prices getting a little nuts?

[Crothian]

Well, with B5 I do know a number of non role players who have bought the book because it is Babylon 5.

 

[Vascant]

That is something I do enjoy about the PDF side of the business, I am paying for content. Not what you consider good art, or art that I need. If I want color, I print it, black & white, I print that. Might not even be worth printing. Good thing I purchased a more cost effective PDF rather then wasting a larger sum on hard cover books.
Thankfully, I do not consider myself to be average because I don't need all this color or some hard cover book to make it worth my while. Be interesting to see what sells merely by the measure of content, nothing more and nothing less.

There is another aspect of all this, instead of trying to figure out why it is okay to charge so much.. figure out how to make it more cost effective. This industry cannot pride itself on being the only type that misses this idea, it is very common.

Now what makes me laugh, I read how people state they have been involved in this game since god knows when, I myself since 1977 and they forget when everyone used to rant and rave about TSR and their greed for the almighty dollar. Funny how we come full circle. Keep in mind, I am not harping about 50 dollar books, point blank I am not going to buy it. I can take that same 50, take my wife out to dinner and buy another book (Chuckles.. no she is not going to McDonalds). Then after checking out the reviews and if I determine for some strange reason I like the book, I head on over to ebay. Before you get on the financial kick, I am doing far better then most, it is simply the fact I remember the mythical T$R days all to well.

Do understand, I do know with licensing fees there is no way it would pay to make some books PDF's. It would be financial suicide. I am aware that some people do judge a book buy the art work or if it is color or if it is hard covered. I wonder, if Magic of Faerun sold more then Races of Faerun, there would be the start of seeing what sold better or perhaps Magic of Faerun against the Equipment guide. Not many books these days are black and white vs color, so hard to figure that out. Perhaps a poll to see.
Though alot of these smaller publishing teams are rather hit and miss as for quality, atleast there is where you cross the line between writing what sells and writing what people want. There is a difference.

Anyways, enough of this from me. I do wish you luck on the Book of Exalted Deeds, I personally am kind of interested how it stacks up to Book of Vile Darkness.

Enjoy, this is a game after all.

 

[Scorpio]

Couple of points:
> Baraendur is right, it costs money to print these things. It's time for the publishers. It's the writer's Living. It's the Artist's Living. Printers are astronomical in cost. Distribution. Marketing. Your FLGS marked it up, too. He's being squeezed to death by Wal-Mart. And artists and writers in the RPG field are paid way below Industry average.
>Perhaps you'd prefer a 12 Chapter book sold as a Trilogy. 4 chapters each,$14.99?
> If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Buy less LOTR cards, and buy a book. Whatever.
>EVERYTHING costs more, all the time, because everything to produce everything costs more. Prices of RPG books are not 'getting a little nuts', it's people's expectations that are getting nuts.

 

[trancejeremy]

Stargate is worth the money, I think (though I got mine for $40 at frp games). But Conan? I wanted to get it, but it's 140 pages or so smaller than SG-1.

 

[Scorpio]

I apologize for being a little too blunt there. Of course, there is value to consider. For $50, I would expect 250+ pages. I suspect that is due to cost of the licensing of 'Conan'.
Caveat Emptor.

 

[pogre]

My wife and I do quite well for ourselves financially, so it is not a financial limitation. Instead it is that $50 is way too high for impulse buying of gaming books.
<snip>
What I am saying is that is does not matter how much gaming goodness the company packs into 300-500 pages of a book. If it costs over some amount (I would argue $20), you will lose sales because it is over one of those impulse buying points.

I believe Monkius makes an excellent point about gamer purchase habits. Get over $20.00 people hesitate on the purchase - they stop and think about it. Point well taken, and well made I thought.

The reasons people are making bigger books has to do with the percentages in the market. A big hardcover is easier to make money on than lots of small products. There is a danger in cutting off some of the market if prices go too high - that's an issue every publisher must wrestle.

The key in this issue is the licensing. They have to raise prices to cover the cost, yet they have an immediate wider audience thanks to the license.

It is not a question of understanding the economics of paying for a big, fancy, licensed book - obviously, that product costs more to make. The question is whether this an appropriate way to package the material. So far the market says yes - hardcover and full-color are the way to go.

 

[Nellisir]

Impulse buying is for the small stuff, so I doubt the companies are expecting much of that on this better books. Personally, I'd suggest stop impulsing buying. Research the books first. Read the review here and on the other sites. Start a thread asking for opinions. I haven't impulsed bought an RPG book in over 2 years, but that hasn't stoped me from buying anything.

I've got to agree with Crothian; in light of the massive amount of d20 product out there, it just makes sense to do research. I impulse-bought up until a few months ago, then signed on with a FLGS that gives a 30% discount for prepaid preorders. I've got more money in my account, more flexibility if something catches my eye, and I buy fewer products that I end up not using.

Impulse buying helps the publisher more than it helps you.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Corinth]

If higher prices compel Joe Gamer to stop buying things on impulse, then how in the hell can that be a bad thing?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

If higher prices compel Joe Gamer to stop buying things on impulse, then how in the hell can that be a bad thing?

Spontaneous buys have often resulted in people finding games they love they might never have known about otherwise. If, say, the original Ghostbusters RPG from WEG had been priced at $35-40, I'd never have bought it, and would never have known how cool the first edition is. Another example is when I ran the Lord of the Rings RPG for a two-month minicampaign. I was the only one who had a copy of the rule book; nobody was willing to part with $40 for a short campaign. Had it been less expensive, almost everyone would have bought it. With the book sitting on someone's shelf, there's a good chance they'd actually try to play it again sometime in the future. If it's still sitting at the game shop, the chance of that happening is slim. The players will either fall back on games they already own - and thus narrow the number of new games given a chance - or buy a cheaper game (if there are any).

 

[Cergorach]

Spontaneous buys have often resulted in people finding games they love they might never have known about otherwise. If, say, the original Ghostbusters RPG from WEG had been priced at $35-40, I'd never have bought it, and would never have known how cool the first edition is. Another example is when I ran the Lord of the Rings RPG for a two-month minicampaign. I was the only one who had a copy of the rule book; nobody was willing to part with $40 for a short campaign. Had it been less expensive, almost everyone would have bought it. With the book sitting on someone's shelf, there's a good chance they'd actually try to play it again sometime in the future. If it's still sitting at the game shop, the chance of that happening is slim. The players will either fall back on games they already own - and thus narrow the number of new games given a chance - or buy a cheaper game (if there are any).

Colonel, how long ago was the first edition of ghostbusters? Right, then you could produce products for $20, now it would cost almost double...