Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What's a resonable price-point for entry into the RPG hobby?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="gamerprinter" data-source="post: 6274177" data-attributes="member: 50895"><p>I'd agree with the others so far, that the best entry cost is $0.</p><p></p><p>I've seen game systems where the base rules is a free product, but specific themed games and adventures are low cost additions to the basic game. These are often start-up products as might be produced by a smaller or unknown publisher. For a new game by a smaller publisher, I think this is a normal expectation.</p><p></p><p>The larger games produced by larger publishers can expect and get away with releasing the basic game (Core rules) as paid for hard cover, though almost always there are secondary free or lower cost entry products to get involved, like providing an SRD document with free access online to that resource. This applies to games like D&D or Pathfinder.</p><p></p><p>While there's a definite cost to any kind of game development, the needs of the Core rules is often less expensive than the cost of creating an adventure, as adventure almost always require paid-for illustrations and maps which greatly increase the costs of creation. Core rules often also include illustrations, though this is usually not necessary. Free adventures (IMO) should not be an expectation.</p><p></p><p>The only free adventure, I've ever provided for my Kaidan setting of Japanese horror, for example was the <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/95894/Frozen-Wind-PFRPG" target="_blank"><strong>Frozen Wind</strong></a> one-shot module. Because the author planned to attend Origins and run some Con games, he wrote the complete adventure at his own cost without expectation for compensation. Because I am the primary developer of the setting, and am also both an illustrator and cartographer I opted to create cover art, several pieces of interior illustration and the adventure map on my own, also without expectation of compensation. So, at this point, before that product was ever intended for public release, large portions of the development was already complete. The only needed development cost was to pay for editing, and the author and I decided (rightly or wrongly) to not use an editor to save on that expense, try to edit the document ourselves (apparently not as successfully done as we desired) and release it as a free product - a good setting entry tool to getting new fans to the setting. Had the writing, illustration and cartography not already existed - trying to pay for that with a free product is not generally possible, nor expected. It was a rare opportunity, that we took advantage of in releasing, since the work and costs involved were already generated. Also since the base product was 'paid for' and little additional expenses were included for final release, Steven Russell, the publisher, opted to have a POD printed version of the book made available as well. Keeping the free development intact, that product is at a very low price point for a print product, because the only costs to the user is the POD printing itself, and DTRPG's expected profit margin - as a free product the publisher and developers get no payment from this product.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gamerprinter, post: 6274177, member: 50895"] I'd agree with the others so far, that the best entry cost is $0. I've seen game systems where the base rules is a free product, but specific themed games and adventures are low cost additions to the basic game. These are often start-up products as might be produced by a smaller or unknown publisher. For a new game by a smaller publisher, I think this is a normal expectation. The larger games produced by larger publishers can expect and get away with releasing the basic game (Core rules) as paid for hard cover, though almost always there are secondary free or lower cost entry products to get involved, like providing an SRD document with free access online to that resource. This applies to games like D&D or Pathfinder. While there's a definite cost to any kind of game development, the needs of the Core rules is often less expensive than the cost of creating an adventure, as adventure almost always require paid-for illustrations and maps which greatly increase the costs of creation. Core rules often also include illustrations, though this is usually not necessary. Free adventures (IMO) should not be an expectation. The only free adventure, I've ever provided for my Kaidan setting of Japanese horror, for example was the [URL="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/95894/Frozen-Wind-PFRPG"][B]Frozen Wind[/B][/URL] one-shot module. Because the author planned to attend Origins and run some Con games, he wrote the complete adventure at his own cost without expectation for compensation. Because I am the primary developer of the setting, and am also both an illustrator and cartographer I opted to create cover art, several pieces of interior illustration and the adventure map on my own, also without expectation of compensation. So, at this point, before that product was ever intended for public release, large portions of the development was already complete. The only needed development cost was to pay for editing, and the author and I decided (rightly or wrongly) to not use an editor to save on that expense, try to edit the document ourselves (apparently not as successfully done as we desired) and release it as a free product - a good setting entry tool to getting new fans to the setting. Had the writing, illustration and cartography not already existed - trying to pay for that with a free product is not generally possible, nor expected. It was a rare opportunity, that we took advantage of in releasing, since the work and costs involved were already generated. Also since the base product was 'paid for' and little additional expenses were included for final release, Steven Russell, the publisher, opted to have a POD printed version of the book made available as well. Keeping the free development intact, that product is at a very low price point for a print product, because the only costs to the user is the POD printing itself, and DTRPG's expected profit margin - as a free product the publisher and developers get no payment from this product. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What's a resonable price-point for entry into the RPG hobby?
Top