Re: B5 Wars Info...

At 11:43 PM 10/22/96, Jerry Han wrote:> Bringing things back to the
subject (sort of (8-) ):
>
> I took a look at the AoG WWW page, and saw the prices they're planning
to
> charge.  I know it's dangerous to judge this early in the production
>phase,
> but I'm kind of worried about the prices - $25 US for a sourcebook?
>
> Is anybody else worried about this, or am I just being paranoid?
>
> J.

Gaming prices depend heavily on the production quality. Compare, oh R.
Talsorian Games with BTRC. Both have good games, but Mike Pondsmith at
R Talsorian is willing to kill himself to get a page layout just right.
And he gets more money per page than BTRC.. or most "small-press"
gaming companies. TSR, FASA, Games Workshop, all have large production
staffs. This boosts prices.

On top of that, not only does the license to print a B5 game cost
money, but printing color stills from the show will cost a LOT of
money. Both items here are affordable, but far from cheap.

And, what's the page count ? $25 is way to high for 96 pages, but 144
or 196 pages at $25 is a fair price.

It's awfully hard to tell. Besides, the production value will probably
reflect a mass-market value. These books will be almost the first
sourcebooks of any kind (unlike Trek) to appear on store shelves. The
B5 games stand an excellent chance of selling well in the bookstore
chain market, Waldenbooks, B. Daltons and the like. Those customers
will expect something that looks like Mr. Scott's Guide to the
Enterprise or any of the recent Star Wars books, and they'll pay those
kind of prices too.

<disclaimer>
I've worked in the gaming and marketing industries, written for R.
Talsorian, have actually played a BTRC game, am a design student,
finally bough Mekton Zeta for the graphic design, and remembers his mom
complaining that his first Star Trek Technical Manual cost all of $12
</disclaimer>

Michael Carter Llaneza
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1991-1950
http://www.hypnotic.com/
Devolution is very real to me.