Price of Books too high?

[Wulf Ratbane]

I have reached that magic point in life where I have more money than time. I don't have to feel bad about buying gaming stuff anymore. I hated it back in college where I had to weigh gaming purchases against stuff like, you know, eating.

But that's the catch-- as an adult, I have more money than time. I don't have the time to read all the books I would like to buy, so I end up not buying them.

So I don't find myself any less judicious about each purchase. It's just that it's not, "Can I afford this?" anymore, it's "Is this so good that I will make time to read it?"

I am very interested in this discussion, as I am always concerned about delivering the right value at the right price, and especially so as we're about to print our first hardback book (Grim Tales).

What's the "walk away" point on a ~192-page rulebook, hardcover, B&W interior?

Wulf

 

[Arnwyn]

I have reached that magic point in life where I have more money than time. I don't have to feel bad about buying gaming stuff anymore. I hated it back in college where I had to weigh gaming purchases against stuff like, you know, eating.

But that's the catch-- as an adult, I have more money than time. I don't have the time to read all the books I would like to buy, so I end up not buying them.

Tell me about it - I hit that point a few years ago, shortly after graduating from university. Time and the book's utility are purely what drives my RPG purchases - price usually doesn't figure into it all that much (though I do sometimes consider a quick price-to-utility ratio before I buy some books). If a book were cheap but would take too long to adapt to my campaign or I would have to go through the entire thing to pick out pieces that I can use for my campaign, it gets a "no buy" from me (my "80% rule" comes into play).

What's the "walk away" point on a ~192-page rulebook, hardcover, B&W interior?

Depends what's inside it. If it were a book of full merchant rules for PCs, for example, I'd pay $100 for it. If it just has a bunch of feats and PrCs, I'd walk away even if it were free. But that's just me.

Edit: typos.

 

[Psion]

I have reached that magic point in life where I have more money than time. I don't have to feel bad about buying gaming stuff anymore.

I've reached the age just beyond that where the price of games are measured in units of household bliss. "Just how long do I want to have to justify this purchase to my wife?"

 

[Skade]

If there is anything that is overpriced it's anime. Anime is generally cheaper to rpoduce than American cartoons. It is made for a larger audience (large percentage of Japan vs. relatively small percentage of US) and uses techniques and buisness models designed for efficiency. American animation tends to be bloated with overhead by comparison. Yet despite that the SRP is 29.99-34.99 for DVD rather than 19.99-24.99, and that can apply to a disc with 2 half hour episodes made for TV (which has even lower production values). The excuse used to be importing and voice acting, but neither of those hold any water any more.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Depends what's inside it.

Stuff like this.

Just generally speaking, assume you want the book-- or that it at least hits your 80% mark.

Wulf

 

[Ranger REG]

On a related note, I think RPG books are getting too heavy. The other day, Traveller 20 fell on my head, and it almost knocked me out.

Why is that book over your head?

 

[jeffsforehead]

They probably could have afforded to have the price a bit lower; a good portion of the 3.5 books seem to be reprinted material. Of course, they had to fix everything they wanted to fix, so I'm sure that took a few man hours.

Someone mentioned above something about a hypothetical (or not) situation involving a child with a talent in writing and pushing them in the direction of their talents or some such thing. I myself am an aspiring writer and I can make an educated guess that RPG writing probably is not the best way to support yourself or even as a creative outlet. It seems to be a very unstable industry, and even regular writers tend to have other means of supporting yourself. Writing has always seemed to me to be the least economically sound of the disciplines; it is not a skill that pays for itself along the way. You write, and then you have an end result. Anyway, RPG writing will never be accepted as something with artistic merit, and if you ask me, most genre novels, sci-fi and fantasy and whatnot, are utter crap. Those are my two or so cents. I apologize for what I may have said, I've been drinking.

 

[trancejeremy]

Why is that book over your head?

What? Doesn't everyone velcro their game books to their ceiling?


I had about 40 d20 books stacked on top of my old PC, which is a tower case on the very edge of my desk. At any rate, 1 book too many. Most of the pile fell on me, but it was T20 that hurt the most.

 

[Ranger REG]

Oh, you poor thing.

* rush to give aid to trancejeremy's T20 rulebook *

Yeah, he should never have put you in such a dangerous environment. I know, I know, darling.

 

[Arnwyn]

Stuff like this.

Just generally speaking, assume you want the book-- or that it at least hits your 80% mark.

Wulf

Well, assuming that I would want such a book and that it meets my "80% rule", I would likely pay $30 US (or more, depending on how useful it is). If it *just* meets my 80%, then I'd waver at anything more than $30...

Tough to call. For example, I happily pay AEG's very-much-overpriced $24.95 for Rokugan books (~96 page softcovers) because of how useful they are for my game.