Ptolus and new methods of distro for setting-rich games

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I think the 5 player's guides + Core book is a very interesting model that should be considered, pursued, and experimented with.  But not at $120.  That's a huge chunk-o-change.  Your average GenCon goer maybe bring $150 at most to spend on all 4 days.  Unless he goes in with friends, he's not likely to plunk down his entire stash for one thing.  Also $120 is about a week-and-a-half's net pay at your local Wendy's or Starbucks.  Hard for me to see teenagers or cash strapped college kids getting into to it.  That leaves 20-30 year old adults who may/may not have other responsibilities.

What I'm saying, I guess, is that I think the concept has merit, but at that price I don't think many people except Monte Cook could pull it off.

Peace,

-Troy

[Iskander]

Your average GenCon goer maybe bring $150 at most to spend on all 4 days.

Hey, Troy,

Do you have a source for that figure?

Cheers,
Alexander

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Nope, sure don't.  That's just based off what I've brought, what my dozen or so friends who go to Origins or GenCon bring, and what I've noticed other gamers I interacted with at both conventions tended to have.  It's based solely off personal observations.  Take it for what you will :)

Peace,

-Troy

[Calithena]

This is not the only 'boutique' RPG product out there. Another example which I own and like is The World Book of Khaas: http://www.empcho.bizhosting.com/worldguide.html . They sold out of the first print run of that one, even at that high price.

I think with both the issue is name recognition and cachet. That Arduin product is probably not widely saleable in 2004/5, but it's the size of a telephone book, and there are enough old-school Arduin fans still out there that they can print up a few hundred (maybe a thousand?) copies and make a good profit on it (maybe not on all Monty St. John's time putting it together, which was surely partly a labor of love, but on the object itself).

Gamers who really like something will pay a whole lot of money for it. The same people who bitch about $40 for tRoS or $50 for Conan will pay $100 at the drop of a hat for Ye Olde Cool Unique Setting Product from their respected authors. Hell, I'd drop $100 without blinking for a 100 page Azk'arn setting book from Ron, not that such a thing would ever happen given his proclivities, and Tekumel fans will pay shocking amounts of money for old scraps of M.A.R. Barker's kleenex with a picture of the Janitors of the Petal Throne on them.

I see no reason that established indie designers with a wide enough fanbase couldn't take advantage of this phenomenon.

[Keith Senkowski]

Anyone know/have examples of how this is being marketed?  It seems that if it was pushed as a group buy it would work, particularly if these player guides are designed for the different DnD play styles, much in the way the classes are designed in Iron Heroes.  I mean, if it is marketed as a book for everyone in your group where you get encouraged to split the price.  $120 split four, five or six ways is cheap, particularly if you don't need any other books.

Keith

[Josh Roby]

particularly if these player guides are designed for the different DnD play styles

It's my understanding that it's five copies of the same book, a short guide to the city setting.

[Ben Lehman]

I think that this is a great thing.

$120 is too much for a book that you read and put on a shelf.
It isn't too much for a book that gives you 100 hours of fun.

Personally, I think that busting pricecaps is a great, great thing.

yrs--
--Ben