Collector's Edition?

[Sthiel]

Any thought to a nice leather bound collector's edition?

[Valander]

I'd buy that.

[PG_Zeber]

I'd buy that.

Seconded!

....

[Spaero]

If they come out at the same time as the regular editions, I'd be game. Otherwise I'm getting whatever I can first, and then we're into having multiple copies of the book (like my D&D 3.5 Monster Manual... Really?)

[Galwe]

Got one already.

[Sthiel]

So Collector's Edition?

[Rapier]

I hope not.

I'd prefer them to make the regular edition perfect and leave it at that.

(I'd be tempted though).

[lifelesspoet]

I can barely afford the regular books, you guys have fun with your fancy leather books without me.

[Blackraine]

Collector's edition... or maybe "ULTIMATE GAMER EDITION" with magelock pistol tape measures and a steam-powered automatic dice roller!

[PG_ThatRickGuy]

I'd be tempted.... if it came with the following:

Additional pages of concept sketches for characters
A limited run IK model
Hard cover/sim-leather/leather with a really, REALLY good binding
Stylized spine to fit with full 4-book series

-Rick

[StJason]

Oh, gods no.

I understand the need to lord over your fellow gamers, but really? Big leatherbacked edition?? C'mon...

[Sthiel]

Interesting, I can understand you not wanting one, But what do you care if I get one?

[StJason]

I don't care. But neither do I particularly see a benefit for PP to go out of their way just so some can have bragging rights.

[Whimper]

Might be bragging rights for some, but for others it might just be another slot on the "newsprint > paperback > hardcover" continuum. If they released this in paperback and hardcover, I'd buy the hardcover, because that's how I like my RPG books. Maybe "oversized and bound with leather" is how some other gamers like their books.

[Rapier]

I just hope they don't give it extra pages if they do it - I hate that companies like Fantasy Flight create extra content for their overpriced collector's editions that I then never get. (it's not particularly good content - but it's still lost).

[Killj0y]

I dunno, Hardcover and full color is already pretty awesome. If the binding holds up as well as most of my warmachine books I think we'll be all right for wear and tear.

Additionally these are new rules and as fantastic as PP's playtesting for the minis are I'm still picking errata out of the original IK books. If the books are as solid rules wise a leatherette edition might be worth the effort but I can't say that i'm itching to spend $100 out of the box on an unknown quantity. As it is I'm probably going to go PDF until I can justify the expense.

[ProtoClone]

I would be interested if it came with something other then it being hardcover. Like special dice or just something that isn't just a show piece.

[Fuchikoma]

I would buy it.

[Blackraine]

I don't care. But neither do I particularly see a benefit for PP to go out of their way just so some can have bragging rights.

The benefit is that they mark it up at a premium, and grab a larger chunk of profit per sale for the collectors editions which, due to their limited run nature, generally sell out. At least, that's the theory. It's hard to peg exactly how good a new version of an RPG will do, especially when the previous version has been effectively out of print (aside from Paizo's PDF's) for several years.

I should note that if Privateer Press didn't have a collectors edition, they wouldn't be the only ones... but some of the larger publishing companies are realizing the inherent value in limited run collectors editions of their flagship products. Wizards of the Coast will almost certainly have one for 5th Edition D&D, AEG had one for their newest edition of L5R, Games Workshop has released collectors editions of 5th Edition 40k, 7th Edition Fantasy, 8th Edition Fantasy, and 6th Edition 40k, etc. So it's not just some "go out of their way so some can have bragging rights" thing. For purposes of completeness, I don't actually own any of the previously listed collector's editions except 6th Edition 40k, and I didn't get it to lord it over someone... I got it because it came with a nice carrying case to keep my expensive rulebooks relatively clean and unharmed.

[Mastervalrik]

I would only get the Collector edition if it was given as a gift, cause I wouldnt want to ruin it using it in common play, so in short no I ouldnt get one.

[Killj0y]

well, there's leatherbound and then there's collectable. The Rogue trader collectors edition comes with a wax sealed set of articles and comes in a slipcase that makes my bookcase weep but the thing is super expensive and doesn't look like it's intended as anything more than an art piece.

On the other hand I would personally club a baby seal in the middle of a Peta Convention for a signed leatherbound copy of the Deadlands corebook at this point just because they are both beautiful, practical and almost a decade out of print.

[TwilightRising]

Collector's editions for TRPGs are typically announced and released well after the initial offering. There is a simple reason for this. Core rule books are where TRPGs make their profit, if they sell well enough (which some games can rely on, like D&D). Once the initial sales have settled down and you end up with books available second-hand, the revenue stream slows to a trickle; sure every book by then is pure profit (that is the 40% or so of the price the publisher gets), but volume is way down. Now, the folks who want the leather bound, slip-cased specialness are likely the folks who willing to buy the book a second time, so this is when you release the "collector's edition" with a significant price markup because of the new binding and gilt pages and cover made from baby duck bills (or more commonly just leather or pleather). The mark-up is more than sufficient to cover the new printing & binding costs (heck, they may even put out a corrected printing), but there's no additional development cost, so again the sale is almost pure profit and the revenue stream picks up a bit.

Now, would I buy it? Probably not. Gaming books really aren't 'collectable'. New edition comes out, the old one essentially becomes clutter (unless you cling to the old edition and don't buy into the new; which I have done twice when a system vastly changed in a way I couldn't be bother with or didn't like). After years of my old 1st and 2nd ed AD&D stuff taking up closet space and never being opened, I finally got rid of them. Now, if I could expect to get 20 years out of an edition? Yeah, then I might buy one, but don't expect that. Sure, with the success of WM-H, PP might go longer without a new edition than another system, but I would expect the next iteration in no more than 8 years, if the game is a financial success.

[Rapier]

With regards to another edition: I hope that PP will run a sensible model and use new editions when the rules warrant it (rather than the revenue stream). I have no objection to edition updates but I can't imagine that PP will change that much between editions - the core rules (2d6 + stat) aren't going to change because they're PP's bread and butter mechanic.

D&D released editions just for profit and it essentially backfired on them with 4th edition. (Without getting into the argument - 5th edition coming so soon is the point I'm making). Another example is the huge departure from Warhammer when it went to 3rd edition with Fantasy Flight.

In contrast Fantasy Flight should have released a new edition for the 40k rpg long ago instead of having now 5 separate lines with almost compatible rules - they now have the absurd situation of having 3 lines using the old career progression and 2 using the updated more free form xp spending system - this is just a messy and awful way of running the line but now with so many books released I don't think they could update the edition without losing the entire player base. (I'd never buy all those books again and I don't even have half of them).

Edit: Specifically on topic - of all of the rpgs mentioned the collectors' editions are not worth the expenditure in my opinion. You want to get a collector's edition of a finished product (A real book, a compilation of comics, a beloved set of films). RPG's are games first and foremost so they're evolving constantly.