Champions International Supplement Pricing

[Steve]

I'm wondering if I'm just becoming a cheapskate in my old age, but the pricing of the latest Champions International supplements seems a bit high to me.

 

Champions International: Costa Azul is 45 pages for $15 or about $0.33/page.

Champions International: Taqiristan is 16 pages for $7.50 or about $0.47/page.

Champions International: Lugendu is 16 pages for $7.50 or about $0.47/page.

Champions International: Transnistria is 23 pages for $7.50 or about $0.33/page.

 

Compared to that, the new Western Hero adventure (The Taming of Tascora) is $4.99 for 49 pages or about $0.10/page and Western Hero goes for $15 for 276 pages or about $0.05/page.

 

Champions Complete is $20 for 240 pages or about $0.08/page.

 

I'd be okay with paying up to $7 or $8 for Costa Azul and maybe as much as $4 for each of the other three, but not more than that.

 

Am I all alone in thinking this?

[Lord Liaden]

You are not. I've mentioned the same thing elsewhere on the forums, after privately raising the issue with the Secret Masters.

 

For me it isn't simply the length of the products, but also that their layout is very basic, not up to the standards of any previous Hero ebook; that they're nearly devoid of artwork and maps; and that some of them are even thin in providing NPCs. As one Herophile I corresponded with put it, we're paying professional-grade price point for amateur-grade product.

 

FWIW I have it on good authority that Hero considers these sectional ebooks to not be finished products, and more will be done with them when they're collected in a single volume. But if they're going that route I believe that should be reflected in the price. That also convinced me that I should wait for the whole book rather than buy any more individual chapters. Which really bums me out, because I thought the sectional book concept had potential, but IMHO this approach will torpedo it before it gets a fair chance.

 

 

[Black Ops]

Quote Lord Liaden:

FWIW I have it on good authority that Hero considers these sectional ebooks to not be finished products, and more will be done with them when they're collected in a single volume. But if they're going that route I believe that should be reflected in the price. That also convinced me that I should wait for the whole book rather than buy any more individual chapters. Which really bums me out, because I thought the sectional book concept had potential, but IMHO this approach will torpedo it before it gets a fair chance.

 

I agree.

I bought all four products and was severly disappointed.

It read like some Baedecker in some parts and the Champions part was also rather thin.

If they will make a collected book I will wait for the finished product, but I will not pay that

amount of money for any further products of that line.

[Steve]

Another supplement was just released. Are they selling many at their current price points?

 

Even without much art and substandard production values, I’d still buy them if they were about a third of what they are selling for now. Ten to fifteen cents a page would be reasonable to me.

 

As things stand, I’m waiting on the collection to be published in a year or two.

[Lord Liaden]

I'm really torn over this, because I want more Champions Universe stuff, and I want to help Hero Games, and I'm afraid the collection may be scrapped if the chapters don't sell; but artificially inflating sales of what I consider a substandard product strikes me as sending the wrong message. Particularly galling in that I gave some editorial input and suggestions to Steve Long over the first drafts of his chapters, and I'd love to see whether he did anything with them.

 

I've never thought like that about any Hero product since DOJ bought the company, and it makes me sad.