"RPG Inflation"

[Lord Mhoram]

What cost $12.99 in 1978 would cost $43.97 in 2007.

IIRC the players handbook was 12.99 for 1st ed. Using This inflation calculator.

Seems okay to me.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Considering the thing was flimsy and about 100 pages? Heh. Could just imagine the screeching. Oh, and the art was really basic, and it was all B&W inside.

Flimsy? Mine still is holding up, and it saw a heck of a lot of use. Same with the PH and DMG. I really doubt any of the 4th (or 3rd) ed books will last 3 decades with the kind of abuse that the 1st ed did. Those books were well make physically.

The 1st ed Unearthed arcana... that is another matter entirely.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

There are two ways I have seen people complain about RPG prices. One is to compare it to how things were many years ago and another is to look around what is now being produced for the same price.

Don't forget the tedious "Dollar per hour of entertainment" argument that always comes up when discussing the value of RPG books.

 

[The Eternal GM]

Prices here in the UK seem to vary a lot in rpg stores... So I've never been able to pin down the changes over time.

I remember being shocked at the price of Pendragon 4th Ed. because it was my first £20 core book over a decade ago. now I'm reluctant to pay £30 for a book... I guess the $ price would be about double, so $40 for a core book in '98, $60 being my absolute limit these days...

Wow, dollars just sound weird to me.

Anyway, it does seem that the pricing on rpg books is behind others. As I've constantly got my nose buried in some kind of fiction or another, I can definitely say that chain bookstores (Waterstones for me) steadily increase prices every two years, rpg publishers don't seem to.

 

[Jhaelen]

Here in Euro-Land the prices for D&D books are currently extremely low. The 4E Core rulebook gift pack is only slightly more expensive than what I had to pay for _each_ of the 3.0 rulebooks!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Here in Euro-Land the prices for D&D books are currently extremely low. The 4E Core rulebook gift pack is only slightly more expensive than what I had to pay for _each_ of the 3.0 rulebooks!

All

Spoiler

€uropeans

hail the American Pe$o!

 

[billd91]

Prices here in the UK seem to vary a lot in rpg stores... So I've never been able to pin down the changes over time.

I remember being shocked at the price of Pendragon 4th Ed. because it was my first £20 core book over a decade ago. now I'm reluctant to pay £30 for a book... I guess the $ price would be about double, so $40 for a core book in '98, $60 being my absolute limit these days...

$60 for a single RPG book does push beyond the boundary I'm willing to pay, but then prices are pretty high across the board in the UK.

Back when I was a student there in '89, the exchange rate was about $1.75 to £1. And the prices were, once you converted, roughly comparable. Some things were cheaper, some things were more expensive, but it tended to balance out. Hell, I even picked up the 2e DMG while there for some extra reading material and because I hadn't picked it up at home yet and I felt I paid only a little more than I would have at home, and well worth the convenience.
But when returning in '96, while the exchange rate was similar, the prices had all jumped and on pretty much everything. You'd see about the same price on the sticker as you would here in the US... and then realized that you were effectively paying 1.75 x that price.
In '07, of course, with the dollar tanking against pretty much every currency, the problem was even worse.

So, I don't envy UK consumers one bit.

 

[Stoat]

If I've learned anything in my life it is this:

Gamers are cheap.

 

[Arnwyn]

I dunno. I'm no econonmist, but I'm finding fault with all these people recently complaining about the "RPG Inflation". Personally, I don't see it.

Did you include the wage rate increase/decrease trend during the period in question in your analysis?

 

[Crothian]

If I've learned anything in my life it is this:

Gamers are cheap.

I think it is also fair to say many are students and just poor.