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Post Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:27 pm 
 

FYI....got an email today from drivethrurpg:


[i]You Have One Day Left To Purchase The Serenity And Battlestar Galactica RPGs from Margaret Weis Productions!

That's right, after 1/31/11 they will no longer be available and these classic Cortex books will be gone for good. MWP has slashed prices and is offering some amazing deals on these awesome sci-fi adventures, but you have to act fast, because once they are gone, they are gone[i/]

Might be a future collectible since they are OOP and soon the downloads will be unavailable.

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Post Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:50 am 
 

Once a product is released elecronically on the internet, it can never be 'deleted' from the iternet. It will always be available for people to download. The only thing the author can control is whether or not they want money coming in for their product being online, and whether or not they want the hassle of having to maintain the web presence.

These books will be available online forever.


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Post Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:00 pm 
 

Badmike wrote:FYI....got an email today from drivethrurpg:

[i]You Have One Day Left To Purchase The Serenity And Battlestar Galactica RPGs from Margaret Weis Productions!

That's right, after 1/31/11 they will no longer be available and these classic Cortex books will be gone for good. MWP has slashed prices and is offering some amazing deals on these awesome sci-fi adventures, but you have to act fast, because once they are gone, they are gone[i/]

Might be a future collectible since they are OOP and soon the downloads will be unavailable.

Mike  B.


Huh, figured I'd check out the Margaret Weis Productions website as well, to see if the Serenity print books are still being sold. Sure enough, seems they've pulled them as well. The pickings for Serenity RPG on eBay seem pretty slim at the moment too. I picked these up (I think there are 5 products including the screen) as they came out, not to play or as an investment but just because I like Firefly/Serenity.

Anyone think these are going to go up in value?

  

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Post Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:28 pm 
 

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Anyone think these are going to go up in value?


"Up in value" meaning more than cover price?  No.  They were mass produced enough and have been available for a long time so anyone wanting them for cover price will have bought them. I'm sure there will be a bit of a price jump right now but in a few months, they will be back down.  I liked the show and wouldn't mind picking them up but it would only be at less than half of cover price (realistically I would want them for 25-30% of cover price).  Amazon has a lot of copies for sale in the 30% off cover price as well so no shortage.

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:07 am 
 

Mars wrote:
"Up in value" meaning more than cover price?  No.  They were mass produced enough and have been available for a long time so anyone wanting them for cover price will have bought them. I'm sure there will be a bit of a price jump right now but in a few months, they will be back down.  I liked the show and wouldn't mind picking them up but it would only be at less than half of cover price (realistically I would want them for 25-30% of cover price).  Amazon has a lot of copies for sale in the 30% off cover price as well so no shortage.


WAAAAY overpriced.  Will buy, possibly, at 10% of the cover price.

Hey guys!  Way to make sure no one plays your niche game!  :thumright:


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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 7:13 am 
 

Mars wrote:
"Up in value" meaning more than cover price?  No.  They were mass produced enough and have been available for a long time so anyone wanting them for cover price will have bought them. I'm sure there will be a bit of a price jump right now but in a few months, they will be back down.  I liked the show and wouldn't mind picking them up but it would only be at less than half of cover price (realistically I would want them for 25-30% of cover price).  Amazon has a lot of copies for sale in the 30% off cover price as well so no shortage.


Doubtless you're right, though I do wonder if some of the more obscure Serenity titles (Out in the Black, for instance) which surely had smaller print runs might become more sought after as people pick up the main rulebook and realize there are other books. As you say, though, cover price is too much and probably always will be.

  

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:02 am 
 

Long term, sure, I think people will be looking to pick up niche stuff like Serenity and BSG RPG titles.  Anything cross-genre like this has a chance to go up in value.  Even now I don't see it in the secondary stores so I'm wondering how many are actually out there.

Then again, there is a lot of the Babylon 5 stuff out there, it's cross genre, it's been a few years, and it's still worth nada.

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:36 am 
 

Obtaining a status where books sell for more than cover price is very rare.  Out of all the niche stuff, the only two examples I can think of are the Dune RPG book and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG The Magic Box - only the 1 Buffy book the rest are easy to find for less.

The various Star Trek RPGs, Farscape, newer LotR, etc all sell for much less than cover.  Even most D&D stuff sells for less than cover price.  Its only a few rare items (probably less than 1% of all RPG stuff) that commands more than cover.

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:23 pm 
 

Mars wrote:Obtaining a status where books sell for more than cover price is very rare.  Out of all the niche stuff, the only two examples I can think of are the Dune RPG book and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG The Magic Box - only the 1 Buffy book the rest are easy to find for less.

The various Star Trek RPGs, Farscape, newer LotR, etc all sell for much less than cover.  Even most D&D stuff sells for less than cover price.  Its only a few rare items (probably less than 1% of all RPG stuff) that commands more than cover.


There are always exceptions though.  All the MERP stuff by ICE goes for premium prices now.  The Star Wars RPG, both d6 and d20, can go for cover or more (much more for some rarities). There are actually a few 1E Star Trek books that go for quite a bit.

I think more telling than the genre, is was it a system that people enjoyed and played?  Are they STILL playing it? In the case of MERP and WEG Star Wars, the answer is yes.  The novelty items, however, as you mentioned are left to gather dust.

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:35 pm 
 

Do people really still play MERP? Did they ever? My sense has always been that the quality of the products is very high (writing, maps, etc.), but that most people who bought them were LotR enthusiasts first and foremost, even if they also happened to be gamers. Haven't the prices risen significantly since the films were released in the early aughts? That says to me that, playability aside, its more of a Tolkien thing than a gaming thing. The adventures seem to go for a lot less money than the campaign setting books, which tells me that people are buying MERP primarily to read, not play.

The Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium RPG is an outlier, I'd say. There were very few published (250?), and they weren't really distributed. As a big Dune fan I'd love to read through the book, but I doubt I'd be thrilled with the game system, and there's no way I'd ever pay the ridiculous amount these normally command.

  

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Post Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:58 pm 
 

Badmike wrote:
There are always exceptions though.  All the MERP stuff by ICE goes for premium prices now.  The Star Wars RPG, both d6 and d20, can go for cover or more (much more for some rarities). There are actually a few 1E Star Trek books that go for quite a bit.

I think more telling than the genre, is was it a system that people enjoyed and played?  Are they STILL playing it? In the case of MERP and WEG Star Wars, the answer is yes.  The novelty items, however, as you mentioned are left to gather dust.

Mike B.


ICE MERP does well.  In my experience SW D6 or D20 does fairly crap.  Some of the later D6 stuff is harder to find but only a couple items really sell for cover or more.  In the past there have been ones like Tramp light Freighter that have done well but even those are cheap these days.  For the D20 stuff, the only thing that I have seen get any money lately are 2-3 of the SAGA edition ones and 1 or 2 of the miniatures scenario books that are tougher to find.  All the original version WotC books are cheap.  I've been trying to sell lots of these with little interest over the last 4 months.

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 12:59 pm 
 

Badmike wrote:
There are always exceptions though.  All the MERP stuff by ICE goes for premium prices now.  The Star Wars RPG, both d6 and d20, can go for cover or more (much more for some rarities). There are actually a few 1E Star Trek books that go for quite a bit.

I think more telling than the genre, is was it a system that people enjoyed and played?  Are they STILL playing it? In the case of MERP and WEG Star Wars, the answer is yes.  The novelty items, however, as you mentioned are left to gather dust.

Mike B.


I would agree, there are plenty of rpg books that sell for more than original retail.  Usually it is one or two books instead of the entire series.  

WFRP, 7th Sea, Star Wars, MERP, World of Warcraft, Ravenloft d20, Kult are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

  

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:39 pm 
 

NMilty wrote:WFRP, 7th Sea, Star Wars, MERP, World of Warcraft, Ravenloft d20, Kult are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.


With all of these lines (MERP being the exception), there are only 1 or 2 books that sell for more than cover in a line of many - even for these lines it is probably 5 out of every 100 books.  I think the notion of "plenty" is a wrong one.  I think there are plenty of people who try and sell these books for more than cover price but I think run on an open auction, very few books sell for more than cover price.  Most of these lines peaked near the end of their publication dates.  7th Sea had Pirate Nations and Montaigne that were out of print first and could command $75-$100+ each while the other books were still in print.  I bought 3 of each at cover price from a store in Canada to resell on Ebay.  But now, they are fairly easy to find for less than cover.  Only the last 3 or 4 books seem to get any kind of value nowadays.

Just out curiosity, which Ravenloft D20 books do you put in this category?  I'm at a bit of a loss for naming any - maybe the deck?  All of the Gazetteers (even the high number ones) generally sell for less than cover.  I'm actually not sure why they ever sold for more than cover.  Its another one where it is fairly easy to find a gameshop that still has them on the shelf.  Again, Star Wars, I can really only name 2 books in all the D6 and D20 that sell for more than cover.

Maybe there is a difference in definition here.  I consider a book to "sell for more than cover price" when the majority of sales (maybe even 60-70% of sales) are above cover price.  There are plenty of examples where every once in a while a book will sell into this range but if the typical sale is below then I don't count it.

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:05 pm 
 

Mars wrote:
With all of these lines (MERP being the exception), there are only 1 or 2 books that sell for more than cover in a line of many - even for these lines it is probably 5 out of every 100 books.  I think the notion of "plenty" is a wrong one.  I think there are plenty of people who try and sell these books for more than cover price but I think run on an open auction, very few books sell for more than cover price.  Most of these lines peaked near the end of their publication dates.  7th Sea had Pirate Nations and Montaigne that were out of print first and could command $75-$100+ each while the other books were still in print.  I bought 3 of each at cover price from a store in Canada to resell on Ebay.  But now, they are fairly easy to find for less than cover.  Only the last 3 or 4 books seem to get any kind of value nowadays.

Maybe there is a difference in definition here.  I consider a book to "sell for more than cover price" when the majority of sales (maybe even 60-70% of sales) are above cover price.  There are plenty of examples where every once in a while a book will sell into this range but if the typical sale is below then I don't count it.


Mark I have to disagree. I haven't sold anything at auction for many, many years and continue to get far above cover for most items that sell steadily at fixed prices.   For instance, 7th Sea items are almost always over cover price, particularly the Nation books which sell steadily at twice cover for many of the titles.  Seeing as I get these at half cover or less the profit margin is comfortable enough for me to make a living selling this stuff.

Auction sales are pretty much a dead zone right now unless the item is rare or unusual; most reputable dealers use set prices and Buy It Now. I have records of sales going back several years and consistently many of these lines will sell for me far above cover price.  I can't even name an item from the last few years in the categories of WFRP, MERP, 7th Sea, or most D&D that sold at less than cover if I'm willing to wait a few weeks for someone to buy it at the listed price. Then again, I NEVER pay cover price for items I resell, perhaps the problem is speculators buying stuff at cover and attempting to make a large enough profit to justify their investment.

I think another issue is most resellers want a LARGE profit from an item, and tend to be discouraged if they don't triple or quadruple (or more) their investment.  Personally, twice what I paid for the item is often sufficient profit, for example in the case of Pirate Nations for 7th Sea I have sold many copies at $45 or so while other dealers continue to list them at $75-100 dollars, clearly not making sales on the item but for some reason hoping someone overpays.  Another example is the STar Wars 2nd edition revised rulebook, which I blow out at $35 whenever I get them, usually at half cover ($12.50 or so). I can see someone buying one for full cover ($25) being discouraged in their attempts to getting a price that would allow them a decent profit.

I would agree that if  you pay full price for say a Star Wars 2nd edition Revised Rulebook and put it up on ebay for auction you are going to be very, very disappointed more often than not.  Anyone willing to list as a BIN and be willing to wait until it sells will ALWAYS see a profit...my records show I have sold ten Star Wars 2nd Edition Revised Rulebooks the last few years, none for less than $35 (some for more), and not purchased at over $13.  For my purposes that's pretty solid; some might not agree though. I can add quite a few Star Wars d6 items to this list with similar profits....but you have to be patient enough to let it sit for awhile!

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:26 pm 
 

Not to overshare, but here is a list of Star Wars d6 products that ALWAYS sell over cover price for me, sometimes by a lot:

Stock Ships (with ships attached)
Rules of Engagement Specforce
2nd Edition Revised Rulebook
Pirates and Privateers
Alien Encounters Compendium
Gundark's Fantastic Tech
Platt's Smuggler's Guide
Tramp Freighters
Alien Races (revised)
Hideouts and Strongholds
Wretched Hives of Scum and Villainy
Aliens Enemies and Allies


Just a sampling there are more (the Adventure Journals sell pretty well) but you get the picture....

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:02 pm 
 

I totally agree with Mike.  While I am not as willing to give away my business model, I can name seven 2nd Ed WFRP titles that sell for much more than cover, and at least half of the 7th sea titles.

As for ravenloft, I just sold Gazetteer Vol 5 for $60 two days ago, and I recently sold the DM guide and player's handbook for close to that.  I know that Masque of the Red Death and 3-4 others sell well above cover.  

I think you can include Planescape in the dicussion.  There are at least 10 titles that sell very well.


Now that I have given away all of my state secrets my profits will float away to oblivion.

:oops:

  


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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:47 pm 
 

Might as well give it all up....

Take advantage of the lull in Merp prices and especially Decipher Lord of the Rings Rpg Books (I know it's crap)!!  When the hobbit movie hits the theaters in 2012, look out.

I did this with Indiana Jones and Star Wars when the last group of those movies came out.  All of their respective rpg books were easy to find at retail or cheaper, especially the WEG line for Star Wars, and prices appreciated 2-3x in short time.  The hobbit will be huge, and great for fantasy genre items as well.  

Along the same lines, the Game of Thrones will premiere on HBO in April.  It's not the same as a blockbuster theater release, but it could have some impact on it's products.

  

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Post Posted: Thu Feb 03, 2011 10:21 pm 
 

NMilty wrote:Might as well give it all up....

Take advantage of the lull in Merp prices and especially Decipher Lord of the Rings Rpg Books (I know it's crap)!!  When the hobbit movie hits the theaters in 2012, look out.

I did this with Indiana Jones and Star Wars when the last group of those movies came out.  All of their respective rpg books were easy to find at retail or cheaper, especially the WEG line for Star Wars, and prices appreciated 2-3x in short time.  The hobbit will be huge, and great for fantasy genre items as well.  

Along the same lines, the Game of Thrones will premiere on HBO in April.  It's not the same as a blockbuster theater release, but it could have some impact on it's products.


Especially since those products are hard to find anyway.  I'd take a flier on any Game of Thrones items, including the boardgames (are they out of print?) if you can get them cheaper than cover price.

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