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Post by CharlesX on Nov 10, 2023 18:30:23 GMT
View AttachmentFor anyone who wants to claim top billing in thi thread... As I said, I'd love to get this book, but I can't justify the price It's consistently one of the highest priced ones. I would love to just read it, never mind own it! Is it the only one that's priced that high that actually justifies it with quality too (none of the books being actually worth that much notwithstanding...)? Well, I bought Revenge Of The Vampire back in the day. Whatever quality it has is very much overshadowed by its errors, much like Tower Of Destruction. It comes across as very Keith Martin, long, linear, you might like it but I don't think its brilliant. I'd probably give it *** out of ***** if it weren't for the errors, but a generous ** with them (because the errors render the gamebook unenjoyable or at least less enjoyable).
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Nov 10, 2023 18:41:51 GMT
I think Revenge of the Vampire and Magehunter are the most expensive FF books if the prices I have seen are accurate. As far as Howl of the Werewolf goes, there seems to be something strange going on with the pricing for that one. I see it online priced at $250, meanwhile the two books that came before it (Eye of the Dragon and Bloodbones) along with the two books that came after (Stormslayer and Night of the Necromancer) can all be had for about $10 each. Did Howl of the Werewolf have a shorter print run or something? Is it because it is considered one of the best books so everyone wants it? (this rarely seems to matter when it comes to price, as scarcity, or perhaps imagined scarcity in this case, is king). And then of course, Blood of the Zombies will run you about $50 for some reason so that doesn't seem right either!
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Post by mooncat on Nov 10, 2023 19:04:27 GMT
It's consistently one of the highest priced ones. I would love to just read it, never mind own it! Is it the only one that's priced that high that actually justifies it with quality too (none of the books being actually worth that much notwithstanding...)? Well, I bought Revenge Of The Vampire back in the day. Whatever quality it has is very much overshadowed by its errors, much like Tower Of Destruction. It comes across as very Keith Martin, long, linear, you might like it but I don't think its brilliant. I'd probably give it *** out of ***** if it weren't for the errors, but a generous ** with them (because the errors render the gamebook unenjoyable or at least less enjoyable).
I have actually read it a few times when it was out (read, not played, it was much too hard at the time. Even just for a read with cheating it was hard!). I went into it super excited because Vault of the Vampire was such a high quality book and was left a little disappointed. I remember it being nowhere near as good. I'd love to read it again as an adult, but not at the prices being quoted.
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Post by mooncat on Nov 10, 2023 19:06:51 GMT
I think Revenge of the Vampire and Magehunter are the most expensive FF books if the prices I have seen are accurate. As far as Howl of the Werewolf goes, there seems to be something strange going on with the pricing for that one. I see it online priced at $250, meanwhile the two books that came before it (Eye of the Dragon and Bloodbones) along with the two books that came after (Stormslayer and Night of the Necromancer) can all be had for about $10 each. Did Howl of the Werewolf have a shorter print run or something? Is it because it is considered one of the best books so everyone wants it? (this rarely seems to matter when it comes to price, as scarcity, or perhaps imagined scarcity in this case, is king). And then of course, Blood of the Zombies will run you about $50 for some reason so that doesn't seem right either! Yeah this is kind of what I was wondering when I asked if it was the only book to back up the price with quality. It seems to be about the only one that that checks all the boxes of limited print, hard to get, and generally considered one of the best books in the series.
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Post by paperexplorer on Nov 10, 2023 21:09:24 GMT
I think Revenge of the Vampire and Magehunter are the most expensive FF books if the prices I have seen are accurate. As far as Howl of the Werewolf goes, there seems to be something strange going on with the pricing for that one. I see it online priced at $250, meanwhile the two books that came before it (Eye of the Dragon and Bloodbones) along with the two books that came after (Stormslayer and Night of the Necromancer) can all be had for about $10 each. Did Howl of the Werewolf have a shorter print run or something? Is it because it is considered one of the best books so everyone wants it? (this rarely seems to matter when it comes to price, as scarcity, or perhaps imagined scarcity in this case, is king). And then of course, Blood of the Zombies will run you about $50 for some reason so that doesn't seem right either! I've wondered the same thing. HotW was in both series 1 and 2 of wizard, whereas say Stormslayer was just series 2, yet HotW is impossible to get at a decent price yet there are plenty of second hand Stormslayer's floating around and reasonably priced. I guess it comes down to quality (people not willing to give it up), reputation and demand. HotW has become a collector's item and Stormslayer is just another gamebook
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Post by mooncat on Nov 11, 2023 1:11:19 GMT
I think Revenge of the Vampire and Magehunter are the most expensive FF books if the prices I have seen are accurate. As far as Howl of the Werewolf goes, there seems to be something strange going on with the pricing for that one. I see it online priced at $250, meanwhile the two books that came before it (Eye of the Dragon and Bloodbones) along with the two books that came after (Stormslayer and Night of the Necromancer) can all be had for about $10 each. Did Howl of the Werewolf have a shorter print run or something? Is it because it is considered one of the best books so everyone wants it? (this rarely seems to matter when it comes to price, as scarcity, or perhaps imagined scarcity in this case, is king). And then of course, Blood of the Zombies will run you about $50 for some reason so that doesn't seem right either! I've wondered the same thing. HotW was in both series 1 and 2 of wizard, whereas say Stormslayer was just series 2, yet HotW is impossible to get at a decent price yet there are plenty of second hand Stormslayer's floating around and reasonably priced. I guess it comes down to quality (people not willing to gve it up), reputation and demand. HotW has become a collector's item and Stormslayer is just another gamebook It's an interesting thought. What causes the variances between numbers 50-60 as well? Mummy and Revenge maybe because they're the final two? But why is Magehunter consistently the most expensive? Moreso than Knights, which is also expensive but consistently less so.
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Post by CharlesX on Nov 11, 2023 11:51:48 GMT
I've wondered the same thing. HotW was in both series 1 and 2 of wizard, whereas say Stormslayer was just series 2, yet HotW is impossible to get at a decent price yet there are plenty of second hand Stormslayer's floating around and reasonably priced. I guess it comes down to quality (people not willing to gve it up), reputation and demand. HotW has become a collector's item and Stormslayer is just another gamebook It's an interesting thought. What causes the variances between numbers 50-60 as well? Mummy and Revenge maybe because they're the final two? But why is Magehunter consistently the most expensive? Moreso than Knights, which is also expensive but consistently less so. Revenge Of The Vampire, Magehunter and Curse Of The Mummy were written when FF was on its way out\after its heyday so presumably had shorter print runs. Revenge Of The Vampire may have sold fewer\had a shorter run because of its errors, might be more valuable because it was Keith Martin's last FF regardless of whether it was his best (it isn't). Knights Of Doom 'reads like a game' with all its fighting and tests, I'm guessing apparently point Jon Green wrote many more FF, some arguably or definitely better written than Knights, only made Knights less valuable in this niche market. [Rant] It doesn't make much sense to me, why people would pay loads for very out-of-date things such as VHS tapes or vinyl records, but maybe people are just nuts [Rant over].
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Post by a moderator on Nov 11, 2023 19:08:55 GMT
[Rant] It doesn't make much sense to me, why people would pay loads for very out-of-date things such as VHS tapes or vinyl records, but maybe people are just nuts [Rant over]. It makes some degree of sense if they have functional devices on which the media can still be played, and the 'out-of-date' material is unavailable in full on current technology (for instance, the VHS release of the Doctor Who story Silver Nemesis featured an American documentary on the making of the story, but rights issues meant that the documentary could not be included in the DVD release).
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Post by sleepyscholar on Jan 3, 2024 5:23:58 GMT
I got all the Puffin editions back in the day. I missed the whole wizard run of things and I've managed to get all but Howl of the Werewolf since without paying more than AUD$25 on a single book. I guess I could have gotten Howl but I baulked at the asking prices over $100 In the age of print on demand, it's pretty disappointing so many books just aren't available to readers, but I think the major publishers want it that way I'd argue we're not in the age of print on demand: that lasted from the 90s to the early years of this millennium. We're now in the age of pure digital, and it is even more disappointing that books aren't available to readers. But part of the reason is related to the weird phenomenon that gets discussed above: second hand prices, and how barking mad they are. I seriously considered releasing ebook versions of Slaves of the Abyss, Magehunter etc. But when I looked into it in a little more detail, I realised I'd end up losing money. Relatively few people want to read Magehunter, for example. A larger number seem to want to have the original edition sitting on their shelves, and I can't help them with that (nor am I helped in any way by the large prices it commands). Why on earth did I give away most of my complimentary copies (which were already half as many as I used to get)? And just to answer the actually thread question: I'm afraid to say it's around 75p, and like others in this thread, we're talking charity shops. It's not like the authors actually need the money, now, is it?
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Post by CharlesX on Jan 4, 2024 20:11:51 GMT
ot or not i might as well mention when I paid £20 (actually forget the exact amount, but around that) for Kim Newman's Life's Lottery second-hand (because the thread specifies FF gamebooks). Other than that about £1.50 in charity shops like sleepyscholar . Life's Lottery will appeal to a gamebook fan but the writing is only average-level. I actually wouldn't mind paying above the shop cost for a good gamebook that was obscure, but Ebay prices are madness and very capitalist\cynical.
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