my book purchases definitely have. I only buy stuf I know I will use. I think that happened after I bought the very well done but very expensive Book of the Righteous and realised I'd never use it properly.

But my spending on RPG stuff is as high as it's ever been due to WotC's plastic prepainted minis. So it's kind of the same...

 

[dargoth3]

I mainly buy WOTC stuff

and theres been a sizebale drop in the number of books Im passing on especially from the generic range (The Races of X books hold little appeal to someone who DMs/Plays in the FR and already owns Races of Faerun and PGTF). The Planar Handbook to has little appeal as the FR doesnt use the Generic Great Wheel. Im not interested in Eberron and a Book on different types of weather doesnt interest me either.

There are only 3 books that have got me really excited

Serpent Kingdoms
Shinning South
Book of Undead

 

[d4]

i'm spending less nowadays but that's purely due to changes in personal finances.

there's quite a number of books that have come out in the last 6 months that i would dearly like to get, but haven't been able to afford. :\

 

[Sammael]

My spending has gone up, simply because I now have a lot more money to spend then I used to when 3E originally came out.

 

[Bagpuss]

I think the last RPG product I purchased was Redline on sale for £5. Last WotC was the Menace Manual, before that the last D20 Fantasy purchase was Divine and Defeated a few years ago. I've bought some of the D&D Miniatures but the supply is so poor here we haven't seen ANY archfiends in the local shop as they have been unable to get any.

I've switched back to buying GW stuff now.