Author: Timothy Brown and Tony Lee
Category: Price Guide
Company/Publisher: Ballantine Publishing Group
Cost: $17 US $23.50 CAN
Page count: 478
Capsule Review by Grover Penn on 12/28/98.
Genre tags: none

Let me first begin to say that in many cases a bad review helps sales of a product, sometimes people disbelieve it, sometimes they think the reviewer has a bias, sometimes they may think that's just one opinion. But in my case, I am submitting more than a review, I am submitting a warning. With the $17 I put into this waste of a book, I could list so many better things I could've done with it. I could go on and say all the charities I could help, all the events I could witness, all the miles I could travel, but I won't because I just don't feel like typing for the remainder of my life.

First off, the prices they suggest make me feel like a total idiot. To think all the books I bought over the years, if I left them untouched, I would have lost money on the investment. The prices in here are so inaccurate it's not even funny, I am beginning to wonder if I should contact the authors to see if they'd part with the books they list at the price they value them at, I'd be a repeat customer, in fact I'd open a shop and have them be my distributor.

Let me cite some examples, I will reference Dungeons and dragons mostly, not because I have any feelings towards it, but since we may look at such newsgroups as games.frp.marketplace or attend conventions, odds are we've seen what they go for. I'll make everyone aware, that it kills me to look over this so bear with me. Let me also say for an accurate idea of what books go for, reference ebay.com which is an auction site, this shows what people are WILLING to pay for books, and proves how much of a piece of crap this book is.

Anyway, here goes: Complete Book of Necromancers books at $8, while the Complete Book of Villains is at $18, my personal experience is both fetch about the same after market value, while not much in demand, seems to me both get a little shy of cover price, why the difference in price between the two in here, I don't know. I also have a problem with the fact almost all out-of-print modules are mostly listed as below cover, for example: Descent Into the Depths from 1981 which gave us a feel for the Kuo-Toa originally $10, it lists as $5.50.

The book does state at the beginning a mint copy of an out-of-print book gets 200% of the value listed, sorry to not mention that sooner, but that does not make up for what I am about to tell you about. Manual of the Planes lists at $25 for a good copy, therefore a perfectly mint copy is $50, when's the last time we saw that? But what really gets me is the Forgotten Realms: Kara-Tur boxed set, it lists as $10, therefore a mint, unopened one is $20. What??? I've never seen this go for less than $60 anywhere, and these are opened ones.

I am not sure where these guys go to get prices, did they live in a neighborhood full of gamers who grew up and collected them when their parents sold them at yard sales and price these books based on that?!I also had a hard time swallowing prices for the Star Wars RPG, the first print of the rules lists at $10 when the cover price is $20, I know non-RPGers who would shell out $30 just because it is a Star Wars collectable. Also, no index, I can't look up an author I am fond of, really turns me away. Anyway, that's all I can stand before I throw my computer across the room. I would take the book back to the store, only I ordered it through a system called Previews at a comic book shop and am certain I can't send it back, it'll probably serve as something I pull out to instantly get me in a bad mood, I am just glad it wasn't given to me as a gift because I'd never talk to the person who gave it to me again.

So if you haven't got the point of how much of a waste this book is by now, you probably never will, I feel I made my point strong enough. Maybe I refocus my energy and write a REAL price guide.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)