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[100Bullets]

Ptolus the new Monte Cook sourcebook for the city he has been using in his D&D campaign since 3ed was in development is launching next year with a 120 price tag. I think that is just outrageous and while it seems like an interesting setting it is pushing it in terms of pricetag. In general I think books are getting too overpriced period but what does everyone else think?

http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Ptolus

 

[Teddman]

Wow. I can remember when I balked at paying $14.95 for a TMNT RPG book, and $20-$30 for AD&D hardcover books.

Hell with that.

 

[Teknopathetic]

I don't care about prices because I just bum books and dice off the other people who are there. I'm "that" guy.

 

[100Bullets]

I don't care about prices because I just bum books and dice off the other people who are there. I'm "that" guy.

lol every group needs one.

 

[shoplifter]

^^^ so true, I'll have to take a pic of my bookshelves once I get them finally arranged from the move

You're not mentioning what it comes with:

640-page deluxe hardcover book with poster, handouts, bookmarks, and CD-Rom
Price: $119.99 Stock #WW16114

Monte is trying to do a nice classy book and I don't think this is outlandish. If I get 100 hours (roughly 20 game sessions) of enjoyment out of using/reading the book it was worth it. Pricing comes out to around $.19/page and Monte's stuff is almost always four-star material. Sure it seems like a lot, but think about how much single books are, usually between $30-40 for 200-300 pages. If the total package is nice, I'm all for it and will probably pick it up.

The RPG industry isn't really a cash cow aside from WotC and White Wolf, and printing isn't cheap these days, costs have risen quite a bit, and I'd much rather have the higher quality paper/bindings we get these days than a lot of what was given to us in the 80s.

Also, keep in mind that the RPG audience is slowly creeping up in average age due to a smaller influx of players due to CCGs, MMOs and higher console penetration amongst teens/twentysomethings. People in my (25+) usually have higher discretionary income and won't mind paying for a high quality product.

\/\/ not to mention that the FR corebook had a much larger print run than Ptolus is likely to see, which drives per page printing costs down quite a bit.

 

[Ristamar]

Seems a little steep, though I can see why it is so expensive. For example, Forgotten Realms is 340 pages, full-color, and it costs $40, but it had a huge amount of guaranteed sales coming right out of the gate with a flood of more expensive (per page) supplemental material coming down the line that had would also likely garner good sales.

Ptolus has nearly double the page count, it includes a rather beefy supplemental CD-ROM and a few other extras, but it really has no existing fan base. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say they don't want to risk selling a small amount of core books with the risk of dimishing sales on future supplements that won't pay off. Instead, they're offering nearly everything up front in one huge package.

It'll be interesting to see if it pays off.

 

[iapetus]

I don't care about prices because I just bum books and dice off the other people who are there. I'm "that" guy.

Cool. You're the guy we give a d3 instead of a d6 and see how long he takes to notice.

No. No, we have no lives.

 

[Synth_floyd]

Who buys all these books? Once you figure out the basic rules you have no need for them and if you play with a group of people you can just bum them off of them.

 

[100Bullets]

^^^ so true, I'll have to take a pic of my bookshelves once I get them finally arranged from the move

You're not mentioning what it comes with:



Monte is trying to do a nice classy book and I don't think this is outlandish. If I get 100 hours (roughly 20 game sessions) of enjoyment out of using/reading the book it was worth it. Pricing comes out to around $.19/page and Monte's stuff is almost always four-star material. Sure it seems like a lot, but think about how much single books are, usually between $30-40 for 200-300 pages. If the total package is nice, I'm all for it and will probably pick it up.

The RPG industry isn't really a cash cow aside from WotC and White Wolf, and printing isn't cheap these days, costs have risen quite a bit, and I'd much rather have the higher quality paper/bindings we get these days than a lot of what was given to us in the 80s.

Also, keep in mind that the RPG audience is slowly creeping up in average age due to a smaller influx of players due to CCGs, MMOs and higher console penetration amongst teens/twentysomethings. People in my (25+) usually have higher discretionary income and won't mind paying for a high quality product.

\/\/ not to mention that the FR corebook had a much larger print run than Ptolus is likely to see, which drives per page printing costs down quite a bit.

You are right I did not mention what it comes with but I did place a link. Personally, I'm thinking of picking it up but it just seems like a lot in my opinion. Yes, I don't have to buy it but Cook's stuff is usually of excellent quality.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I saw what I believe is a D&D product in the store the other day called, "The Ultimate Dungeon Crawl". It was 500 pages, I think. $100. The book was so gaudy and huge I almost bought it for the oddity.

 

[shoplifter]

I saw what I believe is a D&D product in the store the other day called, "The Ultimate Dungeon Crawl". It was 500 pages, I think. $100. The book was so gaudy and huge I almost bought it for the oddity.

you're talking about The World's Largest Dungeon. I own it, but I've never used it. Got it at Amazon, which incidentally has it for like 60% off. It's actually kind of cool since you can easily rip stuff out of it to use in your home campaigns without using the entire book.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"Cool. You're the guy we give a d3 instead of a d6 and see how long he takes to notice.

No. No, we have no lives."


I'm not *stupid.* I usually take a d3 just in case, anyway!