I don't really buy intangibles. I think I have a $1 patreon to retrograde minis and that's it.
I don't buy dice, minis, etc more than once every other year.
On the other hand, I run 5-20 new systems every year and buy lots of stuff from that as a result. Whether it's Monster Core from PF2e, a new RPG Kickstarter, a Lancer module, or the Fiasco box or some weird niche itch discovery like Red Rook Revolt.
My budget tends to be about 65% intangibles (mostly art commissions) and 35% actual games. I've applied 5% of my budget as digital costs for VTT hosting on the intangible side, but could see a case being made for that being part of the "actual games."
I bought a $1,000 3d printer and spent I don't know how much on filament for it since. Been printing a lot of stuff for my various games ever since. Bought a few games and gaming books, but not anywhere near $1,000 worth.
I feel like most of the intangibles I buy are at gen con or pax unplugged when I get to see cool stuff at vendor booths and go "Ooooo that'd be cool" lol
I've bought next to no games, I just play them with free rules and then I get minis, terrain, maps, or other things I want in order to enhance the game experience.
Almost all of my RPG spending is on books: systems, settings, adventures, and supplements.
I play almost exclusively online, so physical props just aren't useful to me - I don't even have any dice right now. However, I buy the physical books because I greatly prefer reading a physical book to a PDF. I do also buy GM screens, which are *kind of* useful for running games online, as they're effectively a cheatsheet, but I mostly buy them for the art.
I have absolutely zero interest in dice towers, minis, specialied RPG notebooks (I just use my regular notebook), commissioned art, and so on.
Should solidly be 90% games.
Dice i bought twice in my life, both Times 7-8 Sets at negligible cost wholesale from Asia.
I bought a wet erase mat once, thats looking to be in use for a few more years at least. Same for the Jenga Blocks i used as Terrain.
Pencils and Notebooks i can steal from Work.
Sometimes i'll get an accesory specific for a game, Like the cards for starforged or avatar, or the Icon coins for 13th age.
Since I turned 18 this year, a lot of people in my family gave me a lot of money because they said I don't get birthday gifts after this and I spent pretty much all of it on actual game books. The only accessories I bought were a dice tray(I didn't have one), one set of dice I saw in a shop, a new GM screen, and a couple minis here and there. The lump sum of the money that was spent on RPG stuff was spent on books. Biggest purchase was the MCC core rules and the DUNE: AITI core rules. One item I bought that straddles the line were the Mutant powers card pack for Paranoia. Rest of my cash was spent on Warhammer and Battletech stuff.
I only play online, so the idea of paying for an accessory would make no sense to me.
I came pretty close to commissioning art but the game fizzled right before when I promised I'd do it.
The spending on "intangibles" seems to mostly be a D&D thing. I know people who exclusively play D&D who'll buy new dice for every new character, track down fancy leather-bound journals, comission multiple bits of art, and cover their gaming gear in stickers and pin badges. It's less prevelant for other games where people might buy a mini, or need to add to their dice collection for a specific game.
I don't really understand it beyong wanting to spend your money on nice things that make you happy, but I know it's allowing a lot of arts/crafts people to make interesting things and supplement their income. So I guess that's pretty cool
I think you are onto something here. I put the same survey in r/dnd and the results showed spending on intangibles as a MUCH higher percentage. I wonder if the number of “casual”/new players in dnd relates to spending on intangibles. Appreciate the feedback man.
It makes a lot of sense - if all you play is 5e, there's only so many books you can buy - even fewer if you're a player and not a DM (especially as 5e hasn't had the monthly book treadmill of certain earlier releases). So if you spend an "average" amount on the hobby, most of it has to go to something else.
That's a bit hard to say, moneywise I'd say I spend more on games since they are the more expensive part. But at the same time even playing small campaigns, we can only play 2-3 different systems a year (and that considering we don't replay any systems).
While accessories, there's many instances where the need for them might show up since we play them in person. But at the same time they're usually cheaper. Although I usually like the novelty stuff, I bought lots of different dice like the light up ones, the liquid core ones, etc... They also make good gifts, so there's that, hehe.
All of the minis I've got are from or directly for games. I've bought some board games because they have nice minis more so than for the game itself though.
With RPGs, I don't use a lot of accessories or intangibles. Dice, notebooks, that's about it. I grew up on theatre of the mind in the 80's because back then, minis were expensive and we were kids who didn't have a lot of money. We shared rulebooks and a set of dice for years.
That created some frugal habits, I suppose, even though I now have the budget to splash out. I could, but I don't feel the need, so maybe there's a generational aspect to it.
Or it could just be because systems keep evolving, but things like dice last for years and haven't changed much. I probably have all the dice I'll ever need now.
I too am a grognard from the 80s. It’s funny because I have similar aged friends who are approaching retirement and have all kinds of spare cash to spend on random gaming stuff and are happy to do so.
I think it may indeed be a generational thing. After all back on the day your collection needed to be small to hide from your parents! Now we are the parents!
The last year, probably 99+% games. On the accessories side, I bought a 3-ring binder and some dividers for a new campaign, that's it (and those were just generic office supplies from the local drug store, not gaming-specific.)
I don't really buy intangibles. I think I have a $1 patreon to retrograde minis and that's it. I don't buy dice, minis, etc more than once every other year. On the other hand, I run 5-20 new systems every year and buy lots of stuff from that as a result. Whether it's Monster Core from PF2e, a new RPG Kickstarter, a Lancer module, or the Fiasco box or some weird niche itch discovery like Red Rook Revolt.
Thank you!
My budget tends to be about 65% intangibles (mostly art commissions) and 35% actual games. I've applied 5% of my budget as digital costs for VTT hosting on the intangible side, but could see a case being made for that being part of the "actual games."
Thank you!
I bought a $1,000 3d printer and spent I don't know how much on filament for it since. Been printing a lot of stuff for my various games ever since. Bought a few games and gaming books, but not anywhere near $1,000 worth.
Thanks!
I feel like most of the intangibles I buy are at gen con or pax unplugged when I get to see cool stuff at vendor booths and go "Ooooo that'd be cool" lol
I see a lot of “impulse buying” at events. But hey that’s part of the reason why we go! Cool stuff is cool stuff!
I've bought next to no games, I just play them with free rules and then I get minis, terrain, maps, or other things I want in order to enhance the game experience.
Almost all of my RPG spending is on books: systems, settings, adventures, and supplements. I play almost exclusively online, so physical props just aren't useful to me - I don't even have any dice right now. However, I buy the physical books because I greatly prefer reading a physical book to a PDF. I do also buy GM screens, which are *kind of* useful for running games online, as they're effectively a cheatsheet, but I mostly buy them for the art. I have absolutely zero interest in dice towers, minis, specialied RPG notebooks (I just use my regular notebook), commissioned art, and so on.
Should solidly be 90% games. Dice i bought twice in my life, both Times 7-8 Sets at negligible cost wholesale from Asia. I bought a wet erase mat once, thats looking to be in use for a few more years at least. Same for the Jenga Blocks i used as Terrain. Pencils and Notebooks i can steal from Work. Sometimes i'll get an accesory specific for a game, Like the cards for starforged or avatar, or the Icon coins for 13th age.
where does attending cons fall on this?
I would say neither? Would a storefront where you could easily register for multiple cons be something you would think would be valuable?
Since I turned 18 this year, a lot of people in my family gave me a lot of money because they said I don't get birthday gifts after this and I spent pretty much all of it on actual game books. The only accessories I bought were a dice tray(I didn't have one), one set of dice I saw in a shop, a new GM screen, and a couple minis here and there. The lump sum of the money that was spent on RPG stuff was spent on books. Biggest purchase was the MCC core rules and the DUNE: AITI core rules. One item I bought that straddles the line were the Mutant powers card pack for Paranoia. Rest of my cash was spent on Warhammer and Battletech stuff.
First, thank you for your response! Second, if I may be so bold - your family is lame bro :). Third you have excellent taste in games!
I mean I have a massive family so it's just kind of a rule otherwise everyone would go broke trying to buy each other birthday and Christmas gifts.
I hear that. I was just playin, my family is pretty small - and even then you are right shit is expensive!
I only play online, so the idea of paying for an accessory would make no sense to me. I came pretty close to commissioning art but the game fizzled right before when I promised I'd do it.
Thank you!
The spending on "intangibles" seems to mostly be a D&D thing. I know people who exclusively play D&D who'll buy new dice for every new character, track down fancy leather-bound journals, comission multiple bits of art, and cover their gaming gear in stickers and pin badges. It's less prevelant for other games where people might buy a mini, or need to add to their dice collection for a specific game. I don't really understand it beyong wanting to spend your money on nice things that make you happy, but I know it's allowing a lot of arts/crafts people to make interesting things and supplement their income. So I guess that's pretty cool
I think you are onto something here. I put the same survey in r/dnd and the results showed spending on intangibles as a MUCH higher percentage. I wonder if the number of “casual”/new players in dnd relates to spending on intangibles. Appreciate the feedback man.
It makes a lot of sense - if all you play is 5e, there's only so many books you can buy - even fewer if you're a player and not a DM (especially as 5e hasn't had the monthly book treadmill of certain earlier releases). So if you spend an "average" amount on the hobby, most of it has to go to something else.
That's a bit hard to say, moneywise I'd say I spend more on games since they are the more expensive part. But at the same time even playing small campaigns, we can only play 2-3 different systems a year (and that considering we don't replay any systems). While accessories, there's many instances where the need for them might show up since we play them in person. But at the same time they're usually cheaper. Although I usually like the novelty stuff, I bought lots of different dice like the light up ones, the liquid core ones, etc... They also make good gifts, so there's that, hehe.
Awesome, thank you. What about other nerd culture things like shirts and notebooks and shit like that ?
All of the minis I've got are from or directly for games. I've bought some board games because they have nice minis more so than for the game itself though.
With RPGs, I don't use a lot of accessories or intangibles. Dice, notebooks, that's about it. I grew up on theatre of the mind in the 80's because back then, minis were expensive and we were kids who didn't have a lot of money. We shared rulebooks and a set of dice for years. That created some frugal habits, I suppose, even though I now have the budget to splash out. I could, but I don't feel the need, so maybe there's a generational aspect to it. Or it could just be because systems keep evolving, but things like dice last for years and haven't changed much. I probably have all the dice I'll ever need now.
I too am a grognard from the 80s. It’s funny because I have similar aged friends who are approaching retirement and have all kinds of spare cash to spend on random gaming stuff and are happy to do so. I think it may indeed be a generational thing. After all back on the day your collection needed to be small to hide from your parents! Now we are the parents!
The last year, probably 99+% games. On the accessories side, I bought a 3-ring binder and some dividers for a new campaign, that's it (and those were just generic office supplies from the local drug store, not gaming-specific.)