What gets your attention?

[Greg K]

What gets my attention is the subject of the product. Does the topic interest me or is it for any of the systems I play (or would like to play).

As for what gets me to actually buy the product, there are two things. First, there is the quality/treatment of the material. Second, is whether not I will actually get plenty of use of the product either in play, as inspiration, or as reference. For instance, even though I do not run GURPS or Ars Magica, I own several GURPS products and the Ars Magica core rules.

 

[elrobey]

Thanee's avatar.

 

[KB9JMQ]

The topic is most important. If it is something that interests me I am halfway to buying it.
Good cover art can catch my eye.
Inside I like to see good artwork and a layout that doesnt give me a headache. Maps, lots of maps always helps. Charts and diagrams.
An easy read. Not something I have to go look in another book to see what they assume I already know.
Good reviews here put things on my watch list.

 

[Roudi]

Being a consumer of mostly .pdf products rather than books, I think my response will be a bit different.

1) The subject matter has to engage me. If it's yet another high magic Faerun-esque, PrC-heavy, goblin-laden romp through the forests of evil, I'm not likely to be engaged. If its a unique take on fantasy, or a thorough look at some oft-neglected elements of a game world, I'm usually piqued. This also means I look for originality & creativity.

2) I download a demo, if available (the closest online equivalent to browsing through the book in-store). Take note, PDF publishers - providing demos will help your sales.

3) I check out what other people are saying about it. With access to #dnd3e and all the denizens of the psionics.net server, I can usually get a hearty recommendation for those products that are truely worth my money. I bought a .pdf just today (Blood & Vigilance, a d20 superhero game) based mainly on the valued opinions of good friends. I also take reviews into account, particularly Psion's. I usually don't doubt what Psion has to say, but I have noticed some incongruity between my own thoughts on a product and some of the other reviewers on this site.

4) Awards and professional accolades mean a great deal. If a book has won an ENnie, I generally see this as an indication of good things within. For example, I might never have had interest in Sidewinder: Recoiled until it won Best Electronic Product this year.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Anything that looks or sounds steampunk or magitechnological immediately gets my attention.

Mostly, I tend to buy monster books (because I collect monster books, not because I ever use them) and books with lots of Feats, PrCs and equipment that have interesting abilities. They don't have to have interesting flavor, since that will be hammered away and reforged in the crucible of my weird homebrews anyway.

But a cool ability of three? That's an instant sell.

I've never played in Rokugan or a feudal Japanese setting, but when I saw the Courtier class and its cool powers, I knew I had to have their core book. Now Courtiers crop up all over the place in my homebrew. Many of the Feats in that book also sold me on it.

On the other hand, I really like the Iron Kingdoms setting, but the likelihood of my DMing it is slim, and the Character Guide boasts a lot of mechanics that look, to the untrained eye, downright wonky. I might end up buying it eventually out of appreciation for the setting and style, just as I buy monster books. Or for the Sharpshooter feat.

 

[Nighthawk]

My attention is usually taken by artwork that strikes me in some way, followed by maps (if appropriate to the book's content). After that, the text. Is the text easy to follow, smooth to the eye, and arranged so that I can read it without needing to move around the book? What's bizarre is that I do not like having too many different colors in a book. I do not know why that is true for myself, but it is.

I will go out of my way to look for an index. If the book does not have one, it is most likely that I will not buy the book.

The one thing that I do not like about gaming books (this is not limited to them, of course) that I purchase is the annoying tendency to place the text closer to the binding of the book. Argh.

 

[Crothian]

Intelligent and creative writing. Sure the layout and the art should be good, but as long as it doesn't take away from the text I can live with a bad layout and bad art. I want ideas, its the ideas that I use in the game. Art might look good but it rarely has in game value.

 

[Droid101]

the game it is written for.

if it has D&D on the cover i pick it up

Me too... is that an obsession/compulsion? Do you know why we must get every book? I haven't figured it out yet.

 

[The Grackle]

A good piece of covert art, along with a good looking book (good binding, color, etc). After picking it up, its the content inside that counts.

Yeah, I love that covert art. It can be hard to spot though.

I feel like art shouldn't matter that much, but it really helps you get a feel for a setting or product line in a more intuitive way. That's why I liked Dark Sun, that's why I like Iron Kingdoms. Good art catches my eye and terrible art makes me look away- often in disgust.

However, I don't buy anything on a whim. I've been burned too many times. I will always read reviews and listen to what people think of it first.

 

[Arnwyn]

What gets your attention, what makes you look at a game book?

An announcement and description of content must be well-communicated to me, and I must have a clear need/use for the content in my (long-running) campaign.

And once it has your attention, what makes you decide to eventually pick it up?

I must be able to physically peruse it, and if it looks to meet my "80% rule" (80% of the book must be usable to me), then I will pick it up.

Oh, and any interior maps must be gridded (and not computer-generated).