THE COST OF STARGATE RPG BOOKS

Rationale

I am for the most part a very practical person when it comes to the dollars and cents value of my entertainment. I have been a college student for the last several years, so I can't afford to be anything less than practical - even frugal. Nonetheless, my entertainment is important to me, and I have seen that entertainment is important to a lot of people. So, in the interest of addressing a very valid concern, let's talk about the costs of the Stargate SG-1 game products, such as they are.

Keep in mind that I have a coherent goal in discussing the prices of these books. I want other folks to play this game. I have found it to be worth investing in. At the same time, however, I want people to know that there is more than one place to get these books, and there is more than one set of prices being asked for them. Before you look for these books you should at least know what the base list prices are. That way, you'll either know how much cash you'll be spending, or you'll know what to compare other prices to. You can pay less than the listed price for all of the Stargate books if you really want to; you just have to know where to look.

The Cost of Entertainment

For those who already play roleplaying games, the prices of most gaming books are of little surprise. There's a sort of standard. Most roleplaying core books will be sold in stores for approximately $25.00 - $40.00. Additional resource books will cost anywhere from $10.00-$25.00, depending on the type and the depth of the resource. The prices may or may not be considered reasonable by the main of gamers, but these are the prices that many gamers are willing to pay. For outsiders, these prices may seem steep for mere books - but then those outside of gaming may not appreciate what gaming books are.

First and foremost, gaming books are resources. They are used for their own content, but they are also used as guides for creating any amount of other things: people, places, creatures, and so on. Gaming books help to keep ideas in order and to provide methods for game creation. Some books give you entire stories that you can use, basically turn-for-turn. You can keep these books for as long as you like and use them over and over again, for years to come.

The first game I set out to run has lasted, on and off, for two and a half years (for more information on this game, see my Dungeons and Dragons site in the links section). My group has consisted of five people for much the time. We have played most weekends of our years together, and I referenced my books often when we weren't playing in order to work on the upcoming game session. I did not pay full price for my set of the core rulebooks for D&D; as I recall I paid about half the standard price, with a very decent price for shipping. So, for roughly $45.00, I got three books that I have used regularly to entertain five people for two and a half years. Even if I had paid full price, it would have been about $95.00 for two year's worth of fun.

Wanna think about what we would have paid going to the movies every weekend? Living right up against Los Angeles, movie ticket prices have been anywhere from $8.00 - $9.50 per person...

The Products

The Stargate SG-1 core rulebook book is a tremendous resource. It has information you can use in Stargate games and other modern d20 games, as well. It is about 500 pages in length, in full color, with tons of content and some pictures and diagrams for reference. It also has a decent index for a book of such a length. What's more, you really don't need much else to play the game. You don't even have to have the Player's Handbook with you, if you instead use the SRD available for free through Wizards of the Coast. (See the links section for a link to a hyper-text version of the SRD.)

There are four other resource books that have been put out by AEG for the Stargate game. They are on the same nice paper and fully in color. They all present information that is not to be found in the main book, so it's not like you're buying redundant products. Most of these books present game mechanics for things that have been shown on the television show, as well as characters. All of the books have new information, however, and one of them (I forget now which) features extended information on vehicles, which is missing from the main book.

But playing Stargate does not have to start with a huge investment if you know where to look and if you're willing to wait a few days for shipping.

The Prices

As of this writing, 12:39 a.m. PST on April 30, 2005, I was able to find the following prices for Stargate roleplaying products available online*:

Stargate SG-1 Roleplaying Core Book
List Price: $50.00
Found at: $29.92 (+$1.40 shipping for one item, $2.80 for two items, $2.95 for three or more items) at Overstock.com
Found at: $31.50 (shipping varies) at Amazon.com
Found at: $28.77 Buy It Now (shipping $9.00) via eBay.com

Stargate SG-1 Fantastic Frontiers Season One
List Price: $26.95
Found at: $17.78 (+$1.40 shipping for one item, $2.80 for two items, $2.95 for three or more items) at Overstock.com
Found at: $17.79 (shipping varies) at Amazon.com
Found at: $15.00 Buy It Now (shipping $3.00) via eBay.com

Living Gods: Stargate System Lords
List Price: $26.95
Found at: $17.79 (shipping varies) at Amazon.com
Found at: $15.00 Buy It Now (shipping $3.00) via eBay.com

First Steps: The Stargate Unexplored Worlds Sourcebook
List Price: $26.95
Found at: $17.79 (shipping varies) at Amazon.com
Found at: $15.00 Buy It Now (shipping $3.00) via eBay.com

Friends and Foes : Stargate Season Two
List Price: $26.95
Found at: $17.79 (shipping varies) at Amazon.com
Found at: $15.00 Buy It Now (shipping $3.00) via eBay.com

* I do not claim that these prices are steady, or make any claim about supplies. These figures could easily change in any direction, or supplies could become limited. Please do your own searches so that you get the most current prices available.

A Suggestion

You will need the core book to play, but the extra sourcebooks are just that - extra. They are good for more definition and flavor, but you can play quite well without them. It is important to have at least one core rulebook for any game you're going to play, but for Stargate you may want to have two within the group. One reason for this is that the core rulebook has an amazing amount of gear, and players can choose new gear once per mission. This can take a decent amount of time if there is only one book for the players to use. Another concern is that there are a great deal of different combat rules, feats, and skill uses that players may need to look up for certain situations. It's nigh impossible to memorize them all.

You will need the core book to play, but the extra sourcebooks are just that - extra. They are good for more definition and flavor, but you can play quite well without them.

Layout and text created by Patricia Willenborg 2005-2008 unless otherwise noted.  See full disclaimer information here.