| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 10 Apr 2012 : 17:27:14
What would you say the median age of the typical Forgotten Realms fan is, if we define "typical Forgotten Realms Fan" as someone who owns at least one Realms sourcebook or one Realms novel and has an active interest in the setting, whether that interest is expressed through talking about the setting online, playing the video games, demonstrated by a desire to continue buying Realms products or by the person running a D&D game set in the Realms?
Do you think the Realms fan base is both large enough and old enough to have the kind of disposable income and purchasing power to justify a $100 price tag for dense, Realmslore filled products?
You can probably guess I’m envisioning an encyclopedic series of books comprised of Ed’s home notes—and to a degree you’d be right, but the seed for my questions came from a stray thought I had at work: what if WotC went and published one of the many books written by NPCs in the Realms (quotes from which are used as chapter headers in any number of Forgotten Realms novels)?
WotC could ask Ed to write such a book, then print and bind it in the Realmsian fashion so it looks like something that could be inserted right into a future Realms movie or TV show as a prop (thus making it look totally awesome on your bookshelf) and be completely readable.
Would you be interested in something like that? How about if it cost $100?
EDIT: cleaned up the questions and wording of this post |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Eilserus |
Posted - 29 Apr 2012 : 21:07:00
32, married and three daughters (yikes!). I'm pretty tight with cash on what I spend things on, but I'd easily pay 60 to 100 bucks on a sourcebook if it was really good. Pricetag isn't really an issue when you considering going out to the local watering hole with friends typically costs a $80 to buy a hangover. Got my start in the 2E days with the Realms...think I was 10. First book I ever bought was Streams of Silver at that age...didn't know what a trilogy was back then. ;) Granny was horrified of the dwarf (Bruenor) with skulls on cover and didn't think I should read such things. hahah. Oh memories. ;) |
| Alisttair |
Posted - 29 Apr 2012 : 19:36:38
Soon to be 31. Married and working on having a child. |
| Xnella Moonblade-Thann |
Posted - 27 Apr 2012 : 06:59:57
Let's see...I'm still a child by elven standards (not quite hit the quarter-century mark yet), working at a 40-hour job just barely making enough to buy something rpg- or Realms-related once a month (usually nothing more than $100 USD), and not much room left in my 12'x15' bedroom for the books to go. Can't put them anyplace else because the cats or dog might decided to "redecorate" with such treasures. Too bad i don't have a few bags of holding... |
| Markustay |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 22:15:10
Rather then further lengthen my already lengthy post (thanks to the edit), I would just like to add...
After reading other peoples responses, I think releasing Ed-lore in smaller chunks - say 3 books, once every four months, and THEN releasing a 3-in-1 deluxe, limited edition (just before X-Mas, you sneaky gits!) is the best way to proceed (a combination Omnibus and Annual/Year's Best).
Knowing the copious amount of lore Ed has, and can produce, I would imagine they could continue with this model for years to come.
This way, you get your day-to-day daily-wear splats, and your cherished collector's volumes... in an on-going series... on your bookshelf.
I'd still like to see some sort of boxed-set as well at some point, with the kind of maps and other gimmicky items in it (who didn't love opening those 1e/2e boxed-sets? It was like getting a Christmas present!)
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| Markustay |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 18:12:06
I have kids older then many of you - 21 & 24. 
I also have a 14 and 10 year old - all boys. I recently considered making another - there's just not enough of me in the world (okay - you guys can stop throwing-up now). 
I was born August 30, 1963. My earliest memory was of the NY World's Fair... in '64. Since it ran to '65, the oldest I could ave been was 2 (and considering I recall running across a room to see the amazing push-button phones - I had to have been at least a toddler). My family says I am nuts... yet I remember several exhibits vividly.
That makes me - as of right now - 48. I first heard about D&D when I was 13, but it was one of those 'underground things' back then, and mostly college kids played (with photo-copied rules). By the time I was 15 I got my hands on a rulebook, and started playing right around 16 - that would be 1979. I used to go to Stonybrook college (SUNY) every Friday after school by train (it was only one stop), and take the train home late Sunday night. They let me sleep in the Science Fiction Forum - a Scifi/fantasy-specific library in the basement of one of the dorms (and anyone attending I-Con should ask about it). I did that for two years straight. Not sure what taught me more - the school, or the college girls. 
D&D had become more then a game - it was a way for an overly-smart kid to find acceptance and have a social outlet (I never really 'fit-in' in HS). Without it, I may have been a statistic. I thought I should share that, because I oft-times come off strangely emotional about a 'silly game'.
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EDIT: Ack! 
It seems I missed the point entirely (my bad for reading the thread-title, and then just the last few posts on pg.2). YES, I would pay that price for something amazing. ATM I have zero disposable income, but will hopefully have boatloads of it in the very near future.
If you are referring to the new "Elminster's Realms" book - I think that would be an amazing approach - faux leather-bound, reading very much like a Volo's Guide, but much broader in-scope. Part-story, part resource, and all ED Greenwood. To me, that is the ideal Campaign Setting Guide.
And then (perhaps the following holiday season) a cheaper edition, but in a 'gift box', which would include some spiffy maps, play-aids (whatever those will be in 5e), and perhaps a little in-game chapbook (what one would actually look and feel like, if one were in Waterdeep). Your choice of subject - but an extended version of One Comes, Unheralded, to Zirta would be friggin' SWEET.
And yes, I do believe you can get people to pay that big price tag TWICE, if the box has things not found elsewhere, and also because many of us like to have two copies of everything -a dog-eared one we read over-and-over, and one we put on a shelf to show-off to our friends. If you spread the releases out by a year (and include a gorgeous map), you can pull it off. Its precisely the kind of gift people buy for the 'gamer who has everything'. Throw in a limited edition, pewter Elminster figurine and its a no-brainer. |
| Zireael |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 14:12:07
I' m a bit over 20. $100 is a lot in my country's money. Hell, even $30 is a lot. $10 or thereabouts (the price of a FR novel) is the max I'd pay. |
| Patrakis |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 02:08:10
I'm 46, in love for the past 11 years with a wonderful lady and have 2 young kids of 5 and 7.
I was around when the grey box came out and have been collecting everything FR related up to the 4th edition. Price has never been an issue concerning Realms product so i'll buy any 5e lore if they come back to the realms i love.
I have been an active DM for the last 28 years with at least a weekly game.
Pat |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 01:38:30
I'm 41 years old, married for 11 years and have three kids.
I'm fortunate to have the means to indulge most of my hobby whims in terms of purchases, but little in the way of free time to actually use them (i.e. I haven't sat down for a game of D&D for oh, 21 years or so now ...). I would buy more FR stuff no matter what it was. Heck, I have a DDI subscription simply to get Ed's ongoing articles.
I'm one of those completist tragics. It's a bonus if the products are actually good. I have however gone off the majority of the 4E novels. I've been very selective in what I've purchased as some of the authors have not excited me at all based on their thematic prose choice and experience with pre-4E scribblings.
I'll buy the 5E Realms release immediately, should there be one. Hopefully it won't stand pristine on my bookshelf like the 4E version does.
-- George Krashos
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| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 01:15:01
Ah. I keep forgetting how that warps real-time.... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 18 Apr 2012 : 01:06:21
quote:
Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis
Wow, you mean I'm older than Sage?!??!! Incredible....
Remember, my age is dependent upon SageTime.  |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 17 Apr 2012 : 22:44:04
Wow, you mean I'm older than Sage?!??!! Incredible....
Ahem- dating myself here, but: 35(high-school in 90's, as someone guessed), married(12 yrs next month. Huzzah!), no children(that I'm actually raising, anyway- did have one, but she was adopted out. Still in contact, though.), and two cats that I only get to see when I visit my parents, as my current apartment doesn't allow cats. My budget would not normally allow for a book over 50$, so I'd only buy such a book if it were PURE Realmslore- with little crunch, and done by Ed. Preferably edition-neutral. |
| Snotlord |
Posted - 17 Apr 2012 : 21:48:11
Vital stats: 38, same girlfriend for 21 years, cat.
I'll happily pay 100 USD for lore books of FR goodness. I prefer standard, but solid binding - a fantasy movie prop dont interest me. I also prefer a solid a book with a solid focus and a good editor, like the Old Grey Box - random notes about marsemban housing or Mirt's tailor's third cousin not so much. |
| EltonJ |
Posted - 15 Apr 2012 : 17:58:15
I'm grumpy.
I'm too put out by fourth to buy anything from WotC. Okay, I'm whining. I will not buy a $100 book from WotC even for bragging rights. The reason is, I am sick and tired; and tired and sick to put up with a company's shennagans on the Forgotten Realms. I have more than enough resources to run the Forgotten Realms game I want. :)
If I am going to buy anything related to the Realms again that is current, I'm going to wait until the Intellectual Pooperty laws are null and void and everything is owned by the fans. I trust fan work over official work any day (sorry Steven and Erik), although you might get conflicting stories and extraplorations, that's really part of the charm. I really think that the Spellplague was a gimmick to boost Realms sales. Or Wizards listened to a minority of the fan base.
I set all of my campaigns pre-Spellplague where the Realms made logical sense. :)
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| Thrasymachus |
Posted - 15 Apr 2012 : 17:22:17
oops |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 15 Apr 2012 : 16:47:47
quote:
Originally posted by Thrasymachus
Didn’t they streamline a lot of 4th Edition because there people complained there was to much? There was to much lore, to many gods, to much map, and so on.
If that was the case, then I don’t think Greenwood Lore would sell. It’s just too much to sell.
The complaint, however, came more from people that weren't fans of the setting. So it's not really germane to this discussion. |
| Thrasymachus |
Posted - 15 Apr 2012 : 04:24:13
Median age at a guess would be late 30’s, and probably driven down to early 30’s when you add fans via video games like NWN, and so on.
But Realmslore by Greenwood at $100, sure. And I think I would be in the minority, because how you define a "typical Forgotten Realms Fan" is a person who has spent about $100 total, and that’s assuming they bought a $50 dollar game. For that fan to spend $100 seems unlikely.
I bought that Annotated Elminster hardcover, and have yet to open it. I am in my Richard Lee Byers phase, and it’s going to have to wait. But I had to have the Annotated Elminster white hardcover.
Didn’t they streamline a lot of 4th Edition because there people complained there was to much? There was to much lore, to many gods, to much map, and so on.
If that was the case, then I don’t think Greenwood Lore would sell. It’s just too much to sell.
On the other side, if those Premium 1st Editions that come out in July sell, than there are more grey beards about than I thought. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 14 Apr 2012 : 05:33:01
I'm 25 and buy the novels, and occasionally, sourcebooks. Haven't tried the games. No time. |
| Yoss |
Posted - 12 Apr 2012 : 19:59:07
I'm almost 30, and have been known to spend oddly larger sums of money than I should on things very much like, with a price tag akin to, what you're talking about. But I'd be inclined to say no, I wouldn't because since I don't play (never have, most likely never will) and only really buy novels, we will keep the list of excess expenditures to money already spent in the past on sourcebooks I've already bought for no purpose other than reading pleasure. Because I get the impression that might just be a little silly. |
| gomez |
Posted - 12 Apr 2012 : 16:26:28
45, married, no kids, two cats.
We use euros, but I could buy a $40 book once every few months. Thiose would be sourcebooks, as I generally buy pockets for novels, which is much cheaper.
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| sleyvas |
Posted - 12 Apr 2012 : 15:53:05
40, divorced, no kids. Been "playing" since I was 12, though I freely admit that about the last 5 years has been dead. If the sourcebook were edition independent(i.e. realms LORE, not necessarily crunch) and dealt with pre-spellplague stuff, I'd be interested. The Grand History of the Realms is a perfect example of the kind of information, though I'd prefer a layout more along the lines of something focusing on X topic from start to finish, then Y topic, etc..... (i.e. the Grand History is a great research piece, but its not the kind of sourcebook that I'd like to see everything follow). I would however like to see the individual timelines for X topic preceding each topic like used to be done. |
| Darsson Spellmaker |
Posted - 12 Apr 2012 : 07:32:14
I'm 31, in a LTR, childless, my money goes mainly to paying off student loans and splitting the monthlies on a $1700 apartment. Started playing AD&D at age 15, and stuck with it through 3.5 D&D and Pathfinder. FR has always been near and dear to my heart, I'll admit.
That said, I would buy a $100 FR sourcebook, but that would be my one and only RPG-related purchase for the next 6 months to a year.
Not sure if WoTC would consider that a sustainable business model or not. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 14:09:28
Typical age is probably late 20's and older. I'm 29 and have only been a Realms fan for a short span (approx 12-15 years) when compared to people who've grown up with the setting, starting at the OGB. I don't even own that supplement, but nor would I want to *shrugs*.
I think a price tag that high isn't something the majority of people are going to buy, even your typical Realms fan. There are some who love collectables and would buy it in an instant, but overall if something is over $50.00 for one product then I think people might only buy it if it's greatly useful for their campaign. I know I wouldn't but it just for detailed Realmslore. |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 12:58:29
I can afford it, but I am not sure it is something I would appropriate over some old LP's or something like that. I would pay that price for Greenwood, but honestly not much else by now, and even then probably only for something close to the pre-published version. One note though, I will pay extra for sturdy binding and good paper quality, but not for some "limited edition" in leather, medieval binding etc. Preferably without glossy paper or screaming colour art.
But a book "written" by a Faerunian. No I wouldn't buy that. I don't like the 1st. person form in rpg materials. |
| WalkerNinja |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 12:53:23
32 years old, married, one child, full time professional
I buy novels only since my game time has been reduced to virtually nill. |
| xedrick |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 10:41:48
And I would want to see PURELY flavor-text style fluff. I don't want to see dice rolls or charts (other than perhaps d100s to generate random buildings, etc). This way the book doesn't go out of date, it's purely meant as intellectual stimulation along the road to game creation.
Give me maps of cities, the big ones and the small ones. Maps that I can use in my game regardless of year or edition. Maps, stores, merchants, rumors, nearby adventure sites.
I recently used the AD&D Calimport supplement to outline the city in my 3.5e game. I had everything I needed to outline everything my players ended up doing, plus way, way more. Enough more to easily come back to Calimport and have more to explore and more suprises to use to fluff my own story.
If the supplement were done in the style of these older supplements, and as large as you're talking about, as nicely produced as you're talking about, I would definately buy it.
But rest assured, I would be sitting in the armchair in the bookstore reading it for many hours before I dropped that kind of cash, especially with what's been released lately. |
| Kentinal |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 10:22:11
Well 1000 pages does not scare me, I read phone books. As to paying 100 that might be a problem, it would have to be very good. Also as another indicated it could quickly become out dated in a few years as a source book.
Age, between 8 and 80, standard answer I have provided for the last 10 or 15 years. |
| xedrick |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 10:12:31
I'm a [anonymous] college graduate, and I would definately buy the book you're mentioning. It would be hefty to lug around, but I would really just need it for game preparation, no reason to bring it to the gaming table. Also, its too valuable to leave my house, EVER.
It might take me a month or two to save up to buy it, but I would definately do it.
I should note, though, that it would have to be old-style lore, 2nd ed style. I personally play 3.5, but you absolutely can NOT beat the way those 2nd edition books were written. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 07:41:56
Well I am just a 23 year old college student so I am pretty much dependent on the good graces of my parents for any purchases so p a 100$ book is just not going to get get past the approval board. |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 06:07:06
Just turned 38, engaged and I've my share of debt. Other than subscribing to DDI I don't actively purchase D&D books anymore, though I'll shell out for a current Realms novel.
For me to pay $100, the book would just have to be really awesome: dense with pages, thick as two core rulebooks stacked on top of each other and written from the authentic points of view as found in a lot of the quotes in all the novel chapter headers. Some of the NPCs listed as authors seem like they'd be really cool to read more about. |
| Old Man Harpell |
Posted - 11 Apr 2012 : 05:43:30
46, married, one child (19 year old college student, also a gamer/DM), only major expense that is non-negotiable is about $4,000 of yearly property tax on our house just south of Seattle (might be less...I am barred from opening county and state tax documents).
I have tried to get my hands on 'All Things Realms', including the 4th Edition duo. My last purchase was a $15.00 supplement for Airship Pirates this last weekend at a local SF/Fantasy convention, as I already had anything Realms-related the merchants had on display.
Can they justify a $100.00 price tag? I have no idea. But I'd buy it, certainly, if it didn't completely destroy my sense of Realms lore and continuity.
- OMH |
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