What is THE NEXT BIG THING?

[MerricB]

Merric, what are you basing those prices on?

On the secondary market, it would be more like:

Secondary market means nothing; it's on the prices it costs to make them.

I'm basing these prices on the difference between Huge and Non-Huge packs, and the average price per mini, adjusted a bit for difficulty; I may be a bit over, though, as I get confused as to the US price.

And if anything, I would think they would be *cheaper* to make for a boxed set like this.

Nope. The random minis are as cheap as they come; the savings on bulk are already there.

Cheers!

 

[cthulhu_duck]

Has anyone ever mocked up something like d20 lite? Just four races, four classes, limited feats to fit a limited level progression (say to level 4 or 5), all the skills, but with limited choice (pick 4 of these 5 skills etc), limited weapons list, limited equipment list etc?

I don't see that you couldn't strip the system down to something like that for use in a 'basic' game?

 

[JVisgaitis]

But I am not suggesting we split the customer base.

I am suggesting that in lieu of a pen & paper 4th Edition we bring out a boardgame called Dungeons & Dragons.

In that case, bah. While I think that type of game would be fun, its not a roleplaying game to me and wouldn't be the same. I think its a fun departure and a great buy in, but as the next iteration of D&D? No thanks.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi MerricB!

Hmm...

1 Huge - $10
4 Large - $4 x4 = $16
25 Medium - $1.50 = approx. $34

You're looking at a price of about $60 or so for that many D&D minis (based on the prices of the random line). Not counting the actual tiles, rules, etc.

Clearly thats closer to the retail value rather than the cost to produce though.

To be honest I think $40 is the sweet spot for selling these sets. I definately wouldn't want to go above $50 ever, remember we want to enter the mass market with this thing. As far as I can tell £25 is about the maximum in the catalogues for board games. £25 = $49.25 by todays exchange rate.

So lets say an absolute ceiling height of $50. But no more than that.

I think $40 is a good price because it roughly parallels a big D&D/d20 hardback.

12 minis (1 large, 11 medium) is $25 in the Basic Game, with rulebook and tiles.

Which suggests $15 for the minis and $10 for the rest.

Therefore in a $40 boxed set we could easily get away with 2 large and 22 medium.

However, I am of the opinion for these sets to work they need a half decent range of scale and at least one 'showstopper' mini (the Huge).

For each set I was thinking:

1 Huge
2 Large Mooks
2 Large Unique Monsters
3 Medium Mooks
4 Medium Mooks
4 Medium Unique Monsters
4 Unique Medium NPCS
4 Unique Medium PCs
5 Small Mooks

Total: 28 minis = $57 dollars on Merric's scale (assuming Small mooks are only $1 each)

So Dungeons & Dinosaurs might have...

Fiendish T-Rex
2 x Blackscale Lizardmen
Girallon, Large Fire Elemental
3 x Salamanders
4 x Lizardmen
Basilisk, Spectre, Shocker Lizard, Digester
Evil Warlock, Master of Blades, Lizardman Cleric, Kobold Assassin
Wizard, Fighter, Cleric, Rogue
5 x Kobolds

Obviously thats just a quickly thrown together list, but you get the idea.

Which basically leads us to the question are Huge and Large minis that much more expensive to produce? I mean I know they sell for more, but I doubt the actual plastic costs far more. Probably the difference between 1 cent for medium, 4 cents for large and 10 cents for huge.

I mean the difference in production costs cannot be that great because in the Descent boxed set they give 6 Huges, 25 Large and 50 medium, which is $235 dollars on your scale (albeit those minis are unpainted).

Also this company is selling D&D minis at less than 2/3rds the standard retail price:

http://www.iconusa.com/online

1 Huge + 8 medium = $13.99

So if they can do that and still turn a profit, clearly the standard pricing is a tad misleading.

A bit of snooping...

They are selling the Purple Worm for $5.99!
Bluespawn Godslayer for $3.99!
Fiendish T-Rex for $1.99...although they are sold out of those!

A lot of the prices seem self inflated. They are not based on the size of the mini, but instead based on the 'kewlness' and 'rarity'. I mean there are medium sized figures going for almost 6-7 times the price of some Huge minis.

 

[mythusmage]

What do you do when all the bling stops hiding the fact there's no there there? When the players catch on to the fact they're essentially adventuring in an empty room?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

As far as I can see I am catering to both.

What makes you think that people who enjoy the D&D game for its RPG format are going to suddenly want to make that a board game?

 

[MerricB]

A lot of the prices seem self inflated. They are not based on the size of the mini, but instead based on the 'kewlness' and 'rarity'. I mean there are medium sized figures going for almost 6-7 times the price of some Huge minis.

Correct.

Look, there is the price of *producing* the minis, and there is the price assigned on the secondary market to the minis. They are different things. This game can't look at the secondary price. You can get orcs for $0.50 each on the secondary market. You can't sell them for that much on the primary market, because you'd lose money. The secondary market prices only work due to the laws of supply and demand.

A package of 8 miniatures is us$15 at present, or about $2 per mini.
A huge package is 7 regular minis and 1 huge mini, and costs $22. So, a huge mini is about $9.

Cheers!

 

[DaveyJones]

A package of 8 miniatures is us$15 at present, or about $2 per mini.
A huge package is 7 regular minis and 1 huge mini, and costs $22. So, a huge mini is about $8.

fify

edit: if we accept ~$2 per mini. which the estimate is high. but in truth we pay tax here too.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey mythusmage!

By the way you may have missed my earlier reply to one of your previous posts.

What do you do when all the bling stops hiding the fact there's no there there? When the players catch on to the fact they're essentially adventuring in an empty room?

You tell me...you've been doing that for years.

As for bling, I still don't see how roleplaying with miniatures is any different to a boardgame/miniatures with roleplaying.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey Flexor dude!

What makes you think that people who enjoy the D&D game for its RPG format are going to suddenly want to make that a board game?

To me there is little or no fundamental difference.

Added to which so many already use minis/battlemat in some capacity that it will be a smooth transition.

Heres an example, instead of buying the Oriental Adventures Hardcover, you get the Dungeons & Ninjas boxed set. You still get the same new classes, new feats, new spells, setting and new monsters. The only difference is everything is a lot more visceral: Minis for the Classes & Monsters, Cards for the Spells and Feats.

There is nothing in the hardcover rulebook format you can't do within the boxed set.