Why do the PDFs cost more than the hardcovers?

[CruelDespot]

I do most of my gaming online and I like to travel light, so I was glad that Mongoose offers the MRQ books as PDFs for sale.

But something prevents me from clicking on the button to buy a PDF that costs MORE than the physical book.

The PDF Elric on Drivethrurpg $21 costs more than the Hardcover Elric on Amazon $20

Tthe PDF Lankhmar at Drivethrurpg $24.5 also costs more that the hardcover Lankhmar on Amazon $23

I mean....C'mon!

 

[Loz]

The Elric book is priced at £20 on Mongoose, which equates to about $40 US. So for the PDF, its £10 via Drivethru - or half the hardback price.

Retailers can set their own prices based on volume purchasing and sales. The manufacturer can suggest the price, but the retailer decides it.

The watchword is always to shop around, but in terms of general pricing as Mongoose suggests it, the PDF is cheaper than the hardback. Of course, the Amazon US price might be a misprint. Interestingly, EoM isn't listed on Amazon UK, although Bright Shadows is - along with some used copies at a reduced price, despite the fact that the book has only just been published and cannot have reached many (if any) customers yet!

 

[Mark Mohrfield]

Well, there's always Drivethru's biannual sale, during which prices from participating companies (which includes Mongoose) are, if memory serves, 20% off.

 

[Nickbergquist]

I tend to think the drivethrurpg prices are a bit overpriced for most sites, but it is true that retailer discounts can reduce the print edition prices considerably.

Out of curiosity, where/how do you do online gaming? I'm interested in the process, as I may find myself in a situation similar to yours with a lot of travel.

 

[CruelDespot]

There are a lot of really good forums for online gaming. http://online-roleplaying.com/forums and http://www.myth-weavers.com/forumhome.php? are both quite good and dependable. Unfortunately, both are mostly focused on D&D.

A really good PbP (play by post) is the ultimate RPG experience IMHO, because everyone can write their posts in a literary style so that it is like cooperatively written fantasy novel. It goes slow but only requires a few minutes a day.

This is a hard thing to find, though. A lot of games stall due to players or DMs disappearing. It is hard to keep a stable group on hand long enough to do a real campaign due to the slow pace, and the anonymity of the internet makes it easy to drop out.

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

Online Stores generally sell at Discounts. I guess they buy so much, they get them cheaper...

FRPGAMES has atleast a 20% reduction in prices. But they ALL make most of that up with shipping charges.

So, when you buy the book online you have to incluide thier shipping fees, which makes the PDF cheaper.

 

[GianniVacca]

A really good PbP (play by post) is the ultimate RPG experience IMHO, because everyone can write their posts in a literary style so that it is like cooperatively written fantasy novel. It goes slow but only requires a few minutes a day.

This is a hard thing to find, though. A lot of games stall due to players or DMs disappearing.

I have never seen a [true] pbem game last more than a year/a year and a half. Our current RQ2 pbem game has been going on for more than that, but I suspect the reason is that the campaign started out as a tabletop game and only became a pbem game because our GM moved to Germany, so it is not a standard pbem game.

Myself I'm running a PbP game on my blog. It is going on OK but, again, I suspect the reason is that I only have two players so, again, it is not a standard pbem game.

 

[CruelDespot]

It's true that most PBPs fizzle out quickly, but some last. I've been running one for over four years.

Unfortunately, it is D&D. I started it before I realized how much I don't like the D&D rules. We are on the last chapter of the story, and I hope I can convince the players to do a BRP or runequest type rules system for the next campaign.