It'd be nice to think so, but the facts don't support the idea. They make a lot more off their "creative drives" than I do, I can tell you that. I'm fairly certain that Britney had made more than I've earned in my entire life before she went through puberty.
So on the one hand, if the module designers took Britney Spears' advice on what should be done "creatively" with it, I suspect that would drive my likelihood of wanting to buy it WAY down... but somebody who's a millionaire before she's 30 has every right not to sweat too much over my approval. If it hurts her feelings too terribly badly, she can cry all the way to the bank, ya know?
First of all, I am sorry you didn't take that as the joke it was meant to be, but I stand by the meaning behind it. In the field of pop music those two do have better abilities to judge who is a better bet and who is not. But, in the TTRPG industry I am sure you have a much better idea along those lines than those two, as I am almost 100% certain neither of them has ever even handled an RPG book.
How long have you been in the hobby? If I remember right it is around as long as I have, 30+ years right? Well, if it was an actual honest profession with medical, dental and other benefits, both of us would be able to retire with pretty-nice pensions. But, alas it isn't. It is a hobby. So, we do it because we
want to, not because we have to in order to make a living. I think that the word
want is key here, because we tend to do much better at, and learn much more about, things that we want to do/have. So, do not sell yourself short, because locked up inside your head is decades of gaming experience, in both the hobby side and the industry side. (In the sense that you have seen games come and go, some quicker than others, and that had given you a fair bit of knowledge about the industry.)
A very good example of things with purely subjective, luxury value that I obviously don't have the ability to judge. I would long since have expected Britney to be one of those "where are they now?" used-to-be-child-stars, the ones you can't remember their names until someone reminds you. "Oh yeah, them."
Well, I dare to say, that industry doesn't necessary follow any sane rules or guidlines, so the fact that you cannot "call it" there isn't necessarily a bad thing...
My personal opinion is $60 for a supplement is too much. I think that sort of price would stop a lot of people from either being willing, or able, to buy it. I believe RM needs to get some mass market appeal again, and that's going to mean making supplements that are more reasonably priced. Not that a good $60 book wouldn't be nice.
I see Fantasy Flight Games doing quite well with some pretty expensive books, suppliments ranging from $40 to $50 and the core books around $60. But, they are good looking books, that tend to be full-color (even if muted for tone/flavor reasons), glossy and hard-back. (I don't know about you, but I love hard-backed books more than soft-cover - though when I found the soft-cover AD&D Player's Handbook and Monster Manual, I just had to get them! Nostalgia, thy name is debt.)
So, the industry can handle them, they just have to be worth it. Example of what I would buy: Take the 1989
Jamain, Land of Twilight suppliment for Shadow World, double its page count with all sorts of cool new information, more maps, a couple more adventure seeds, more NPCs and creatures, possibly even a new profession or two that is indicative of one of the specific Jamaini cultures, put that all between some hard covers with nice art (heck, even just use what it already has, I like the Dragonlord Citadel it is very high-fantasy), and I will gladly purchase that for $60. I would much rather pay $60 for that than Dark Heresy.
