[HOE] Re: Book Prices (was something else, a long time ago...)

["Reuben McCallum" <bloopy40@hotmail.com>]

Hola Muchachas and Hombres!
I've been reading alot of posts about the costs of books, etcetera, in 
relation to the sellability of a book, and theres a few things that hit me 
wrong.
Now, the way I sees it, laws of supply and demand just don't work the same 
with role-playing books as they might for say, ice cream. Someone might buy 
cheaper ice-cream 'cause it's cheap. But I'll be a danged varmints road 
apples if I'm gonna buy a roleplaying book because it's cheap, over a 
product I like. Pricing is a bonus. You could sell all the Star Trek 
roleplaying books you want at $2.95 AUS and I'm not buy them, because I 
don't like them. Never once have I decided to embark on a new game and gone 
"Hmmm. That one's cheaper. I'll go with that!"
Now as for artwork and production, Leonardo DaVinci and Michaelangelo 
collaberating for twelve years can't turn the absolute pointless crud that 
somethings are into a decent product. Excrement, no matter how much gold 
paint you pour on top, is always going to be excrement. Yes, it is nice to 
see a well presented book. But first and foremost, it's got to be good 
quality. Artwork helps a lot, but in my opinion, first ed. Werewolf was only 
marginally improved by the second ed, and once again IMO, it sucked mostly 
(I don't want to hear flames about werewolf. Those of you who like it, 
ignore or disparage my comments, but the essential point remains. Insert 
"Game you don't like" here).
I think, more than anything else, we should focus on the fine product that 
deadlands is. Yes, some of the sourcebooks weren't up to the standard (S&R 
comes to mind), but I've yet to read a book I wouldn't have bought, given 
the option. This game is one of the most innovative, interesting, and 
gripping sagas I've seen in a long while. But it's a small company, run by 
folks like you and me (well, maybe John Goff is a little off ;)), who need 
to pay the bills. They don't have the kind of massive market share that WotC 
have to make their books cheap. I'll settle for class A storyline and 
excellent writing any day of the week. I don't think the PEGsters will 
become millionaires off this thing any time soon, so until they do, let's 
give them a break eh! There are better people in the world to recieve this 
kind of consumer focus (like Car Manufacturers, Footwear companies, a 
certain unnamed software company whose product I am using, Nestle) than 
impoverished game designers.
Reuben "One rant a day will do" McCallum
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