The $40 mark is broken

[Sagan Darkside]

I just can't bring myself to buy anymore books that are so high priced.

Heh, I always thought a majority of rpg books are underpriced. When I compare the amount of pleasure I get out of an rpg for a dollar versus what I get from a puter game or movie ticket, I am willing to shell out more dollars for a quality book.

SD

 

[Crothian]

Heh, I always thought a majority of rpg books are underpriced. When I compare the amount of pleasure I get out of an rpg for a dollar versus what I get from a puter game or movie ticket, I am willing to shell out more dollars for a quality book.

SD

Most of the enjoyment from role playing doesn't come a from a book, it comes from the people playing. Compairing movies to role playing books is really apples to oranges.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Most of the enjoyment from role playing doesn't come a from a book, it comes from the people playing. Compairing movies to role playing books is really apples to oranges.

It is all means to entertainment for me. I consider how many hours of entertainment I get from spending my money, and it helps me budget that money.

The comparison appears to work fine.

SD

 

[Bagpuss]

No I agree with Sagan Darkside on the price of RP books, on the hours I spend reading them, re-reading them, and the inspiration they give to my games I would say they are very good value for money.

The problem is they need to be, as I can continue to run my D&D without buying a single other product for the rest of my life. If something is more expensive then I'm less likely to buy it even if its really a bargin for what I'm paying for since I always have the option of spending no money and still getting a similar enjoyable experience in my D&D game.

Up to about a £10 I might impluse buy while in the shop.
£10 to £15 I might impluse buy if it covers a topic I need resources for say a monster book, or city setting when I need one.

More than £20 I need to have heard good reviews, and still think about it for a while.

£30 quid or more I'll wait for a Birthday or Christmas or Lottery win, unless it is absolutely fantastic.

 

[DaveMage]

We've sold out of the first print run (5000) that was released in October and we are having to look at a second print run. I'd say it hasn't been a real issue.

If you compare it to other books, T20 is fairly inexpensive per page at 464 pages.

RPGRealms: 464 page count is quite impressive. I haven't seen the Traveller book, but are there any other hardback RPGs out there with a page count equal to or larger that you know of (and if so, how much are they)?

 

[kenjib]

It is all means to entertainment for me. I consider how many hours of entertainment I get from spending my money, and it helps me budget that money.

The comparison appears to work fine.

SD

Then why spend any money at all when you can just sit around and chat and get a far better value for the money? I agree with Crothian.

 

[Sir Edgar]

Prices are going up and they pretty much have to, unfortunately. This is a niche market, especially when selling 5,000 copies is considered a success. Comparing the price of a New York Times Bestseller that sells hundreds of thousands or even millions of copies to that of an RPG book with a print run of only a few thousand is really like comparing apples to oranges. You just can't price them the same if you want to make a profit. I think you have to look at this as exactly what it is: a specialized hobby market where you have to pay a premium to get access to the information. Because the production numbers are so low, you have to consider yourself a member of a small group of consumers in a very particularized business.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Then why spend any money at all when you can just sit around and chat and get a far better value for the money?

I find very little entertainment in chatting with other people. In fact, I often find people irritating, but that is why I do my best to be a hermit.

SD

 

[RPGRealms]

Then why spend any money at all when you can just sit around and chat and get a far better value for the money? I agree with Crothian.

??? You lost me here. Why by books at all when you can simply use your imagination and make it all up yourself? That's free. Remember playing cops and robbers (or similar) as a kid?

 

[Crothian]

I'm not saying that the books are over priced, I have more then a few of the expensive RPG books. I just don't think it's a good thing to compaire book prices to. A movie you sit down and it entertains you (in theory anyway) for 2 hours or so. An RPG book doesn't do that. You can read it and get ideas, but you have to put effort into it to get more out of it. And when the fun is had, it's usually more to do with the characters and players then ideas from a book.