Calico_Jack73 said:
I do believe that there is a certain amount of ranting that can be done about the books. Can anyone explain to me why the Core Books cost around $30 and books like Sword & Fist which are significantly smaller, softcover, and contain black & white artwork cost $20? Personally I wouldn't mind if the Core Books were softcover and contained black & white art if they'd sell each for $10 or $15 cheaper. Other game publishers such as Sword & Sorcery can put out all sorts of hardcover, high quality books for Scarred Lands for almost half the cost of WOTC's books. When I bought the FR Campaign setting it was retailing for $40 but the Scarred Lands Ghelspad setting only cost $25. Part of the reason I got into Scarred Lands in the first place was just to stick it to WOTC over the cost.
I'll try...
There's an economics of scale working with the cost of Sword & Fist (etc.) as opposed to the Core Books. The Core Books are going to sell many more copies than the class books, so WotC can make less on every Core Book sold and make up the difference in volume (e.g., if they make $1 on every Core Book sold and sell 10,000 copies, then they've made $10,000; if they make $10 on every splat book, they only need to sell 1000 copies to generate the same profit - and yes, those numbers were pulled outta my butt to illustrate the point).
Basically, the splat books don't sell nearly as many copies as the Core Books, so the company producing them needs to charge more for the Splats than the Cores (relatively speaking).
Ghelspad vs. FRCS: I don't have Ghelspad, so I'm basing this statement on the other S&S books I've seen. If Ghelspad follows the model of Relics and Rituals and the various Creature Collections, then the production values are don't compare favorably with the WotC produced stuff. The internal paper quality is MUCH better on Wizard's books, the FRCS has scads of color (or, if you prefer, colour) artwork scattered throughout the book - and from a printing standpoint, that is very, very expensive. Take a look at font size and margins in the two products; WotC crams a heck of a lot more on each page - their products are extremely "text dense" and that means you're actually getting quite a bit more information for your dollar (if someone out there with time on their hands wants to do this... I'd love to see a cost per word breakdown on WotC books compared to other publisher's products).
Another reason WotC books are more expensive (for us, the consumer) is what they pay the creators working for them. I have no hard and fast evidence that I can point/link to, but I'm 99.9% positive that Wizard's pays the people working for them a good deal more than other companies. Someone has to pay the salaries of the people whose work we like, and, in the end, that's us.
(An aside: Quality is subjective, but, to me, the art and writing of WotC books tends to be better than that of other publishers. Now, part of the reason for this is that Wizards pays their creators more. Generally speaking, money talks - the best creators are going to go where the can get the biggest return for their time and talent. Brom isn't going to create a cover painting for a book if he's only going to get a few hundred dollars - and I can't blame him).
In response to Flyspeck23... It depends on how you define production costs as to whether or not WotC's are lower than Sword & Sorcery's. Wizards are probably paying more for writing and art, and they're surely paying more for internal color (seeing as it's pretty much lacking from S&S books), however... WotC probably pays less per unit for printing than other companies simply because they print in a higher volume. That said, though, WotC most likely pays MORE for an entire print run than other companies because they print in a higher volume.
So, does all that mean I LIKE paying $40.00 for an RPG book? Heck no. I'm a cheap sumnovabeach, so I pick and choose what I buy - and I rarely feel like I HAVE to buy a book.
And, now, it seems as though my train of thought has been derailed, so I'll go.
