It is never pleasant to report on price increases, especially when they impact the indie creators and small press publishers that make the tabletop industry so vibrant. We had seen data suggesting costs were likely to shift, and now prolific creator Philip Reed has publicly confirmed the news.
Effective December 8, 2025, the cost of print-on-demand (POD) cards at DriveThruRPG is going up.
The timing is undeniably difficult. It comes shortly after DriveThruRPG expanded its operations to allow creators to sell physical items such as dice and cards directly through the platform. While the marketplace for physical products is growing, the realities of the global economy, specifically the rising costs of cardstock, materials, freight, and tariffs, are forcing these adjustments.
The Numbers
DriveThruRPG has managed to keep print costs locked for the last two years despite market turbulence. The goal with this new pricing structure is to lock in costs for another 2 years to provide stability, but getting there requires a price increase.
From December 8, the new base print costs will include:
- Premium US Poker & Euro Poker: $0.13 per card
- Embossed U.S. Poker: $0.155 per card
- Premium Tarot: $0.24 per card
- Embossed Tarot: $0.285 per card
- Tuckboxes: $2.90 per tuckbox
These are raw production costs, meaning the base price creators must charge to break even is rising.
A Creator’s Perspective
Philip Reed, a veteran of the industry, was transparent about how this affects his output. While he notes that he absolutely adores the format and the quality of the decks and tuckboxes, the economic reality has forced a change in strategy.
With prices climbing, I am going to pull back on card decks for the immediate future and return to where everything started for me in 2002: creating new works that are designed as PDFs to be read on a screen,”
It is a sympathetic situation; creators want to make physical props, and Game Masters wish to buy them, but the margins are becoming increasingly difficult to justify.
Beat the Deadline
If you have been curating a wishlist of cards or have redemption codes from crowdfunding campaigns you have not yet used, I suggest placing your orders before December 8. On that day, the prices will increase.
If you want to support Philip Reed before he shifts focus back to digital-first releases, you can find all his available decks here.
He highlighted a few specific releases that are worth grabbing at the current price:
- The Deck of Old-School Dungeon Lore: A 50-card deck that Reed noted turned out better than expected, offering a framework he enjoyed so much he is already adapting it for future projects.
- Lurking in the Shadowy Dungeon: Perfect for OSR games, this allows GMs to quickly lay out a dungeon, or for solo players to dive in without a net.
- OSR Dungeon Cards: Featuring 36 map/prompt cards and 15 quickstart cards, this set helps populate dungeons and determine details on the fly.
- Super Heroic Scenes Deck One: A leap into systemless superhero support that Reed has wanted to tackle for years.
While we wish these price hikes were not necessary, they are an unfortunate byproduct of the world we live in. If you want these cards on your table, the best financial decision is to secure them now.
