Fantasy Grounds Drops Prices For Electronic D&D Books

One thing people often hesitate over when it comes to the Virtual Tabletop versions of books they already own is that the electronic versions cost as much as the originals, and this can reduce the number of players using the platforms. Fantasy Grounds has recognised this, and has decided to take action by reducing the prices of Fantasy Grounds versions of books by up to 40%, depending on the book. That means something like the Dungeon Master's Guide or Volo's Guide to Monsters will go from $49.99 to $29.99.

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Here's what they say about it: "SmiteWorks is working alongside Wizards of the Coast to significantly lower the cost of entry for Dungeons & Dragons players looking to play online with the Fantasy Grounds virtual tabletop. While the project has been a major success, both partners would like it to be even more successful. The prices for official D&D content for Fantasy Grounds will be reduced on August 15, 2017 as part of an initiative to increase new player adoption. Modules which previously cost $49.99 will now be $29.99. Large adventure modules will now be $24.99. Existing customers will benefit in lower prices on all newly released content."

It sounds like WotC is involved in this pricing strategy, as SmiteWorks says that they are working with them to lower the cost of entry. I've reached out for some more information on the initiative, and I'll update as soon as I hear anything.

UPDATE: SmiteWorks' Doug Davison confirms that it's a SmiteWorks initiative:

"I think it is fairly safe to share that SmiteWork's standard agreement is that we license content from publishers and pay them royalties at a fixed rate based on the final sale price of each product. Our publishers set the prices of all products we license from them, although some publishers agree to let us manage periodic sales within set parameters to manage frequency, total discount, etc.

The initiative to increase new player adoption is a SmiteWorks initiative. It is supported by Wizards of the Coast in a generic way as they support us in general, like they do all of their partners."

Here's the full list of upcoming price changes (from August 15th):

40% Cheaper (From $49.99 to $29.99 each)
D&D Complete Core Class Pack
D&D Complete Core Monster Pack
D&D Complete Dungeon Master's Guide
D&D Volo's Guide to Monsters
D&D Tales from the Yawning Portal
D&D Sword Coast Adventurers Guide

28% Cheaper (From $34.99 to $24.99 each)
D&D Storm King's Thunder
D&D Curse of Strahd
D&D Out of the Abyss
D&D Princes of the Apocalypse

25% Cheaper (From $19.99 to $14.99 each)
D&D Lost Mine of Phandelver

Pricing Unchanged
SRD Data Modules are still FREE
D&D Basic Rules are still FREE
Individual Class Packs
Individual Monster Packs
D&D Hoard of the Dragon Queen
D&D Rise of Tiamat
D&D Legacy of the Crystal Shard
D&D Scourge of the Sword Coast
D&D Map Pack Volume 1
D&D Token Volume 1
D&D Token Volume 2
D&D Lair Assault - Forge of the Dawn Titan (5E)
D&D Lair Assault - Talon of Umberlee (5E)
D&D Lair Assault - Attack of the Tyrant Claw (5E)

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[Myrdin Potter]

Still a bit over priced IMHO its one reason I do not use VTT yet. If you are charging more than Amazon for a PDF vs dead tree format there is something wrong IMHO.

If you compare the prices of Kindle books to paper books on Amazon.com, you'll see that Kindle format typically is more expensive.

The cost difference between paper and digital books is easy to find, plenty of articles on the internet.

There needs to be a balance between the cost of digital products and what the paper version sells for because WoTC and other RPG companies greatly depend on sales in gaming stores.

The new digital pricing is now pretty close to the cost at the major booksellers like Amazon.com.

Finally, you are not getting a PDF on the digital versions of the 5e rules. You are getting a file formatted and accessed by the program it is meant for. Lots of effort has gone into both the program and the formatting of the materials to suit where you will be using it, so it is not just taking the book form and dumping into a PDF.

 

[smiteworks]

Not my style of gaming. You know I love my miniatures and terrain Doug! But, so pleased to see your company doing so well!

Thanks Pogre. You are the reason I bought so much Dwarven Forge over the years. Unfortunately, my physical minis and terrain have been packed up for the last year and I don't think I'll be unpacking them for a while. Other than boardgames and MtG, I play RPGs exclusively online these days.

Champaign-Urbana had a great gaming scene.

 

[kinwolf]

Fantasy Grounds’ main competition is Roll20, and that’s been around for ages. D&D Beyond isn’t a virtual tabletop; entirely different type of product. There’s a few other VTTs, but I’m not too familiar with them all.

D20Pro has official D&D 5e licence/content now too.

http://d20pro.com/2017/08/09/offici...Dragons_Content&utm_content=blog-announcement

 

[Mistwell]

As if the timing of this has nothing to do with D&D Beyond's much lower pricing. Geez. FG have had a long time to adjust their pricing and yet within one week of D&D Beyond announcing their pricing, FG suddenly drops their own? Not a coincidence, and says a lot about the people at FG. Scummy company.

Wait, what? How does that make them a "scummy company" that they reduce their prices to compete? Which isn't even what they seem to have done here, but I a baffled by the sentiment even if they had.

 

[Nylanfs]

Should anyone be interested Doug has several Seminar's on Fantasy Grounds scheduled for GenCon next week.

Introduction to Using Fantasy Grounds for Online D&D
https://www.gencon.com/events/104498

Introduction to Using Fantasy Grounds for Online Pathfinder
https://www.gencon.com/events/104500

Introduction to Custom Development for Fantasy Grounds
https://www.gencon.com/events/104502

 

[mach1.9pants]

Wait, what? How does that make them a "scummy company" that they reduce their prices to compete? Which isn't even what they seem to have done here, but I a baffled by the sentiment even if they had.

And still no apology Smiteworks, as WotC decides the pricing.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Wait, what? How does that make them a "scummy company" that they reduce their prices to compete? Which isn't even what they seem to have done here, but I a baffled by the sentiment even if they had.

Well gamers are mind blowingly cheap and entitled and seem to view pretty much all business decisions with some deep suspicion that they are being taken advantage of.

 

[LordEntrails]

Well gamers are mind blowingly cheap and entitled and seem to view pretty much all business decisions with some deep suspicion that they are being taken advantage of.

What? A business? This is a game. Why should someone be able to make a living off of me having fun? Why they should dedicate their lives to making the ultimate adventure/game system/supplement and give it away free so my hard earned money can go to important things, like my $700 cell phone, or my 3-a-day $7 coffees...

 

[JohnnFour]

I would love to give FG a whirl on my Mac. When I tried it using VMWare at Christmas though, the app would not work for me. Has anyone had success using VMWare and FG?

 

[Nylanfs]

I would love to give FG a whirl on my Mac. When I tried it using VMWare at Christmas though, the app would not work for me. Has anyone had success using VMWare and FG?

They have an updated Mac installer.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/FGMacInstallation.php