The Price of DnD 5E

Yeah, I know it's just DnD this time, but I'm dropping Next and never liked Type V.

I'm seeing quite a bit of negative reaction to the pricing of the Core rulebooks at $50 each.

I understand money is tight, but I'm curious how many people are actually buying print books of any kind?

New hardcover novels are $25.  Easily.

New paperbacks are $8.

If I take my family to the movies (there are 4 of us) and then figure in popcorn (my family won't see a movie without popcorn...I've tried), I'm looking at $80.

Now DnD gives me hours....no....YEARS more entertainment then any of the above three examples.

So $150 is worth, to me, 6 hardcovers and 2 movies, definitely.  Its' probably worth 18 and three quarters novels...unless my group has disbanded.

Let's go for another example.  Warhammer 40,000's new 7th edition rulebook (6th edition came out approximately 18 months ago) is $85.

Pathfinder (the great bastion of many who rebel against WotC) costs $130 when you count the Core rulebook, the Gamemastery Guide and Bestiary 1.  Yeah, it's $20 less, but we're dealing with about six years worth of inflation.

Plus the new DnD Starter will be $20 compared to the Pathfinder Beginner's Box (a great product) $35 price tag.

Somewhere, people need to realize that WotC isn't raping them, they're covering their costs of development and factoring piracy.  And yes, the argument can be made that piracy doesn't hurt, but it's still a concern for creative groups because their blood, sweat, and tears went into that product.  Let's remember the design team aren't Hasbro suits, they're gamers and they have to make a profit to keep their jobs.

Now, as a local game store that tries to be very, very friendly, Comic Book World will be capitalizing on the fact that we will have product early as a WPN store and we'll be discounting at least 20% on the books, so we're trying to offer the best of both worlds.  Its still $120, but that's better than $150.  But I'd still pay $150 for DnD 5E.  I've seen quite a bit of it, more than I can truly say, and I'm very impressed.