Perhaps this is WoTC reacting to the cost of producing a modern RPG, production values have had to increase over the old 1980s manuals (with mostly B&W drawings etc). Also, at least in the UK, it feels like we actually have a different currency to what we had back then since inflation has increased the price of things so much.

It could also be WoTC being pragmatic and targetting the whales (and lesser whales who just are adults with disposable income & nostalgia for the franchise). D&D never was that mass-market - there's been no World of Warcraft style moment of breaking out of a niche market among paper RPGs (at least that I can think of).
 

1) There is an option of electronic books which can be priced lower;
2) The starter player only needs Player's Handbook, two other books are for DM only, and a single set of dice can be used by whole group (inconvenient but still viable).
 

Back when I was an impovershed student in a playgroup of others like me, we just pooled our money or bought the set of corebooks collectively. After all, we were going to use them as a group, so why not buy them as a group?
 

Well, it is pretty expensive but there's also no reason you actually need all that stuff. A copy of the players handbook should be entirely sufficient. You can use your imagination for the monsters, and probably the internet as well. As long as you aren't playing with a bunch of rules lawyers, the basic rules should be sufficient.

But then I think we played a much for rules free way. We thought World of Darkness had too many rules.
 

Something that amuses me is that as I've gained income and been more willing to spend money on games, I've become a completely useless signal for quality games in the genres I care about.

I genres I don't prefer, like shooters or platformers, I'll only buy the ones that most appeal to me, sending a strong signal of my preferences. But in my favorite genres, like grand strategy games, economic sims, city/world builders, that kind of thing, I'll pretty much just buy everything, good or bad, which offers no clue at all as to what types/mechanics in those games I most enjoy.

Games are just too cheap to bother being discerning if they're at all in an area you enjoy.
 

Well, inflation aside, it could be that pen and paper games are moving to niche pricing, like poetry and classical music (or hardcore grognard computer wargames).

Leisure products that can't rely on mass sales to support themselves go to higher niche pricing. This means they can be financially viable while selling fewer copies.

It helps, of course, that these are usually products for a more "discerning" audience (smarter, richer, more motivated etc. however you want to define it).
 

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I've known two people who have written D&D modules (and yes, both of them were published). This isn't something that either person did for profit and they were paid very poorly for the work.

My point is that the development costs are low for Pen & Paper games. The real costs are in the print runs and editing. If you can't sell enough books to cover the print run + make a reasonable profit, it's not worth publishing.

Or at least... that used to be the case. The book world is vastly different today because of On Demand Printing services such as Lulu. Consumers pay a higher premium for the books, but publishing this way doesn't require a massive outlay in inventory.

My uber point is that I wouldn't worry about Pen & Paper RPGs. Worst case scenario, you'll pay a higher premium and have to buy them through online retailers rather than the local comic book or gaming store.
 

Yeah, but IIRC $50 a book is about normal based on the prices I was paying in the late 90s (adjusted a bit for inflation). I think I was paying $40 for the main World of Darkness rules books at the time.

At this point I have to doubt how many total virgins are just showing up at the game shop and saying "Give me D&D." You know a guy who gets you into it, lets you borrow his books, and if you get more into it you buy your own.

If you aren't a habitual collector like me (I spent the summer of 2002 living off of selling my RPG collection on Amazon) it has to be one of the cheapest possible things you can do with a group of human beings, somewhat stiff entry costs aside.
 

I really feel like WotC are just being stubborn with their pricing structure. What they are trying to control is something that I don't think can realistically be kept to only paying customers in the era of the Internet. It seems obvious to me they should be looking more at Free2Play systems, where the core D&D system is free, and they make money off of selling adventures, convenience tools (like the character builder), and other accessories.

They could even still sell the books, and honestly I don't think they would sell that many fewer. Do they honestly think in a 5 player game, that all 5 players are buying a player's handbook? I would guess in most games, the players all share one. And it would still be rational for most serious games to buy one to share.

Of course, I also don't see what D&D Next offers that isn't already covered by 3.5, pathfinder and 4E. Who are they selling this to? It seems likely to me it's going to be a pretty big flop regardless.
 

In a world where I literally sat down and gave a list – an actual, manifest list – of rpgs that one could buy, all of which come with their own setting, all of which come with interesting and different mechanics, all of which bring extraordinary gaming experiences, and all of which TOGETHER add up to the sum total of cost of just the Players Handbook… The smart money is that the smart money is not going down on the future of D&D.

Note that they have an advantage that most pen and paper role-playing game production houses don't – they are quite comfortable being a loss leader or tax shelter for Hasbro, which makes enough money globally that the crappy little amount that even ridiculous, overproduced, overpriced D&D books will burn them for is almost noise in the system. If they lose a few million dollars on slow product sitting in a couple of their warehouses way back in the dark corner, what do they care? They've got the space, they've got the time, and they have more than enough of the money to be as indulgent as they like.

D&D Next (or whatever they're calling it this week) will sell a chunk to the core collectors and to current groups who have finally been browbeaten enough by their local gaming community to stop playing the game they have been enjoying, 4th Edition, and moved to the new one which is supposed to be "a throwback to a better time." Beyond that…? I don't think they care. I don't think it matters to them at all that there is a market that they could compete in, because they don't need to compete in it.

That's terrible for people who care about the RPG industry as an industry, or about RPG game development as a field unto itself, and it's really terrible for people who feel compelled despite good sense to buy into the new edition of D&D at that price point. But it's not terrible for Hasbro. And it probably won't be terrible for Pathfinder, because I believe that that provides them an excellent argument to undercut the amount Hasbro is charging for what is truly a similar product.

D&D is the Tommy Hilfiger of RPGs. Overpriced, sold mainly for the bold branding, and wherever you go to buy it the place smells really strange.
 

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The pricing is such because it is expected that the group will share the books.

For a group of DM+4 players, that's something like 30-35$ per person, for the whole package, which is not unreasonable, considering a campaign can last for years.