I rarely complain about the price of an RPG product but . . .

[Ogrork the Mighty]

As for quality, I think WotC has some of the best quality out there. Sure there's been a lot of types lately but so what? Try reading some of the 3rd party stuff out there; it's far worse. And at least WotC has some idea how to gage/playtest their products; a lot of 3rd party publishers don't seem to care at all and just print an idea that is totally ridiculous when put into play.

Take a look at the Draconomicon. The quality of that is better than 99% of the stuff out there.

As for why WotC charges what it does; I think b/c it can. People are willing to pay their prices and gaming stores are willing to stock it b/c it sells. If I'm looking for a quality product, I'm going to buy WotC before most other publishers. Sorry to say I've been burned far too many times when buying 3rd party products that looked cool but then fell flat once I took a closer look or tried to implement them in gameplay.

Consumers need to do their homework when it comes to shopping. I buy most of my stuff from Amazon now. I went to Chapters and they were selling a Giants of Legend pack for $9 more than they were selling it on their own website online!! The gaming stores that I know of that are surviving are keeping an eye on internet prices b/c consumers, IMO, are increasingly switching away from buying in stores that pass on high overhead costs in the form of high product prices.

 

[Crothian]

Did they? If so I hope they succeed now that they're back. : ] I think more gaming diversity is a good thing; if we really want to see prices come down, competition is one way to get it.

It also should be pointed out the West End Games is also charging 30 dollars for their new d6 rule books, so its not like only D&D has these prices for their rule books.

 

[Crothian]

As far as I am concerned, the 'golden age' of role playing games is over. It has been for a while now.

Well, you obviously aren't reading the same books I am. Quality in RPG books is way up across the board. I saw a lot of books being a Judge for the Gen Con Awards this year and I can tell you that it was an impressive year. Of course "Golden Age" of RPGs has nothing to do with prices, it has to do with qualtiy of the work and as you say in your post, you aren't aware of what it is out there.

 

[Mouseferatu]

The real difference is this: Most guys charge what they do because that's how much money they need to feed their kids for the next few months. Wizards charges what it does because Hasbro stockholders have larger appetites.

You're kidding, right? If people were charging what they needed to charge to feed their kids for the next few months, prices would be higher than they are now. Leaving WotC aside--I don't know what their numbers are like--I can only reiterate that most RPG companies are very low-profit endeavors. I do nothing but work as a freelance writer, and I'll tell you right now, my wife and I couldn't survive on my income alone.

Why do you think so many companies are going under, or branching out? It's because the industry just doesn't have that much money in it. I'm sorry if people feel they're paying too much, or aren't getting the quality they pay for, but that's simply the way it is. Most companies can't afford to drop prices. Period. That's not an issue of opinion, it's simple numbers.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Bryon, nobody's claiming that creatives are getting "shafted' in this industry. We get paid less than we would writing for other industries. That's a simple fact. Obviously, our love for this industry means more than our desire to make more money, or we would go work elsewhere.

I wasn't claiming that I'm owed any more than I'm getting (though I certainly wouldn't mind a raise). My point was simply to illustrate that this industry is resource-poor; the pay rate for creatives is simply one symptom of that, so I used it as an example.

 

[Turjan]

Well, you obviously aren't reading the same books I am. Quality in RPG books is way up across the board. I saw a lot of books being a Judge for the Gen Con Awards this year and I can tell you that it was an impressive year. Of course "Golden Age" of RPGs has nothing to do with prices, it has to do with qualtiy of the work and as you say in your post, you aren't aware of what it is out there.

I think you are completely misreading velm here. His "golden age" comment was directed to diversity, not commenting the quality of single books. The product diversity is vanishing from the bookstores, and this is an indicator of dropping sales and dwindling profit marges. Even the better quality that you observed corroborates this argument; you have to be good in order to sell anything at all.

 

[philreed]

There are certainly some publishers out there that I wouldn't hesitate to pay 20% more for. Green Ronin would be #1 on that list. But I am not the market. I'm a tiny drop in the bucket, no more, no less.

I wish more people felt this way.

BTW, Phil, please don't think any of this is directed toward your initial comment. Simply pointing out that a giving product is worth more than you are willing to pay is in no way claiming the short end of the stick. I've taken your exact position on other products before.

Not aproblem. I usually feel that products in the industry and underpriced -- this is a very rare occasion when I couldn't see the justification for the price.

 

[velm]

I think you are completely misreading velm here. His "golden age" comment was directed to diversity, not commenting the quality of single books. The product diversity is vanishing from the bookstores, and this is an indicator of dropping sales and dwindling profit marges. Even the better quality that you observed corroborates this argument; you have to be good in order to sell anything at all.

Thank you, that is EXACTLY one of the things I was talking about.

 

[Turjan]

Not aproblem. I usually feel that products in the industry and underpriced -- this is a very rare occasion when I couldn't see the justification for the price.

I can see where they come from. This is a miniatures book. I suppose they think that people who pay bucket loads of money for miniatures won't look at the negligible amount of cash they have to dish out for this book .

 

[Crothian]

I think you are completely misreading velm here. His "golden age" comment was directed to diversity, not commenting the quality of single books. The product diversity is vanishing from the bookstores, and this is an indicator of dropping sales and dwindling profit marges. Even the better quality that you observed corroborates this argument; you have to be good in order to sell anything at all.

There has a been a good deal of product diversity though. We've had a lot of settings that are very different, some monster books that have really pushed the evelope, and some planes books that are highly creative.