What are your "dumbest" TTRPG costs

[kenada]

I spent over $100 on a used copy of Pathfinder #1 (“Burnt Offerings”) to complete my collection (at the time). I also maintained my Pathfinder subscriptions for a while just to collect them. The dumb part was canceling a year or so before the PF2 announcement because otherwise I could have had a complete collection of PF1.

I don’t know if I would call it dumb, but I subscribed to the Pathfinder Battles line for a while. In spite of getting cases of minis (all complete sets for their series), I still can’t find exactly the ones I want.

Edit: Seeing other posts reminded me: I bought a Wyrmwood dice tower at Origins several years ago. I like it, but the tray is unusable, and using it without a tray is impractical.

 

[kenada]

For me it's those boxed tile sets - wasteful! I used them a bit, but I'm more of a TotM DM and the times we do use the grid, a player of mine made a massive hexagonal grid and got it laminated. We use erasable coloured-markers.

I bought a ton of those tile sets for 4e. I never used them much because they never had the right shapes. I even bought multiple copies! Still not good enough.

 

[kenada]

I have more!

I supported the Realm Works Kickstarter. The FAQ said they planned to do a Mac version, but then they announced after the Kickstarter that the tech stack they decided to use didn’t support macOS.

I also bought one of the expensive Campaign Cartographer bundles, then I never used it for a long time. That was dumb until I finally sat down and learned it. I actually prefer it for mapping, but there’s no denying the learning curve is more like a learning cliff.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I used them a bit, but I'm more of a TotM DM and the times we do use the grid, a player of mine made a massive hexagonal grid and got it laminated. We use erasable coloured-markers.

Is getting a table-covering paper map laminated cheaper than investing in a similar-sized sheet of plexiglass these days? I know it wasn't back in the 70s, which is why I've been hauling around a big plastic rectangle for ~45 years.

That was not a waste. Played a lot of paper-map wargames and board games in the 70s, 80s and 90s and it really came in handy even before 3.0 dropped - especially with geomorphic cardboard maps like the Mayfair "literary" wargames used.

 

[Xenolith234]

I spent over $100 on a used copy of Pathfinder #1 (“Burnt Offerings”) to complete my collection (at the time). I also maintained my Pathfinder subscriptions for a while just to collect them. The dumb part was canceling a year or so before the PF2 announcement because otherwise I could have had a complete collection of PF1.

I don’t know if I would call it dumb, but I subscribed to the Pathfinder Battles line for a while. In spite of getting cases of minis (all complete sets for their series), I still can’t find exactly the ones I want.

Edit: Seeing other posts reminded me: I bought a Wyrmwood dice tower at Origins several years ago. I like it, but the tray is unusable, and using it without a tray is impractical.

Why is the dice tray unusable?

 

[kenada]

Why is the dice tray unusable?

Admittedly, it’s a bit hyperbolic. The walls are too high, and it’s too narrow. I believe there is a large tray available, but I only have the one that comes with the tower. What happens when I roll is I have to peer up and over into the tray to see the result.

It’s annoying enough I’ve stopped using it, especially since we use a Level Up gaming table, and I don’t have anywhere I can put it and see the results. Either the table will get in the way if I put it below, or I’ll have to stand up to look inside if it’s on top.

Maybe I can find something in the dealer room at Origins next month.

 

[MNblockhead]

I have more!

I supported the Realm Works Kickstarter. The FAQ said they planned to do a Mac version, but then they announced after the Kickstarter that the tech stack they decided to use didn’t support macOS.

I also bought one of the expensive Campaign Cartographer bundles, then I never used it for a long time. That was dumb until I finally sat down and learned it. I actually prefer it for mapping, but there’s no denying the learning curve is more like a learning cliff.

Man, I spent so much money on mapping software. In the early years of 5e, I made pretty good use of it, but kept chasing the new cool toys and then stopped running my homebrew campaign. Campaign Cartographer and its various fantasy bundles, Dungeonographer, Cityographer, Worldographer, some isometric map software I backed on Kickstarter and can't even remember the name of. You would think that since going with a VTT I would be making more maps, but the opposite. I've not fired up any map-making software in years. I either buy the digital maps from the adventures I run, find free maps online, buy inexpensive maps from DriveThruRPG, or I put together something very basic using VTT tools. I didn't have the time to match my enthusiasm for making good-looking maps from scratch.

I also bought RealmWorks, but that was after the Kickstarter. I got a lot of use out of it, but then they stopped supporting it. At the time I was using windows. Now I have it on VM that I run in Parallels on my map. Mainy because I hope to go back to my homebrew campaign world someday.

 

[MNblockhead]

Is getting a table-covering paper map laminated cheaper than investing in a similar-sized sheet of plexiglass these days? I know it wasn't back in the 70s, which is why I've been hauling around a big plastic rectangle for ~45 years.

That was not a waste. Played a lot of paper-map wargames and board games in the 70s, 80s and 90s and it really came in handy even before 3.0 dropped - especially with geomorphic cardboard maps like the Mayfair "literary" wargames used.

Not a waste. I printed all of Mike Schleys maps using a large-format printer. Held them down with painters tape. I thought of getting a sheet of plexiglass, but even after all the money I spent on buying the digital art and printing it, I didn't want to spend the money on some cheap plexiglass.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Is getting a table-covering paper map laminated cheaper than investing in a similar-sized sheet of plexiglass these days? I know it wasn't back in the 70s, which is why I've been hauling around a big plastic rectangle for ~45 years.

I honestly don't know what's cheaper - all I know is the laminated paper is easy enough to carry + store as you just roll it up.
As long as you make use of it (whatever it is) - it's a win.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Not a waste. I printed all of Mike Schleys maps using a large-format printer. Held them down with painters tape. I thought of getting a sheet of plexiglass, but even after all the money I spent on buying the digital art and printing it, I didn't want to spend the money on some cheap plexiglass.

Yeah, they're basically indestructible in normal use and beyond - mine's been through both an apartment fire and two floodings. Provide good spill protection too. The bulk of a big sheet of plexi is an issue but it's easy to store propped up against a wall in a closet or behind a door or something. Weighs about the same as one of those modern mousepad-material maps, maybe even a bit less depending on thickness.

I know some jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts who like plexi too. They use it cover works in progress some nothing gets lost, moved, or eaten by the cat. Not a bad gift if you have one of them in your life.