Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Dungeons and Dragons Books

Those things are EXPENSIVE now! Phew!!

I spent the 90s playing other systems like Ars Magica, Bushido, and Deadlands (these being my favorites). It was a great time to explore as TSR was kind of bloated and over-bearing with the AD&D / 2e version of the game.

Actually wish I still had my old PHB.
Ars Magica ... historical fantasy RPG. 

Deadlands, father of the Savage Worlds rule system.

3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons came about in 2000 and I bought back into it – the intro price for the three core books (Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual) was $20, later to be raised to $25. By 3.5 Edition the standard was $30. Being a guy of mediocre at best income I always found < $30 to be a good price point for rulebooks needed to enjoy a game you love.

I never bought a 4th Edition D&D book as I did not like the system. I did buy-in to Pathfinder in 2010 and the Core Book was $50. Expensive but it was also a combined Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide to parallel Dungeons and Dragons. Supplemental books were $30-$40 for hardcovers but soft-covers (like fluff books or all-important Adventure Paths) were around $20; though a complete AP was about 6 issues so that’s $120 but that is over time. All in all still quite affordable and I also saved money on PDFs I bought. A $20 was much easier to drop than a $50.


From 3.x through Pathfinder I also, extensively, used SRDs available for free on the net. My sense of honor made it so I was not comfortable doing this unless I bought a core rule book though. I still do this BTW – I’m uncomfortable with using “free” things from the internet unless I have bought the hard copy first. Within reason of course, I’ve got to like the system and want to support the company.


 Further, I want to support brick and mortar stores that sell these books. I like my Friendly Local Game Store… both of them as a matter of fact. I don’t play Magic so that cash stream is closed off from me. Historical miniature war-games are just not very feasible most of the time to stock on shelves. I know enough about business to know the nuances there regarding that and I don’t fault FLGSs not stocking historicals… thus another cash-stream cut off from me.

This year I got back into role playing games after a two year break. I decided to start playing Dungeons and Dragons Next aka 5th Edition*.

*I’ll expand on the actual product sometime later but here is a condensed version of my thoughts on 5e: It’s fine. It’s not the end-all-be-all of Dungeons and Dragons and not ground-breaking in any way. The only thing missing is the ability to tinker with and customize a character and that’s fine. It’s just another way to game.


After Xmas in 2016 I took some money and bought myself a Players Handbook from Guardian Games. It was $49.95 ! Whewww!! That’s some money. After a few months I felt compelled to buy the other two “core” books (Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide) and those, too, are $50 each. Definitely not an impulse buy anymore and, even with a grown-man’s salary, quite a bite into my gaming budget.

Wanting a DMG for months now but not willing to drop a $50 on it I waited for a used one to pop up at Guardian Games with no luck. I was saving it for later this year but I did have a coupon for 20% off a purchase at Red Castle Games as well as $8 in store credit there so I went there last weekend to get a DMG for $32.

Sure, I can find them regularly on Amazon for $36 and I am a huge fan of Amazon. My consumer ethics got in the way of that though and I buy off Amazon what is hard to search for in brick and mortars around me. Rustic iron nails? Amazon. Dungeons and Dragons books? I know of 5 places, without research, that sell them in my city. Still, $50 each is pretty steep for three core rule books. Unless I run across some deal it looks like the only “deal” I can make is Amazon for the Monster Manual though.

I’m glad I own dice and miniatures and tons of other stuff already. A lifetime in the hobby has given me a good collection of usable game aids. If I was a kid or young adult right now trying to get into the hobby? Sheesh… feel bad for you kid.


So, thanks for reading and get off my lawn.



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