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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.
Also, lots of people getting into crowdfunding without knowing what they are backing. Have you heard of the drama regarding that Barrage game from Cranio?
What I find concerning is that there is a lot of effort poured to components but I feel I am running out of options regarding the cheap games. Carcassone used to be way cheaper than it is.
I am glad I still have the old glories on my shelves to play.
Tue Aug 13 2019 13:25:21 EDT from IGnatius T FoobarI 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.
2019-08-13 13:25 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.
International boards are a bitch. I was not thinking in the US market. Here we get a tax/tariff rise nearly everytime we switch prime minister.
Also, many games are not distributed here so the only shops that carry them actually bougth them from other shops paying the import tax when caught. So yeah, it hits hard.
As for components rising the costs, sure. But I would argue that many games see high increases in price with no noticeable component improvement. Carcassone, which is still cheap, saw a 40% increase in a single year. Many Eurogames are not twice the price they were 5 years ago with the same components.
My point is that the tendency is for games to become less affordable, be it because components become more expensive of that publishers just want it
.
Sincerely, that people looks down on us geek gamers and then go out and get drunk and participate in all sorts of dangerous behaviour always felt a bit off to me.
Thu Sep 05 2019 10:03:34 EDT from darknetuserWell you can tell her that she can choose to let you play weird childish games, or let you descent into a spiral of depression, drugs and alcohol because she won't let you be yourself. See what happens. Then tell us :-)
Sincerely, that people looks down on us geek gamers and then go out and get drunk and participate in all sorts of dangerous behaviour always felt a bit off to me.
Honestly, my peak drug use was when I was playing a regular campaign of AD&D at around 14-15. But I still binge drink like I was in college. Maybe not quite that bad anymore... but I like to tie one on.
And she knows I won't quit that... so... this strategy isn't going to work! ;)
It isn't that she looks down... ok... yeah, it is. We're a weird tribe. I've always been able to blend in with regular people - but as I said somewhere else, I'm not actually as smart as most of you - just a lot smarter than average people. My social IQ seems to be higher than the typical nerd/geek/dork - in that I can play all the social cards and get invited to all the reindeer games, and always have. Not that nerds/geeks/and dorks *couldn't* play those games if they wanted to - they just have so much contempt for them that they wouldn't.
My wife knows I've got a legion of friends from Retrogaming, FRPing, SCAing, BBSing, and other various nerd activities, and sometimes our paths cross outside of those worlds where she has to deal directly with them. She is a nerd herself on a lot of levels - but the manic intensity and social awkwardness of these kind of people just kind of unnerves her.
When we were dating, I took her up to Folsom Dam, when it was still open. We were in the parking lot, walking back to our car, and some kid with greasy hair suddenly screamed out, "MetallicA! DooD! I haven't seen you in AGES!" and came running up to me. That was my handle on the Sacramento Cits. I talked to the guy for a while, was nice to him, he was polite to my wife, but as we walked off and I explained why some guy thought I was an entire metal band, she began to formulate the idea that I was King of the Geeks. Countless interactions since then have affirmed that if there is a nerdy subculture - I'm probably well connected and recognized within it. I don't really mind. There are worse subjects to lord over. ;)
In this version, women make more money than men and you trade with inventions created by women.
It looks so fun, can can't wait to buy it!
/sarcasm_mode=off
I heard about this, Monopoly was a game that treated everyone equally, the politically correct crowd found a way to make Monopoly sexist.
I was never a fan of Monopoly to begin with. Once all the deals are made, only dice throwing for hours remains, until only a player is left standing. Which is very very boring IMO.
They also have a Monopoly FOrnite and a Monopoly Socialism version.
It sounds like a TV series jumping the shark.
I've heard most people don't play Monopoly correctly, which leads to a boring game.
I forget where they go wrong with it, though. Maybe later I'll remember and post.
My experience is that once all the property on the board has been bought by players, there are a couple of deals and then the game stalls, and only throwing dice one and again and again is a viable option. What Nash called a saddle point. No more deals to make, just throw die and die and die until everybody but one person remains.
Catan also suffer a bit from being a souless dice thrower at some stages, but at least it gives you more to do most of the game.