What's Your Price Limit?

[Velderan]

I have to admit it'd have to be--quite the PDF--for me not to laugh at that price for one, assuming that U.S. dollars.

I'm pretty sure the price they mentioned was Canadian dollars and for 2 books. The MCDM shop has each book for $40 USD and $70 for both bundled.

 

[Velderan]

Question for folks, but do people buy books to play with a group, or do they talk with players, and buy books together? Put another way - if you've been playing with a group for awhile - is one person responsible for the supplies for a game everyone plays?

I usually buy what we need to play, which usually ends up being a print copy for me to read and then whatever VTT offering is needed (if anything). My group always asks when we start something new what I spent and offers to contribute, but I feel weird taking money for something I end up owning so I haven't taken money for anything yet.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

It's funny, I read this thread earlier this week and now it seems Draw Steel is finally available for purchase directly on their website... and it is 89$ for the PDFs! I've already seen a few reactions to the price of the PDFs.

Draw Steel

I haven't made my mind on this. Sure, the PDF costs less than a printed copy to make, but it isn't necessarily inferior to a print product (resale value being a big pro as discussed earlier)... Here the shop shows € 127.60 (+shipping) for the physical bundle (both books) and € 66.41 for the digital-only bundle.

While (roughly) 50% off for the digital product is attractive, I think it might become too pricey for an impulse purchase. I often wonder if authors wouldn't get a better share if they offered a third option, with the rules, a basic layout and no illustration, so one only pays the production and not the extra things that might cut significantly into their share.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I haven't made my mind on this. Sure, the PDF costs less than a printed copy to make, but it isn't necessarily inferior to a print product

I agree. I also ponder on this.

But I know that our reaction to prices and goods is much more emotional than rational. I'm mostly describing how I'm feeling.

The conversation of value is interesting. Creators will talk about what it cost to create the product, or what it would take for it to generate profits and pay employees a certain amount. On the side of customers, there's a ton of factors: your level of wealth, how genuine your interest is, personal preferences, how much you bought recently, etc.

I hate reading through books in PDF form. I only use PDF as reference on my laptop for quick searches. Through this preference, PDF have inherently less value in my eyes than the physical product I fawn over. It's also difficult for me to associate value to something that's entirely digital. Buying a Bluray for 15$ means owning the movie, buying it for 15$ on Amazon Prime feels... different.

 

[Stormonu]

If I'm running a game, I bring my own copy of the core rules that everybody is initially free to use, but I prefer that the other players buy their own copies of the PHB or equivalent (maybe not immediately, but eventually).

I see a lot of this as well. Whoever is going to run the game buys a copy, the other players use that copy until they've had enough time with the system to want to explore it deeper for themselves. A lot just never buy a copy, and in my case as GM I've actually bought copies for long-time players.

I agree. I also ponder on this.

But I know that our reaction to prices and goods is much more emotional than rational. I'm mostly describing how I'm feeling.

The conversation of value is interesting. Creators will talk about what it cost to create the product, or what it would take for it to generate profits and pay employees a certain amount. On the side of customers, there's a ton of factors: your level of wealth, how genuine your interest is, personal preferences, how much you bought recently, etc.

I hate reading through books in PDF form. I only use PDF as reference on my laptop for quick searches. Through this preference, PDF have inherently less value in my eyes than the physical product I fawn over. It's also difficult for me to associate value to something that's entirely digital. Buying a Bluray for 15$ means owning the movie, buying it for 15$ on Amazon Prime feels... different.

It took me a while to get used to PDFs, and I do often fall back to reading the paper copies from time time. Mostly now, I read PDFs on my monitor when I'm building adventures where they can be set full size (or larger, damn old eyes) or on the iPad I expressly got because it's screen is the size of a hardcover book - the latter is what I take to games instead of a backpack full of books.

I still loathe digital dice though - I swear they're out to get me.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm pretty sure the price they mentioned was Canadian dollars and for 2 books. The MCDM shop has each book for $40 USD and $70 for both bundled.

Even that strikes me as steep for PDFs unless they're huge, but its a little less ridiculous than when I read it as in American.

 

[jdrakeh]

A lot just never buy a copy...

There comes a point when I tell them to do so or ask them to leave, if I'm running the game. If you can't tell me what your character's abilities do or how the rules work after two months of playing, you're not invested enough in the game I'm running for me to care if you continue to show up. Buy a book or don't come back. Look, I get that books are expensive, but if I could afford to buy them, so can you.

 

[Neonchameleon]

How much would I pay? Which of the following am I buying?

• Something for interest and curiosity
• A pretty full art coffee table book
• Something I know I'll get good use out of

Because these are very different price points for me.

PDFs I find useful but not aesthetic so pay the least. About £20 or so.

Starfinder 2e would be interest and curiosity unless the art really grabbed me or unless one of my friends was running it and wanted me to play. I'm not paying £200 for that.

Daggerheart I picked up for £60 as a coffee table book and for interest. It has since moved categories - which means supplements are an easy sell. If I don't end up spending well over £200 on Daggerheart it's either because they don't turn the game into a line or Spencer Starke has done something truly horrible.