...being on a fixed income, which has been greatly reduced since Trump took office, I can't afford any of this new content being released. Wizards picked a horrible time to increase prices.
i am the most well off of my table, and have often been the one to supply new materials, but, they are starting to feel bad they can't help out. It often means we have to buy 3rd party stuff that is often cheaper. We don't even buy digital stuff from WoTC right now, because it is as expensive as physical books.
Also there is a history of some products not being remotely worth the price, so a lot of time when a new book is announced, my table shrugs, or tells me 'don't bother, wait for a sale' even if it has something we would find useful RIGHT NOW.
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He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player. The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call To rise up in triumph should we all unite The spark for change is yours to ignite." Kalandra - The State of the World
...being on a fixed income, which has been greatly reduced since Trump took office, I can't afford any of this new content being released. Wizards picked a horrible time to increase prices.
Anyone else feeling the pinch?
Firstly, I don't believe WotC has increased prices? Unless you're referring to the two starter sets which while are more expensive than previous sets, that's because they have a lot more in them. But even if we do count that as a price increase, that's not pricing you "out of the hobby"—they're starter sets, ie for people not already in hobby. If you're already playing, you don't need them, let alone to keep playing.
As for products aimed at people already invested, Dragon Delve's is at the same MSRP as all other books have been since the price increase way back (a price increase that tracks below inflation FYI) and Forge of the Artificer is below the average MSRP.
This isn't even addressing the most important part; you don't need to keep buying new books to keep playing D&D. Ignoring the massive volume of free content, you could literally dust off the 2014 core rulebooks, or hell the free basic rules, and play for literal years.
So I don't see how anyone is being "priced out of the hobby"—prices don't appear to be increasing, you don't need to buy anything to keep playing, and you don't even need to buy anything to start playing.
Personally, I don't feel priced out. I get some people are struggling (reminder, let's not get political with this), but TTRPGs are deceptively expensive (in the sense that you think it will be pretty cheap, but then get sucked into the rabbit hole of buying tons of extra stuff) - I don't feel WotC is especially expensive. I do feel that they don't necessarily give as high quality for your buck, but they aren't charging more than the competition. The only issue is that they don't do PDFs - they discontinued the compendium content only option, which was the equivalent. So other games are able to offer a cheaper option (usually about $15 in my experience), whereas you have to buy the character builder stuff (pushing it up to $30 for most things) or buying the physical book, which is always expensive. I can get those for like $40ish, so not terrible.
I don't think people are getting priced out by WotC. In fact, they seem to be going the opposite - going for smaller, cheaper releases (See Forge of the Artificer, seemingly the FR books, etc). I'm actually on the opposite side of that (I'd rather they did better products and charges a bit more than smaller releases for cheaper, since you tend to get less bang for your buck that way), but it does make things more financially accessible.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Did I miss something? Was there an increase in prices that slipped past me because it looks like the books are they same price they have been for years now?
I’m pretty sure the ‘24 core books are pricier than the ‘14 books. IIRC, the increase was actually less than the rate of inflation over those 10 years, but the number is higher.
But it does look like they’re trying to be more price sensitive with the new eberron book being cheaper (albeit for a smaller book). I’m wondering what the deal will be with the FR books. I imagine that buying both of them will be more expensive than if they’d done a single book. But it does give the option of only buying the parts you need.
All three of the 2024 core books were $49.99 and the 2014 core books were $49.95. So I guess there was an increase.
Arguably that means the effective price has actually gone down, given the rate of inflation in the last ten years.
Wow, my FLGS had one heck of a mark up then. They were like 68 bucks.
That or the Warhammer Codexes and the D&D book had their labels switched by accident, which is possible. I am hoping that was the case.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player. The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call To rise up in triumph should we all unite The spark for change is yours to ignite." Kalandra - The State of the World
All three of the 2024 core books were $49.99 and the 2014 core books were $49.95. So I guess there was an increase.
Arguably that means the effective price has actually gone down, given the rate of inflation in the last ten years.
Wow, my FLGS had one heck of a mark up then. They were like 68 bucks.
That or the Warhammer Codexes and the D&D book had their labels switched by accident, which is possible. I am hoping that was the case.
I'd say you need to find a new FLGS. They were $49.99 at mine.
Same. B&N has the 2014 books at $49.95 and they haven't budged for the 7 years I have been playing. There was a time I couldn't afford the books, so would sit in their cafe and study them. I was very familiar with that (at the time) unfortunate price tag.
I too am on a limited budget ( sort of) but not too limited so the prices aren’t affecting me (sort of far). That said, for Dndplay20 and others one of the advantages of DDB is that books can be shared. If a book your table wants is too expensive for any 1 player split the price between table mates then have the DM buy the digital and share it. Every “gets a copy” for around $10 or less ( figure @ $50/ book and 4 players + Dm, if you have more players it’s even cheaper).
The Free Rules. It has every class and a subclass, a bucket of magic items, and a whole menagerie of monsters. For free.
Every other element isn't necessary. You can play D&D with a character sheet, a few pencils and a set of dice. I'm not sure people understand how amazing this concept is. Pre-2000s you *had* to buy the PHB (rules), DMG (magic items) and the MM (monsters) in order to have any real ability to play.
If you're time rich, and cash poor, make it up yourself. You don't need a dozen new player options books. You don't need another campaign setting. You don't need to buy everything on the store. You use the free rules, and make up the rest. You like something enough to put cash down, you can do so.
You do NOT NEED every product. You barely need any products.
You're not being priced out of the game. You're being priced into FOMO. And FOMO is a problem created on its own.
The Free Rules. It has every class and a subclass, a bucket of magic items, and a whole menagerie of monsters. For free.
Every other element isn't necessary. You can play D&D with a character sheet, a few pencils and a set of dice. I'm not sure people understand how amazing this concept is. Pre-2000s you *had* to buy the PHB (rules), DMG (magic items) and the MM (monsters) in order to have any real ability to play.
If you're time rich, and cash poor, make it up yourself. You don't need a dozen new player options books. You don't need another campaign setting. You don't need to buy everything on the store. You use the free rules, and make up the rest. You like something enough to put cash down, you can do so.
You do NOT NEED every product. You barely need any products.
You're not being priced out of the game. You're being priced into FOMO. And FOMO is a problem created on its own.
Further to this even if you can't make something up yourself all you need is the free rules and one campaign. Yes that campaign is going to be $30-$50 depending on what you buy but that's entertainment for five or six people for an entire year. Compared to almost any other entertainment available that's a bargain! As others have said split the cost between the whole group and you're looking at $10 each for hundreds of hours of entertainment. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the DM should be the one paying for everything
The Free Rules. It has every class and a subclass, a bucket of magic items, and a whole menagerie of monsters. For free.
Every other element isn't necessary. You can play D&D with a character sheet, a few pencils and a set of dice. I'm not sure people understand how amazing this concept is. Pre-2000s you *had* to buy the PHB (rules), DMG (magic items) and the MM (monsters) in order to have any real ability to play.
If you're time rich, and cash poor, make it up yourself. You don't need a dozen new player options books. You don't need another campaign setting. You don't need to buy everything on the store. You use the free rules, and make up the rest. You like something enough to put cash down, you can do so.
You do NOT NEED every product. You barely need any products.
You're not being priced out of the game. You're being priced into FOMO. And FOMO is a problem created on its own.
Further to this even if you can't make something up yourself all you need is the free rules and one campaign. Yes that campaign is going to be $30-$50 depending on what you buy but that's entertainment for five or six people for an entire year. Compared to almost any other entertainment available that's a bargain! As others have said split the cost between the whole group and you're looking at $10 each for hundreds of hours of entertainment. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the DM should be the one paying for everything
Exactly, the ROI on D&D as an entertainment product is amazing. Let's crunch some numbers here.
Let's assume you're going to pick up one adventure that runs from level 1 to 12 (pretty standard) plus all three core rulebooks digital + physical, all at MSRP. That's $59.99 x 4 for $239.96. Let's also throw in a Master Tier subscription paid monthly (highest cost) at $5.99. (We're ignoring the value of the core rulebooks after this hypothetical, let's assume you never play D&D again and throw all your books in the trash)
Using the (fairly aggressive) session based level advancement from the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide:
A good rate of session-based advancement is to have characters reach 2nd level after the first session of play, 3rd level after another session, and 4th level after two more sessions. Then spend two or three sessions for each subsequent level. This rate mirrors the standard rate of advancement, assuming sessions are about four hours long.
That's 4 sessions to reach level 4, then 2.5 sessions per level up to 12, for a total 4 + 8 * 2.5 = 24 sessions at four hours each, for a total of 96 hours of entertainment. If we assume playing weekly with zero missed of skipped weeks (I wish!) that's 5.5 months of play.
So we have 5.5 months/96 hours of entertainment for $239.96 + $5.99 * 5.5 for a total of $273.04
That's
$49.64 a month
$11.37 a week
$2.84 an hour
And that's per table. We're assuming just the DM is covering the costs and no one is chipping in.
Let's compare this to other forms of entertainment.
The average cinema ticket in the US as of 2024 is $11.31 and the average movie length is 1 hour, 47 minutes. That's $6.34 an hour.
Or we could get nuts and compare it to a major league sporting event. A single event on average is $297 so even if you see one that's more than 5.5 months of D&D
I would look at live music but that's much too variable, even my sports even is a poor comparison IMO. But the point is the ROI on D&D is fantastic even if you go the most expensive route. You could strip this down to just the adventure, physically for say $59.99 and use the free basic rules and no D&D Beyond subscription. Also your sessions may (probably will) be longer and there may (probably will) be more of them.
And then there's the fact you can use the core rule books for other adventures, or write your own.
And then there's all the free content. You could use a free adventure or one of your own creation. And then we're down to literally the cost of paper and pencils, which can be ignored if you use a free DDB account.
And then there's all the free content. You could use a free adventure or one of your own creation. And then we're down to literally the cost of paper and pencils, which can be ignored if you use a free DDB account.
I've been amazed at the number of free adventures, monsters, even subclasses, available on the DMs Guild.
The Free Rules. It has every class and a subclass, a bucket of magic items, and a whole menagerie of monsters. For free.
Every other element isn't necessary. You can play D&D with a character sheet, a few pencils and a set of dice. I'm not sure people understand how amazing this concept is. Pre-2000s you *had* to buy the PHB (rules), DMG (magic items) and the MM (monsters) in order to have any real ability to play.
If you're time rich, and cash poor, make it up yourself. You don't need a dozen new player options books. You don't need another campaign setting. You don't need to buy everything on the store. You use the free rules, and make up the rest. You like something enough to put cash down, you can do so.
You do NOT NEED every product. You barely need any products.
In practice, you likely want the PHB for all the classes, feats, etc.
But you can get away without the DMG or the MM, and just live off the free rules for those.
But yeah, as many have already pointed out, D&D's prices haven't really gone up. IIRC, they announced they were raising prices on books a couple of years back, then didn't do it for the core books, and seem to have changed their publishing model for new stuff to make it cheaper. (Eberron is $30, Don't know what the FR books are, but the player/DM book split suggests they'll be cheaper, even if they cost more in the aggregate, that only matters if you need both.)
For context on book price increases, a point you pertinently and accurately raised:
The 2014 PHB MSRP released in August 2014 was $49.99
As of May 23rd, 2023 that MSRP increased to $59.99
Adjusting for inflation between August 2014 and May 2023, that $49.99 converts to $63.92, making books as of that increase functionally $3.93 or 6% cheaper
...being on a fixed income, which has been greatly reduced since Trump took office, I can't afford any of this new content being released. Wizards picked a horrible time to increase prices.
Anyone else feeling the pinch?
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Yeah. My Whole table is.
i am the most well off of my table, and have often been the one to supply new materials, but, they are starting to feel bad they can't help out. It often means we have to buy 3rd party stuff that is often cheaper. We don't even buy digital stuff from WoTC right now, because it is as expensive as physical books.
Also there is a history of some products not being remotely worth the price, so a lot of time when a new book is announced, my table shrugs, or tells me 'don't bother, wait for a sale' even if it has something we would find useful RIGHT NOW.
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player.
The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call
To rise up in triumph should we all unite
The spark for change is yours to ignite."
Kalandra - The State of the World
Firstly, I don't believe WotC has increased prices? Unless you're referring to the two starter sets which while are more expensive than previous sets, that's because they have a lot more in them. But even if we do count that as a price increase, that's not pricing you "out of the hobby"—they're starter sets, ie for people not already in hobby. If you're already playing, you don't need them, let alone to keep playing.
As for products aimed at people already invested, Dragon Delve's is at the same MSRP as all other books have been since the price increase way back (a price increase that tracks below inflation FYI) and Forge of the Artificer is below the average MSRP.
This isn't even addressing the most important part; you don't need to keep buying new books to keep playing D&D. Ignoring the massive volume of free content, you could literally dust off the 2014 core rulebooks, or hell the free basic rules, and play for literal years.
So I don't see how anyone is being "priced out of the hobby"—prices don't appear to be increasing, you don't need to buy anything to keep playing, and you don't even need to buy anything to start playing.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Personally, I don't feel priced out. I get some people are struggling (reminder, let's not get political with this), but TTRPGs are deceptively expensive (in the sense that you think it will be pretty cheap, but then get sucked into the rabbit hole of buying tons of extra stuff) - I don't feel WotC is especially expensive. I do feel that they don't necessarily give as high quality for your buck, but they aren't charging more than the competition. The only issue is that they don't do PDFs - they discontinued the compendium content only option, which was the equivalent. So other games are able to offer a cheaper option (usually about $15 in my experience), whereas you have to buy the character builder stuff (pushing it up to $30 for most things) or buying the physical book, which is always expensive. I can get those for like $40ish, so not terrible.
I don't think people are getting priced out by WotC. In fact, they seem to be going the opposite - going for smaller, cheaper releases (See Forge of the Artificer, seemingly the FR books, etc). I'm actually on the opposite side of that (I'd rather they did better products and charges a bit more than smaller releases for cheaper, since you tend to get less bang for your buck that way), but it does make things more financially accessible.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Did I miss something? Was there an increase in prices that slipped past me because it looks like the books are they same price they have been for years now?
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I’m pretty sure the ‘24 core books are pricier than the ‘14 books. IIRC, the increase was actually less than the rate of inflation over those 10 years, but the number is higher.
But it does look like they’re trying to be more price sensitive with the new eberron book being cheaper (albeit for a smaller book). I’m wondering what the deal will be with the FR books. I imagine that buying both of them will be more expensive than if they’d done a single book. But it does give the option of only buying the parts you need.
All three of the 2024 core books were $49.99 and the 2014 core books were $49.95. So I guess there was an increase.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
All good points. While DDB doesn't support older editions, other services do and I think I could still pull together a Basic D&D campaign if needed.
Arguably that means the effective price has actually gone down, given the rate of inflation in the last ten years.
pronouns: he/she/they
Wow, my FLGS had one heck of a mark up then. They were like 68 bucks.
That or the Warhammer Codexes and the D&D book had their labels switched by accident, which is possible. I am hoping that was the case.
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player.
The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call
To rise up in triumph should we all unite
The spark for change is yours to ignite."
Kalandra - The State of the World
I'd say you need to find a new FLGS. They were $49.99 at mine.
pronouns: he/she/they
Same. B&N has the 2014 books at $49.95 and they haven't budged for the 7 years I have been playing. There was a time I couldn't afford the books, so would sit in their cafe and study them. I was very familiar with that (at the time) unfortunate price tag.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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The suggested price is printed on the book by the bar code. If you paid more don't blame WotC.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I too am on a limited budget ( sort of) but not too limited so the prices aren’t affecting me (sort of far). That said, for Dndplay20 and others one of the advantages of DDB is that books can be shared. If a book your table wants is too expensive for any 1 player split the price between table mates then have the DM buy the digital and share it. Every “gets a copy” for around $10 or less ( figure @ $50/ book and 4 players + Dm, if you have more players it’s even cheaper).
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
This is all you need to play D&D: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/br-2024
The Free Rules. It has every class and a subclass, a bucket of magic items, and a whole menagerie of monsters. For free.
Every other element isn't necessary. You can play D&D with a character sheet, a few pencils and a set of dice. I'm not sure people understand how amazing this concept is. Pre-2000s you *had* to buy the PHB (rules), DMG (magic items) and the MM (monsters) in order to have any real ability to play.
If you're time rich, and cash poor, make it up yourself. You don't need a dozen new player options books. You don't need another campaign setting. You don't need to buy everything on the store. You use the free rules, and make up the rest. You like something enough to put cash down, you can do so.
You do NOT NEED every product. You barely need any products.
You're not being priced out of the game. You're being priced into FOMO. And FOMO is a problem created on its own.
Further to this even if you can't make something up yourself all you need is the free rules and one campaign. Yes that campaign is going to be $30-$50 depending on what you buy but that's entertainment for five or six people for an entire year. Compared to almost any other entertainment available that's a bargain! As others have said split the cost between the whole group and you're looking at $10 each for hundreds of hours of entertainment. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the DM should be the one paying for everything
Exactly, the ROI on D&D as an entertainment product is amazing. Let's crunch some numbers here.
Let's assume you're going to pick up one adventure that runs from level 1 to 12 (pretty standard) plus all three core rulebooks digital + physical, all at MSRP. That's $59.99 x 4 for $239.96. Let's also throw in a Master Tier subscription paid monthly (highest cost) at $5.99. (We're ignoring the value of the core rulebooks after this hypothetical, let's assume you never play D&D again and throw all your books in the trash)
Using the (fairly aggressive) session based level advancement from the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide:
That's 4 sessions to reach level 4, then 2.5 sessions per level up to 12, for a total 4 + 8 * 2.5 = 24 sessions at four hours each, for a total of 96 hours of entertainment. If we assume playing weekly with zero missed of skipped weeks (I wish!) that's 5.5 months of play.
So we have 5.5 months/96 hours of entertainment for $239.96 + $5.99 * 5.5 for a total of $273.04
That's
And that's per table. We're assuming just the DM is covering the costs and no one is chipping in.
Let's compare this to other forms of entertainment.
The average cinema ticket in the US as of 2024 is $11.31 and the average movie length is 1 hour, 47 minutes. That's $6.34 an hour.
Or we could get nuts and compare it to a major league sporting event. A single event on average is $297 so even if you see one that's more than 5.5 months of D&D
I would look at live music but that's much too variable, even my sports even is a poor comparison IMO. But the point is the ROI on D&D is fantastic even if you go the most expensive route. You could strip this down to just the adventure, physically for say $59.99 and use the free basic rules and no D&D Beyond subscription. Also your sessions may (probably will) be longer and there may (probably will) be more of them.
And then there's the fact you can use the core rule books for other adventures, or write your own.
And then there's all the free content. You could use a free adventure or one of your own creation. And then we're down to literally the cost of paper and pencils, which can be ignored if you use a free DDB account.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
I've been amazed at the number of free adventures, monsters, even subclasses, available on the DMs Guild.
In practice, you likely want the PHB for all the classes, feats, etc.
But you can get away without the DMG or the MM, and just live off the free rules for those.
But yeah, as many have already pointed out, D&D's prices haven't really gone up. IIRC, they announced they were raising prices on books a couple of years back, then didn't do it for the core books, and seem to have changed their publishing model for new stuff to make it cheaper. (Eberron is $30, Don't know what the FR books are, but the player/DM book split suggests they'll be cheaper, even if they cost more in the aggregate, that only matters if you need both.)
For context on book price increases, a point you pertinently and accurately raised:
The 2014 PHB MSRP released in August 2014 was $49.99
As of May 23rd, 2023 that MSRP increased to $59.99
Adjusting for inflation between August 2014 and May 2023, that $49.99 converts to $63.92, making books as of that increase functionally $3.93 or 6% cheaper
As of today, that difference is $7.80 or 11.5%
Find my D&D Beyond articles here