Following up on some of the later posts about RPG prices in the SKR salary thread.
What is the most you would you honestly pay for:
a) a softcover adventure (say 100 pages?)
I know you asked to pretend to be interested, but honestly... an adventure is a one-use item. I wouldn't buy a dead tree version of it, I'd buy a PDF version of it around 15-20 €, based on the amount of sessions I'd be able to play out of it but no more for a softcover version because I'd find it inferior to the PDF one. Handouts have no value for me since I'd have to translate them for my players anyway, so any work of art would be lost as an immersion tool.
b) a hardcover rulebook the size of the D&D core books (about 300 pages)
40 €.
c) a hardcover rulebook the size of the Pathfinder core book (about 650 pages)
This size of book I'd expect to have a complete contained enjoyment pack... Probably 60-80 € but I'd want the PDF freely included because it's the type of size where searching become necessary on top of a reasonably well-made index. 40 € for just the PDF seems right if it is a PDF-only release.
I feel my reaction to price is depending on multiple factors, not based on the page count.
1. generally, I'll pay based on expected time of enjoyment of the product (so a setting product that can be mined for several sessions will be worth more than an equal size book with a specific focus.
2. sometimes, there is impulse-based purchase that will throw all the number above out of the window.
3. sometimes, I'll also buy products I wouldn't have or more than what I'd have if I have had special enjoyment of the work of some author (the history of providing value helps, I am thinking of say Keith Baker... I would consider buying something I'd probably never run because I had extreme value out of Exploring Eberron, for example).
4. the relationship with PDF is problematic: my need for PDF or paper varies on the type of product, but I'd feel ripped off if the price of the PDF wasn't (price of paper version minus production cost of the paper version, potentially with a premium for the cost of producing the indexed PDF), even if I was in a situation where I'd have more use of PDF than a paper version of the product (the aforementionned adventure, for example).
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