Saving Money in this Hobby

[StonesThree]

With the cost of living only going up I am looking for ways to reduce spending. So I was overjoyed to discover that games publishers are now helping me save money by pricing their books way above my impulse buy limit.

I would also like to thank publishers who no longer do "printer friendly" pdfs of their books. Thus saving me from having to buy expensive ink toners. I can now just refuse to print out books that are too difficult to read with that stupid old parchment background that sits behind the text.

On a less sarcastic note I have discovered you can get paper armies to print out at home. Yes, yes, you guys have known about them for ages no doubt, but I didn't and now its like I can print out a whole army, glue it on cardboard and be up and running in hours. Instead of spending months painting and basing expensive minis.

So Pubbers... how are you saving money in this hobby?

 

[Nick J]

With the cost of living only going up I am looking for ways to reduce spending. So I was overjoyed to discover that games publishers are now helping me save money by pricing their books way above my impulse buy limit.

I would also like to thank publishers who no longer do "printer friendly" pdfs of their books. Thus saving me from having to buy expensive ink toners. I can now just refuse to print out books that are too difficult to read with that stupid old parchment background that sits behind the text.

On a less sarcastic note I have discovered you can get paper armies to print out at home. Yes, yes, you guys have known about them for ages no doubt, but I didn't and now its like I can print out a whole army, glue it on cardboard and be up and running in hours. Instead of spending months painting and basing expensive minis.

So Pubbers... how are you saving money in this hobby?

Hahahahahahahaha!

 

[Dyrnwyn]

I started limiting my purchases quite a while ago, once I realized I owned enough to keep me going for a long time, and possibly forever.

I also have been PDF-only for a number of years now, with the only physical book I still own being the 5E PHB. This was mostly done to save space and make moving easier -- I've moved twice in the past three years and expect to move at least two or three times more before all is said and done. I stick to a budget of $10 per month on PDFs, and if I don't use it, I let it roll over. If I print them, it's only certain pages, like a reference or character sheet.

 

[Bunch]

I'm not sure if it's saving me money but humble bundle and bundle of holding stretch my budget further.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

With the cost of living only going up I am looking for ways to reduce spending. So I was overjoyed to discover that games publishers are now helping me save money by pricing their books way above my impulse buy limit.

I would also like to thank publishers who no longer do "printer friendly" pdfs of their books. Thus saving me from having to buy expensive ink toners. I can now just refuse to print out books that are too difficult to read with that stupid old parchment background that sits behind the text.

On a less sarcastic note I have discovered you can get paper armies to print out at home. Yes, yes, you guys have known about them for ages no doubt, but I didn't and now its like I can print out a whole army, glue it on cardboard and be up and running in hours. Instead of spending months painting and basing expensive minis.

So Pubbers... how are you saving money in this hobby?

I spend all my money on board games instead.

Yes, I have less money, but it’s not going to RPGs I’ll never play.

 

[David Johansen]

I'm a retailer and my idea was to try supporting more affordable games and build a community for them. As it turns out, even the poor customers only want the most expensive products.

At any rate, my games are free on my website: uncouthsavage.com I don't do parchment backgrounds, if I want a print on a parchment background I'll print it on parchment paper. Ink is expensive, I'm old, and my eyes don't like the brown on tan print with all the little splotches.

Unfortunately, rpg books are really coffee table art books these days. I laughed my ass off at how little content is in the Aliens rpg. Lots of images but not much text.

But if you want to save money, the OSR and the exTraveller Cephus Engine folks have tons of free material out there.

If you're serious about miniatures, a $300 3d printer and some stl files can save you a bundle in the long run. But if you want a cheaper option there are some pretty decent 1/72 plastic fantasy figures out there these days Caesar and one other company I can't remember. 1/32 toy soldiers work for giants, cavemen for ogres and trolls, and plastic dragons and dinosaurs are cheaply available. It gets even easier for modern stuff as there's plenty of $20 for 100 modern plastics in the model shop, matchbox cars, and cardboard scenery. You can make quite acceptable scenery from nothing more that pot scrubbers, cereal boxes, and a bit of wire.

One project I've always wanted to do is some sets that match up with the old Grenadier Fantasy Warriors plastics. Three poses of elves, goblins, men, and undead at about $0.3 a figure. I'd also like to do cavalry for them and maybe some sf aliens to fight the Space Rangers.

But as a retailer, I feel I should warn you: you can't make money showing people how to game for free. I should be selling the most expensive dungeon scenery and figures because as a retailer there's no profit in the guys who don't want to buy anything. I guess that's the tragedy of being me

 

[Necrozius]

I put aside a set amount of cash every paycheque. With some willpower I never spend above that bit of savings. No more impulse buys, I need to plan and save.

Once you monitor how much you actually spend on this hobby, it is a little frightening. I’m going to reduce my saving amount eventually (haha).

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

I'm not sure if it's saving me money but humble bundle and bundle of holding stretch my budget further.

Same here. On one hand, I'm paying less for RPGs. On the other, I'm buying full bundles of RPGs I wouldn't have got otherwise.

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

Unfortunately, rpg books are really coffee table art books these days. I laughed my ass off at how little content is in the Aliens rpg. Lots of images but not much text.

Yeah, there's something of a disconnect here. On one hand, people claim they want RPGs to be cheap. On the other, it's well known that RPGs without lots of art and high production values are really hard to sell.

 

[Bunch]

Yeah, there's something of a disconnect here. On one hand, people claim they want RPGs to be cheap. On the other, it's well known that RPGs without lots of art and high production values are really hard to sell.

I think Sine Nominee tries to balance this with their free no/little art versions and upscale full art versions. I think Kevin Crawford might have the best understanding of the industry of anyone I've seen.

 

[Endless Flight]

 

[PolarBlues]

There are a million reasons to buy new roleplaying games and game related products, and they are all valid. But the good news is that this has never been necessary for the hobby. You can keep running the same system (or set of systems) forever, as long as you have new adventure ideas. At the is without even considering all the high quality free games, and I don't mean my little Fudge hacks. Our hobby costs only as much as you want it to.

 

[Atelerix]

These days I tend to wait for sales. Alien was a bit more palatable for £20 instead of £45, although Hostile, which was £16 on Lulu at the time, has it beat hands down for content. Coriolis, which was the other half of my Alien purchase, is also much more meaty as a SF rpg.

Basic Fantasy is still around £4 for a solid updating of the D&D Basic set.

Far Future Enterprises will deliver tons of Traveller 80s and 90s PDF nostalgia to your Dropbox for $35.

On the miniatures gaming side, look at One Page Rules for really solid, stripped-down versions of GW rulesets. Free, with a free online army builder, and even the paid-for versions are only $5.

 

[PolarBlues]

I think Kevin Crawford might have the best understanding of the industry of anyone I've seen.

Agreed. He comes across as extraodinarily clear-headed.

 

[Bunch]

Agreed. He comes across as extraodinarily clear-headed.

He just seems to really really understand his niche. He doesn't seem to be wishing the world worked some other way but rather looking at how it does and seeing how he can work with it. He doesn't do extravagant Kickstarter stretch goals if he does one at all. He plays a long game and now it seems to be really paying off for him. He doesn't even seem to go out to do marketing anymore because we all now do it for him.

 

[KrakaJak]

I have always considered RPGs a cheaper hobby than what was out there in the game store. I saved money by being a core-book(s) only, theater of the mind player until I got a job at a bookstore. I have a soft spot to this day for games which only use six-sided dice (Toon, GURPS, Tunnels and Trolls, Star Wars etc.)

Now-a-days, I can pretty much buy any pdf I'm interested in, and I will always bite when it is on sale.

itch.io, humble bundle, bundle of holding, and dtrpg all have great sales pretty frequently. Get yourself a decent tablet, and you are good to go.

 

[David Johansen]

It's why I keep saying the road forward for retail is in house print on demand.

Still, if I could shift one object in the mindset of gamers it would be brand name association. When people look at some esoteric miniatures I have and ask "what would I use them for?" My answer is "anything you want." You don't need official D&D or Warhammer figures to play D&D and Warhammer nor does it ensure quality or availability. If we could break out of that mindset and see that an OSRIC or Cephus Engine could break us out of the new edition cycle, we would no longer have to bow to the decisions of the property holders. Some good, tight core concepts to make things compatible is really all we need. Because if there's one thing 42 years of gaming and 10 in retail have taught me it's that the property holders are the worst enemy of gamers. They have no motivation to be backward compatible, no motivation to complete the support for the new edition, and no motivation to serve the current customer base if they think the grass is greener on the other side of the line. The obsession with brand names guarantees endless incompatible and poorly supported editons.

 

[Jetstream]

I think Sine Nominee tries to balance this with their free no/little art versions and upscale full art versions. I think Kevin Crawford might have the best understanding of the industry of anyone I've seen.

Eh? Kevin’s free games aren’t lower on art. He holds back a certain amount of content for the pay books. The art is the same on the pages they have in common.

 

[robertsconley]

So Pubbers... how are you saving money in this hobby?

By releasing all my original works as open content.

Blackmarsh - Bat in the Attic Games | Majestic Fantasy Realms | DriveThruRPG.com

Blackmarsh - In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the s

www.drivethrurpg.com

Or just plain free

Stuff in the Attic

Stuff in the Attic Box of Majestic Fantasy Stuff Majestic Fantasy Basic Rules Version 10 Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG on Dr...

batintheattic.blogspot.com

And by my preference for a decent b/w layout.

The Majestic Fantasy RPG, Basic Rules - Bat in the Attic Games | Majestic Fantasy Realms | DriveThruRPG.com

The Majestic Fantasy RPG, Basic Rules - A set of rules for creating and advancing characters from level 1 to 5. Has the Burglar, Cleric of Mitra, Fighter, and M

www.drivethrurpg.com

As for pricing I generally charge $5 to $10 above cost depending on the size of the work.

 

[Bunch]

Eh? Kevin’s free games aren’t lower on art. He holds back a certain amount of content for the pay books. The art is the same on the pages they have in common.

I thought he also had some no art versions for free

 

[Jetstream]

I thought he also had some no art versions for free

Nope. He includes ePub versions along with some of his books though.

 

[E-Rocker]

Most of my rpg "purchases" these days are .pdfs that are free on DTRPG or publishers' websites. I already have my rulebook and dice. I don't need to buy anything more for this hobby.

I do occasionally buy a new physical rulebook or non-free .pdf or some minis or whatever, but I could play another forty years without spending a penny.

 

[Bairn]

I feel you, I just got into this hobby and I am a musician (another expensive hobby). When my wife asks how many guitars I need, I reply with "one more".

So that leaves me with 3 options:

1) my wife kills me

2) I budget

3) or I take up a cheaper hobby...like knitting?

 

[Charlie D]

I love RPGs especially physical products. I have a budget that I put money into and basically buy what I want. I would no sooner give up getting RPGs than I would stop using the internet, reading books, writing, or enjoying the occasional streaming entertainment.

 

[Rich H]

I don't have a budget, probably spend 1000s of £ a year on RPGs. Mostly that I'll never play and some that I don't really read apart from scanning and it FUCKING DEPRESSES ME NO END.

I recoup some of the money selling them on ebay but the empty space is easily filled by the next thing. I don't even game that much anymore because my face-to-face group is... well... lets just say its easier herding feral mutant cats than getting them organised.

It's just a reflex action. The only fortunate thing is, is that I have a job that pays well so it doesn't hurt me financially.

 

[Neon]

1. Stay away from kickstarter. And by that I mean I don't even allow myself to browse.
2. Stay away from product reviews.
3. Spend more time doing deep dive in the shit I already have. I mean, gamers used to get a single ruleset and maybe a setting book and they were set for a couple of years.
4. Rediscover the ancient art of making marginal changes to the system you already run to fill in the gap for a new product you don't own. Let's face it. Most stuff is derivative of other stuff we already own. I know, it's popular to tell everyone to stop mod'ing dnd to fit all your needs and just get another system. But you know who is usually pushing that agenda? People who have vesting interest in people buying more books. That includes publishers and peripheral content creators.
5. Remind myself that once you have a solid fantasy, investigation/horror, and scifi system in collection that every subsequent acquisition is marginally less valuable and more expensive per new content.

 

[Endless Flight]

When you come to the realization that there is not a perfect RPG out there waiting for you to discover it. There is no Goldilocks RPG that’s coming around the corner. Sometimes what you already have is better than what you are looking for.

 

[David Johansen]

One other point on economizing in general. It has been my experience that a person who isn't willing to spend $100 on a game isn't willing to spend $5. The guys who do illegal downloading, photocopying, and even hand copying of the books will never spend a dime. The people who bought their edition forty years ago and are fine with it will never spend a dime indeed, unless it's a specific thing they wanted for their edition that they didn't get, they won't even download it or accept a free copy. The people who don't believe creators should be paid won't pay a dime. The shop lifters and backpack swipers won't pay a dime. And the guys who think that the current edition of D&D is the only valid expression of gaming won't spend a dime on anything else. So, for retailers and publishers it only makes sense to produce $100 rulebooks.

 

[Neon]

Mmm not sure I agree on the $100 book idea. I have given plenty of systems a look (ie a purchase) just to get a look and knowing I would never play. If books cost $100 I probably would have an entire shelf less of books.

 

[Picaroon Jack]

For the first time ever, I've just started writing hacks of existing games so I play them instead of buying new ones. I did end up selling one to an indie publisher so that just encourages me to do more. LOL

 

[David Johansen]

Mmm not sure I agree on the $100 book idea. I have given plenty of systems a look (ie a purchase) just to get a look and knowing I would never play. If books cost $100 I probably would have an entire shelf less of books.

There's a sliding scale of course and I think in Canadian dollars not American for some reason. Different people have different break points and sweet spots but $100 seems to have a huge psychological impact on the marketplace. I remember when people were balking at the big $80 GW boxes. Heck I did. One of my great regrets is not having gotten into Epic from the beginning. I could have had so much stuff and paid so little compared to what's done now.

 

[Bunch]

I feel you, I just got into this hobby and I am a musician (another expensive hobby). When my wife asks how many guitars I need, I reply with "one more".

So that leaves me with 3 options:

1) my wife kills me

2) I budget

3) or I take up a cheaper hobby...like knitting?

You know nothing about knitting.

 

[Bunch]

My suggestion to slow your spend. Every time you are tempted to buy instead call a friend, do a search for a group online or otherwise try to get a game going instead. There's been a suggestions that playing and purchasing are inversely correlated in the rpg space. And hey if 6oy can keep getting games going with everything you purchase then it's money well spent!

 

[Necrozius]

1. Stay away from kickstarter. And by that I mean I don't even allow myself to browse.
2. Stay away from product reviews.
3. Spend more time doing deep dive in the shit I already have. I mean, gamers used to get a single ruleset and maybe a setting book and they were set for a couple of years.
4. Rediscover the ancient art of making marginal changes to the system you already run to fill in the gap for a new product you don't own. Let's face it. Most stuff is derivative of other stuff we already own. I know, it's popular to tell everyone to stop mod'ing dnd to fit all your needs and just get another system. But you know who is usually pushing that agenda? People who have vesting interest in people buying more books. That includes publishers and peripheral content creators.
5. Remind myself that once you have a solid fantasy, investigation/horror, and scifi system in collection that every subsequent acquisition is marginally less valuable and more expensive per new content.

Solid advice. 2021-2022 were my Kickstarter years. And my "discover new systems" years. I've spent a lot of money but never beyond my means, thankfully.

Regardless, the Old School Essentials hardcovers are my last gaming purchase for a looooong time. I'm actually trimming things down this year and going for minimalism.

Some RPGs really are just expensive coffee table books, sadly. Nice systems buried within them, but I have some regrets.

At least books take up less space than Sneaker collections. Or rooms full of knitting YARN.

 

[Moonglum]

There is actually a simple recipe for playing TTRPG's really well and really cheaply: Just buy a flexible, reasonably well designed game core system and play it as god intended - with GM created setting materials. Everything else in the market place beyond this is more like a sales gimmick than a necessary part of the hobby, and your games will be better anyway. Seriously; a 10 dollar pdf copy of some OSR D&D system is all you need to play really well for many, many years.

 

[David Johansen]

Kickstarter plays on people's desire to get a bargain but somehow it always winds up costing more and more.

 

[Winterblight]

I save money in two ways:

1. I wait until my birthday
2. I write my own stuff, use it in my own games, and then sell it dirt cheap - I spend those pitiful earnings on RPGs... mostly. Because that makes me self-employed and I declare those pitiful earnings, I can claim certain items back from the tax man.

 

[Telok]

You know nothing about knitting.

Oh gods... the stash... it grows...

I swear there's at least $5000 of yarn and more than half that in needles, bits, bobs, and at least another $500+ in books. And thats just a little 15 year old stash that hasn't seen significant movement in the last three years because a kid sucked up near all the spare time. Go to my mother's house where there's a 30 year stash and its... triple?... at least more than double, nonlinear increases. Although with fewer books.

My 3d printer & computer stuff & gaming stuff habit is... trivial. Of course I also have a bad habit of "will I really ever get to use this?" questions that only rarely gets overridden.

 

[Bairn]

Oh gods... the stash... it grows...

I swear there's at least $5000 of yarn and more than half that in needles, bits, bobs, and at least another $500+ in books. And thats just a little 15 year old stash that hasn't seen significant movement in the last three years because a kid sucked up near all the spare time. Go to my mother's house where there's a 30 year stash and its... triple?... at least more than double, nonlinear increases. Although with fewer books.

My 3d printer & computer stuff & gaming stuff habit is... trivial. Of course I also have a bad habit of "will I really ever get to use this?" questions that only rarely gets overridden.

Okay, bad example. I guess the point is that if the hobby is super cheap, you ain't doing it right! Lmao

 

[Agemegos]

There is actually a simple recipe for playing TTRPG's really well and really cheaply: Just buy a flexible, reasonably well designed game core system and play it as god intended - with GM created setting materials. Everything else in the market place beyond this is more like a sales gimmick than a necessary part of the hobby, and your games will be better anyway. Seriously; a 10 dollar pdf copy of some OSR D&D system is all you need to play really well for many, many years.

Preach it!

Basketball can be a cheap fun way to keep fit and make friends if you buy one good pair of shoes and play scratch on the courts in public playgrounds. Or you can buy an NBA franchise.

It has always boggled my mind that people talk of RPG as an expensive hobby. My original AD&D books were expensive, especially on a cost-per-hour-of-play basis. But apart from that RPG has always been cheap fun for me. A well-designed set of flexible core system actually suits me better than a shelf full of special-purpose games, and 220 pages of rules is plenty. I’ve bought very few settings, and only one adventure in forty years. Paper and pens are cheap. Full-colour hardbacks printed on glossy paper are in no way better for me than black & white softcovers printed on plain paper (or even ePub files). Most art in RPGs is a waste of space, and background images behind the text make everything worse. I’ve never used minis or terrain. Half of a pint of dice is a plethora. When I wanted a big glossy art book I bought Hockney’s Secret Knowledge.

The reasons that the Eighties were a golden age were (1) that I was in my late teens and early twenties, and that (2) RPG was a cheap, cheap, cheap pastime for penniless schoolkids and undergrads, with no colour printing, no minis, and adventures that we made up in play.