What's Your Price Limit?

[Scribe]

It's interesting: I only calculate my own enjoyment when trying to figure out if it was "worth it." Not that I don't care if my players are having fun, but I am the only one that paid so I am measuring only against my own entertainment.

Foe most TTRPGs, it is super easy to "get my money's worth." A $60 game played 3 times for 3 hours covers it. If I had to buy VTT stuff on top of it, I need a couple more sessions out of it.

Video games are a lot more questionable for me, especially when you factor in hardware costs (I built a PC and bought a PS5). I don't tend to finish a lot of games, and on any given game I usually cap out interest between 10 and 20 hours.

If I buy a game, I'm looking at likely 200+ hours out of it, and my laptop at this point is quite old so its certainly earned its keep.

Pretty sure just 1 run through of Wrath of the Righteous a few years ago (I think?) was 200 hours.

 

[chuckdee]

I don't really have a consistent price point- just that as it goes up, I'm less impulsive about buys. I have certain practices that creators use that make me less likely to give leeway - I agree with the idea that PDFs should be priced more in line with the effort to put in them than they are, but I don't agree with double dipping - you should not have to pay full price for a PDF once you've paid for a print copy, and that's a hill I'll die on. VTTs are a little different because of the fact that additional effort is required. I believe the max I've paid for digital is $40, and I had to really justify that. The max I've paid for first run hardcopy is about $70? That hurts, but I know that inflation is a thing. Collectible or out of print - my max was Leverage, which I paid $140 for without blinking because I wanted it.

So I guess it's pretty variable in the end.

 

[GrimCo]

I would like to hear from people who are playing in person most of the time: do you still use a book, or is it tablet/laptop + PDF?

Pdf or SRD. I would like option to buy pdf without art or fancy flavor text, pure mechanics, with bookmarks and keywords hyperlinked (or at least index with hyperlinks). Or better yet, if i buy physical copy with all the fancy stuff, give me free download pdf with barebones mechanics. I played hundreds of hours of PF1 using only PFSRD and Archives of Nethys ( only book i ever bought for PF1 is core rule book as birthday gift for brother). I have Mork Borg books on the shelf, but in game, barebones pdf version is only one used. Same with 5e. No tablet or laptop, we just use phones.

 

[kronovan]

...I would like to hear from people who are playing in person most of the time: do you still use a book, or is it tablet/laptop + PDF?

If I'm GM'ing around an IRL table, I buy a print copy of the CRB for the players. Sometimes I'll also buy a print copy of a companion or handbook targeted at players, if it has significant impact on how they'd play or build PCs. Otherwise, everything else is a PDF that I view on my tablet. I don't even buy GM screens, as I almost always find they focus on things I don't find critical or pertinent. I have a universal screen made by Pinnacle Entertainment, which I can print and slip in my own tables and charts. That's been a terrific resource over the 12 years I've owned it.

 

[nevin]

I recently noticed that the Player Core and GM Core for Starfinder 2 are $70 each. That's $140 for basically the same material that was $60 in 2018. Add the monster book and that's $210 to get into Starfinder 2.
Yes, inflation. Yes, tariffs. I get it. Paizo can charge what they want. Maybe Starfinder 2 is even so good that it's worth $500. And yes, Archives of Nethys will be free. And yes, PDFs and Pocket rulebooks are cheaper.
But in the era of Shadowdark (which FYI I didn't love), Dragonbane, and Daggerheart when you can get a full game for $50-60, does $210 seem excessive? Does the very thick, three core rulebook model need to continue in the era of $210 games? (This might be the most expensive core system by a major publisher.)
I never played Starfinder 1 - my books went unused. But I did purchase them for study and consideration by my group. I can't see myself dropping $210 for that now.

about 40 bucks a book. I can afford more but that's my limit unless it just Freaking WOWS me. Otherwise, I'll get a Humble bundle or we'll share a book at the table. I'm well aware that the books I mowed lawns for in 1975 at 20 bucks each may have been more expensive in real dollars back then but those books Wowed me and they were new and different and unique compared to anything that had ever come out. More of the same isn't worth 70 bucks.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

about 40 bucks a book. I can afford more but that's my limit unless it just Freaking WOWS me. Otherwise, I'll get a Humble bundle or we'll share a book at the table. I'm well aware that the books I mowed lawns for in 1975 at 20 bucks each may have been more expensive in real dollars back then but those books Wowed me and they were new and different and unique compared to anything that had ever come out. More of the same isn't worth 70 bucks.

$40 is a pretty specific number! I get what you're saying though. What is that wows you? You got any specific recent examples?