General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
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Disclaimer: I helped generate a portion of the material for this text, providing a few derro items and one of the monsters. However, I did buy my print copy of this book. My PDF was provided by... [Read More]
Disclaimer: I contributed a bit of material (Some monsters and one background option) for this book by virtue of working on _Halls of the Mountain King_. I was not otherwise directly involved in its... [Read More]
The first thing that grabs you about the Imperial Gazetteer is the cover. Malcolm McClinton has once again put together a gorgeous image that wraps around to the back. It's fantastic piece of art and... [Read More]
This is not the first Doctor Who RPG. The first one published was a system created by FASA back in the mid 1980s, which used a similar system to their Star Trek RPG. I used to run that game back in... [Read More]
Right now I am basically looking for 3 things from 3rd parties. I want adventures, monsters and adventure support material (locations, groups, etc.)
This.
If you include a file I can easily import into the monster builder with your monsters, I will be all over them in a flash.
But I don't want long adventures full of filler encounters that cover 2 - 3 levels of play. I want short adventures of about 6 - 8 encounters / scenes. A couple of intro encounters, a then a short dungeon (~4 encounters). Some of those encounters of course would preferably be (well written) skill challenges. Something I can finish in a session or two, and doesn't come to dominate my campaign.
If a company released a series of these, priced them about 5 - 6 bucks each for the pdf, and gave me a monster builder file with all the monsters / NPCs, then I would again be all over that and buy them as quick as you could release them.
If you play 4e, then it's a pity. They consistently made the best 3PP products for the game.
It's a pity that more people didn't buy their products.
Yep by far the best. Such a pity
But as they said DDi etc is so great how do you compete. I know my players would not make a PC that they couldn't use the CharBuilder for. This sort of thing stiffles 3PP and house rules
Even if WOTC had released 4e under the OGL, without access to the character builder, I don't think One Bad Egg would've survived....
Similarly, I'm with others with regard to monsters as well. While it is much easier for a 3PP to actually create a monster, the fact that I still have to type it in actually means I'm more likely to just ask myself "Why am I paying to do this and isn't there a WOTC monster I could use instead"?
Given how every month there's more and more races/feats/classes/monsters/items/powers/rituals being added to the compendium, crunch is not exactly a demand for me as a DM _OR_ player.
I fully admit that both the character and monster builder have made me lazy. The amount of time pre 4E it took to integrate a 3PP "crunch" into the campaign was EXACTLY the same as integrating WOTC's own stuff so I viewed the 3PP as roughly equivalent.
Now though? It's not in the database? It's not in my game.
It bears saying that people on the internet are the people most exposed to 3rd party publishers and PDF games, and at the same time they are the people most exposed to D&D Insider.
Bummer. I bought and enjoyed reading the Half-Dead race (I've long wanted an undead PC race, and the Half-Dead has parts that appeal to me more than Revenants, which came out later anyway), but like many of you, I haven't had the opportunity to use it in a game. As has been said, once you get used to the Character Builder, it's hard to not use it. I really enjoyed the Advanced Player's Guide, but that's suffered the same fate.
__________________ Gary Hoggatt - www.garyh.net "Such heroic nonsense..."
On the other hand, it's sad that it's doing so in such a way that 3pps can't compete.
IMO, it's only seen as sad because we have the OGL era to compare the current WotC business model to. Remember, before that, closed content was the industry standard. With the OGL, WotC granted other companies the privilege of using their content — but that's exactly what it was — a privilege.
IMO, it's only seen as sad because we have the OGL era to compare the current WotC business model to. Remember, before that, closed content was the industry standard. With the OGL, WotC granted other companies the privilege of using their content — but that's exactly what it was — a privilege.
Did any 3pp's from the 1E and 2E eras produce any AD&D supplements which had new races, classes, etc ...?
If I was going to keep doing crunch sourcebooks like Forgotten Heroes races/classes.etc... books.
In the cases of Goodman's "Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist and Song" and XRP's "Advanced Player's Guide", most likely they knew from the start that either book would probably have a short shelf lifespan until the 4E PHB2 was released. I wouldn't be surprised if either book only had one print run.
On the other hand for Goodman's "Forgotten Heroes: Scythe & Shroud", that may possibly have a longer shelf life until WotC produces a PHB4 (or later) which features shadow power classes. (This is assuming PHB3 is mainly dedicated to psionic power classes).
Well, even though I never bought a OBE product, I still find the news a bit disappointing. Hopefully, if these guys want to scratch their 4e itch, that they'll get the opportunity through WotC (I mean, Rob Donoghue has worked on AV2 and DMG2) or another 3PP.
__________________ Veronica: Where's your brother?
Dick: I think he took Ghost World up to his room. They're probably up there making love. Or playing Dungeons and Dragons. Or both, at the same time. They're both, like, 12th-level dorks. I'm just sayin'
Yeah, honestly the potency of DDI's tools is near the top, if not the top, cause leading to poorer sales performance (which, as someone pointed out, was not the only factor in our decision), and a general customer perception that using 3PP 4E products is more effort than it's worth.
Clearly we didn't have a big enough name, given the people in this thread who never heard of us, but clearly it was pretty hard to make a name (even with two Ennie nominations this past year!) in the 3PP 4E arena. Most folks seemed to look to the older guard (several stellar examples of which have been named in this thread) rather than poking around for the new guys like us. And with One Bad Egg being an as-available priority for us, we simply didn't have time to push it out there more. That said, I do think we did push it out there reasonably, within the limits of what could be afforded -- the sales, while they kept us from losing money on OBE, never yielded anything big in the way of profits, and profits are what you need if you're gonna spend money on marketing (which, yes, is a Catch-22; but marketing might net you nothing, so you have to treat money which you spend on it as just plain lost).
A footnote: I will point out that there's been almost no overlap in who's working on the Dresden Files RPG (on the Evil Hat side) and who's been working on the One Bad Egg material, aside from me. I purposely kept those teams separate. DF work's been chugging away, hardcore, the whole time.
For my part, it's not so much that we couldn't compete with WotC. Rather, I lost a lot of the drive to design as WotC put out more and more material as if they sucked it from my brainpan while I slept.
My 2cp: I first approached Rob and Fred about doing some 4e stuff with them for a simple reason: I liked playing 4e and had a lot of design ideas floating around in my head. We were all pretty much on the same page. OBE would be a good venue for us to explore those design ideas and get them out to other people who might find them fun and useful too. Things started out great. As I started working on 4e projects, though, a peculiar thing happened. I kept have to push back some design stuff based on what WotC was putting out. Me: I’ll work on a binder class. WotC: We’re releasing the shaman in PHB2. Me: I’ve got a lot of neat ideas for minions. WotC: Here’s a shiny new Monster Builder that makes monster design virtually obsolete. You get the idea. (And there are many more examples, q.v., Fred’s arena powers and WotC’s arena items in AV2.)
For me, this is a good thing. The company that publishes D&D is routinely doing almost exactly the kinds of things I am looking for. OTOH, it makes the hard work of creating and publishing material difficult to justify.
For my part, this gives me more time to finish up Tokyo Rain.
I'm certainly sad to see you guys go away. One Bad Egg put out excellent material for 4E.
From a development standpoint, I loved being able to add the gods of the Shroud to Scarrport and have been thinking of ways to use them in other Campaign Cutouts (if any).
That said, I'm in agreement about the financial viability of supporting 4th edition. There just doesn't seem to be much interest in products developed by 3pp such as myself.
For my part, it's not so much that we couldn't compete with WotC. Rather, I lost a lot of the drive to design as WotC put out more and more material as if they sucked it from my brainpan while I slept.
You know, I've heard that they named the company Wizards of the Coast for a reason. I mean, there are some pretty weird rumors floating around about PPeter Adkison and Richard Garfield.
From a development standpoint, I loved being able to add the gods of the Shroud to Scarrport and have been thinking of ways to use them in other Campaign Cutouts (if any).
I think I speak for all the Eggheads when we say that the Open Gods project in general and your Scarrport product in particular were one of the highlights.
A footnote: I will point out that there's been almost no overlap in who's working on the Dresden Files RPG (on the Evil Hat side) and who's been working on the One Bad Egg material, aside from me. I purposely kept those teams separate. DF work's been chugging away, hardcore, the whole time.
Well, at least now you have some free time and less stress on your hands, I hope.
Unfortunately I must admit that I learned your names and always thought "one day, you'll get some stuff from them that Jack99 and others are applauding so much", and... Well, that day never came.
Though - since it's PDFs, they are still around, right? So maybe one day...
Thoughts of the Arch Chancellor - My weblog on EN World - containing game related material, like: house rules, design theories, reviews, play reports, adventure ideas
Secret Member of <Think we would just hide our secret with a spoiler tag, eh?>
Though - since it's PDFs, they are still around, right? So maybe one day...
On the blog post, they mentioned that the PDFs will continue to be sold on the various PDF sites, but they will be transferring them to Highmoon. (For now, they're still under One Bad Egg.)
__________________ - Bob Huss
[H]e's dead and poisoned and possibly insane on another plane. It's a very stylish death, but a definitive one. - Piratecat
Location: “Over the Hills and Far Away” - (TDY in Florida - "Home" is Michigan)
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This is too bad. Unfortunately, it does seem that the type of success that 3pp's had during 3E (and the extent of the success) probably won't be emulated with 4E. They seemed to have some fairly cool products, and a couple looked intriguing (like Hardboiled Armies), but I guess the 3pp market just isn't there (except for a few of the bigger names).
I hope everyone who worked there will find a way or place to land on their feet. Good Luck and Best Wishes.
__________________ Mark "El Mahdi" Armstrong - Semper Operor Verus
". . . after all, that is why we're here. Kill the last bad guy and then there's cake." - Major General Jack O'Neal
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