Mon Sep 01 2014 11:46:42 EDT from zooer

I used VAX/VMS but I don't remember the editor.

do you still remember howto change directories? ;-)

The latest Amiga OS is just Emacs.

That was the un-post

Due to the fact that the Illusion kept me busy and entangled me with work, I came late to the party myself: Kult, the pen and paper RPG, got a new iteration:

http://kultdivinitylost.com (Partially NSFW and in some cases not safe for your mind.)

There was also a kickstarter, which I totally missed. But everything is looking very interesting.

The tariffs have raised prices, and prices were already going up.   A decade back Fantasy Flight proved that people would by a $60+ game, if the components were worth it.   Since then we have seen some games shoot up to $100 or more.   There are a number of reasons for this, better components usually play a big part.  

I did the kickstarter for The Fantasy Trip, and backed it at the "I Want it All" level, which ended up being $120, but the box it came in is huge.  Like 26 lbs huge.   

Tue Aug 13 2019 13:25:21 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

I call bullshit on the tariffs. I have a friend who published a board game a few years ago, and China only charged him a couple of bucks a piece for a game he sold at $30. A publisher who raises the price of a game from $60 to $100 isn't doing it to cover manufacturing costs.

Who is raising the cost of games from $60 to $100 due to tariffs?   

When I have seen games go up in price it is because the quality of components goes up.  As an example, the game Frag from Steve Jackson Games when first published was a $30 game.  When Frag! Deluxe came out it was a $60 game.  Why did it double in price?  In the original it was cardboard figures, and a paper map.  In Deluxe it was plastic figs, and a thick double sided cardboard map, character sheets, and dry erase markers.  So the price increase was due to the increase in quality of the components, and extra components.  Now granted, Frag! is out of print, and the tarrifs are new, so your friend, and my friends that publish games might not have seen the prices go up, since this just happened this year. We wouldn't see increases in costs till around right about now anyways.   So a game published a few years ago with games in the pipeline, might not show an increase till Q3 or Q4 of this year.  

The original Ogre game from Steve Jackson Games was a $4 game.  The Designer's edition was $100.   SJG made no money on the Designer's edition kickstarter, the cost of each box was right around the $100 mark, it should have been much more expensive, but no one would have bought it at a higher price.   The re-release of Ogre 6th Edition, I think runs around $60.  The original came with paper figures that you cut out  The 6e comes with cardboard 3D tanks that you punch out instead.  Again an increase in quality of the components, and size of components.   

As far as Kickstarter goes, this is the risk you take investing in a product.  This is no different than the stock market.  It is legalized gambling.   I back kickstarters by either people I know, or companies I know.   So far I have had a single Kickstarter not deliver on what was purchased.   So I am out $$60 on that one.  I backed that project at $85, I got the graphic novel, but none of the extras that I wanted.  So for my $85 I got $25 retail worth of product.   

I have backed around 60 Kickstarter projects, some of them by established game companies, some by newer game companies.  That doesn't mean that established companies do it right every time.  Take a look at Palladium and the Robotech game, they didn't fulfill their Kickstarter promises before losing the license.   However as I said, it is legalized gambling.   

Kickstarter has become a way to offset all the preproduction costs.   

Cheapass Games is still out there, for cheap games.   White Wizard has Star Realms which is a $20 game with lots of replayability.    There are other inexpensive games out there as well.