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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1239452" data-attributes="member: 151">"the Abe Vigoda of Gaming"?  When'd you get that distinction?  If it has something to do with how many kids are living in your household, you have my pity. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Anyhow, how wide do you see the divide between the average ENWorld poster and the standard gamer, Mike?  I'm not disagreeing, necessarily, I'm just curious what your take is.  I see the RPG market at being weak right now, but as you rightfully mention, the whole US economy is weak.  I know that in 2000, I was buying RPG products like I hadn't bought for over a decade...then I got laid off for a year, and those purchases dwindled to 'starving college student' levels.  The industry could be putting out the finest materials ever seen, and I still wasn't buying them in any real quantities.  These days, money is not nearly the problem that free time is.  I don't have time to learn several new systems, and I don't have time to run games in mutliple existing systems, either.  Working 60 hour weeks, it's all I can manage sometimes to pull together the weekly game.  My purchases reflect what I think I can use or enjoy.  I don't know if I'll ever run a d20 Modern game, but I purchased the book to read, in case I find that I do.  However, by that same token, I didn't purchase Urban Arcana, since I knew the chances of running a game in d20 modern were slim, at best.  To Kevin: I agree that Mongoose has a good business acumen running.  The biggest difference between how Mongoose succeeds where TSR failed is in understanding how to use that money to support other projects, not 'prop them up', as TSR did.  Using the profits from Quintessential Druid, say, to print the Babylon 5 sourcebook is smart.  Taking the profits from a FR book to put out a Birthright box set at cost to a few hundred  readers, is not.  For me, the cost is less of an issue than the quality.  I have no problem paying $40 for a hardbound book with color that I'll use.  While I was disappointed with Arms & Equipment Guide being black and white, for example, I still consider it a worthwhile purchase.</blockquote>

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