The cost of entry to the HERO System is absolutely insane.
My group of friends and I have been playing Star Wars Saga Edition for a while. We're looking for a new RPG (in part because we want to get away from the random-ized D&D like gameplay, in part because we're sick of Star Wars). We tried Eclipse Phase, couldn't get into it, we tried some of the White Wolf vampire stuff and couldn't get into it.
One of our guys was a Champions Online player and suggested Champions. Everybody seemed into the idea, I read some positive reviews online. Then I looked online and checked out the prices. Some of our players are in college, don't have a lot of free income. I, myself, as the GM, just spent a fortune on the rulebooks for Eclipse Phase and the White Wolf books.
I come here and check out the Champions base book. Oh, ok. I need the HERO rulebooks. Fine with me - the idea of generic RPG rules has always appealed to me. Then, I discover there isn't just ONE rulebook, but two.
I'm as much as a corrupt capitalist as anybody, but this pricing is insane. The cost of entry to SWSE was a $30 sourcebook. The cost of entry to Champions is $92. Way overpriced, and quite frankly, I'm leaning towards suggesting that we give one of our other games another try.
Oh yeah, and while I'm all fired up (and this has as much to do with all game publishers, not just HERO games), why are PDF versions of gamebooks just like $5 cheaper than the physical book? Why do I have a feeling that the profit margin is a bit thicker on a PDF book than a printed one. Nice work if you can get it.
As I said, I'm a free-market loving capitalist too. I understand HERO Games has a monopoly on this game and ruleset and can charge whatever they want - but quite frankly, their prices are offensive.
