"RPG Inflation"

[Storminator]

Rule of thumb for inflation: prices double every 10 years. So yeah, you're not on crack.

That's actually quite high inflation, ~7%.

Divide 69/inflation = doubling time.

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

For me personally, it took about two weeks to earn enough to buy the 1e PHB. I earned enough to buy the 4e gift set in the last 90 minutes.

PS

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I remember buying modules in 1983 at bookstores for $5 each. That's $10.61 in today's dollars. Admittedly they weren't full color and did not include quick start rules, but that still makes the MSRP of KotS a rip-off.

Personally, I look at each product and compare it to similar products of similar quality to assess prices ... and lately a lot of products haven't lived up to their price tags.

 

[Mamacat]

There is something else to consider. When I started gaming in 1985, I was a college student, with only my own expenses to worry about. I bought PH used, and it was right before AD&D came out (or around the same time), so I was irritated at that. However, these days, I have a mortgage, an infant daughter, a car, etc to worry about. So, for me, it's not only the higher prices I'm looking at, it's all the ways my money has to stretch, vs when I started gaming.

That, and I simply have too much 3.5 stuff to start on a whole new set of books. I'm either buying Pathfinder or finishing up True 20, then I think I'm done for a while. I'm gonna use what I've got, and play outside with my kids more.

 

[Thunderfoot]

It's the same issue as the olde staple of "When I was your age, a huge candybar was 5 cents! 80 cents for a halfsized bar? Scandalous!"

Whiny old people.

-TRRW

Don't make me drub you with my cane you whipper-snapper!!!

 

[Will]

Flimsy was a bad word, mea culpa... I meant more how THIN the thing was.

If someone printed that book now for $50, people would laugh. Loudly. And tear the publisher a new one for daring to put out such crap for such a price.

I have no problem with folks saying 'you know, I don't value pretendy head games enough to pay the same as a nice dinner for a single book, maybe two dinners.'

What bugs the hell out of me is when people claim that publishers are somehow being 'unfair' or stupid in pricing books as much as they are.

Personally, I don't value knitting enough to spend any money on yarn, even if the price is really cheap. So it's just a matter of pricing your hobbies.

 

[Lifesupport]

Australian Prices are odd.

On Amazon I can buy and ship the books for 133 AUD, but to buy them at a local gamer ship, it will be ~ 260 AUD.

An that is why I have gone with Amazon, as much as it annoys me, because I would like to go with the local game shop. Check out the numbers here Australian Vs Amazon price comparison

 

[Aus_Snow]

On Amazon I can buy and ship the books for 133 AUD, but to buy them at a local gamer ship, it will be ~ 260 AUD.

An that is why I have gone with Amazon, as much as it annoys me, because I would like to go with the local game shop. Check out the numbers here Australian Vs Amazon price comparison

Ouch. :\ Looks like you ripped yourself off there. The Gift Set is definitely the way to get it, especially from Amazon.

That way, the whole lot you bought (plus a free slipcase! wow! ) would have cost you $97.71 (USD), with standard shipping to Australia included.

Not that I personally care (being about as anti-4e as one can be), but I guess it's a warning - and some advice - to those considering doing the same.

 

[Lifesupport]

Ouch. :\ Looks like you ripped yourself off there. The Gift Set is definitely the way to get it, especially from Amazon.

That way, the whole lot you bought (plus a free slipcase! wow! ) would have cost you $97.71 (USD), with standard shipping to Australia included.

Not that I personally care (being about as anti-4e as one can be), but I guess it's a warning - and some advice - to those considering doing the same.

Yep - just noticed this after looking at some of the 4E threads about where to buy... Cancelled the order and went for the boxed set instead.

The shipping was also cheaper for the boxed set... go figure.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yep - just noticed this after looking at some of the 4E threads about where to buy... Cancelled the order and went for the boxed set instead.

The shipping was also cheaper for the boxed set... go figure.

Cool. Glad you could change your order in time. Sorry, was just going by the info via that link.

Gotta say, if I was buying 4e, Amazon would make any other choice laughable, if money was an issue at all (as it generally is.) There have been a couple of other things like that, over the last few years, where I've seriously tried to find other options even close. . . to no avail - and that's taking into account (not the cheapest) overseas shipping, and an exchange rate that hasn't been 1:1 for a long time.

 

[glass]

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.

They go up less often, but in bigger jumps -or at least they used to. I remember TSR boxed sets being about £12-14 pretty much for ages, and then pretty-much overnight they jumped to £21.


glass.