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Why do D&D books have to be so expensive?

I just wanna start DMing a game and I need to buy $150 in books to do so? The fuck.

Edit: Lots of people telling me to play other systems. Here’s what’s up:

  • I want to play a 1-on-1 game with my wife
  • I’ve never DMed before
  • She’s never played a TTRPG, so this would be her introduction
  • She’s been reading a lot of fae-related fantasy, which has me thinking she may want to play roleplay heavy with some fae storylines present
  • Ideally the system wouldn’t be too crunchy or combat focused

Edit 2: I’ve spoken with her and she actually wants a more modern setting

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  • So, when people say use a different system, do you just use a different rulebook for d&d or something?

    • Dungeons and Dragons is like a specific name-brand RPG product owned by a shitty company called Wizards of the Coast.

      Other people and companies make other RPG systems. Pathfinder is probably the biggest and is pretty similar to DnD and has a similar setting. However there's so many games and settings that you can really find something for anyone. Like giant robots? Magical girls? 80s "kids on bikes" adventures? Post apocalypse wastelands? Vampires and werewolves? Etc - there's probably a game that would suit your group

      • Advising Pathfinder is a terrible for new player. Heck, i played and GM'ed dozens of different systems over 30 years and Pathfinder has been one of the most miserable and abysmal experiences for me.

        • i'm genuinely curious as to what makes you feel that way, if you're interested in sharing (i promise this is not a weird gotcha)

          • Pathfinder have huge crunch which is imo completely unnecessary. I know there are people loving that, but i'm not one of them. I mean when my players start to moan and growl instead of cheer when levelling it's time to change system, asap.

            • understandable, i grew up on 3.0 and 3.5 so pf always felt relatively intuitive for me, but it's definitely not for everyone.

              personally i don't think the crunch is unnecessary per se but i think i would have liked to see a little more care taken to which pieces were ported over. i suppose that's what 2e is for

    • Yeah, generally they're playing another D&D-style game, or more rarely a game that's an entirely different genre. Game like Pathfinder (2e is the big internet favorite atm) and OSR games are designed to be basically the same niche genre of "dungeon-crawling, combat-centric high fantasy" but with different rules. Other games like Dungeon World use the same setting concept but the rules are more narrative-focused with less emphasis on hours-long combats on a grid. Further afield are generic systems like FATE, GURPS, Savage Worlds, etc which are flexible and can be used to play whatever genre you want, so they can be D&D-fantasy or cyberpunk, superheroes, historical fantasy, "action movies", etc (though most of these tend to be best at one or a few things). Or you can just play something totally different like Lancer, a game set in the space communist future where you fight slavers and fascist remnants in giant mechs, or Thirsty Sword Lesbians, which I know very little about except that the name is funny and that it is very queer.

      Personally I use GURPS, because it does a lot of things I like and because it can be used to run different genres with minimal effort. Things like extreme customizability, crunchy combat that actually has multiple options worth choosing that aren't just 'spam attacks', no HP bloat, point-buy characters with no classes (unless you want them), I could go on.

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