One Bad Egg going dark

[Glyfair]

Originally Posted by Vorput

I don't know if I like or dislike that statement. On the one hand, it's great that the primary publisher is providing so many useful and workable tools and ideas. On the other hand, it's sad that it's doing so in such a way that 3pps can't compete.

I agree that WotC has gone a bit too far in the direction of making things hard for 3rd parties to get traction. That being said, I think the monster builder is not a negative thing for third parties, contrary to their comments.

I can add most 3rd party monsters to the monster builder. I can't add 3rd party classes or races to it (at least without using the house rules section for every character that uses the new race/class).

Right now I am basically looking for 3 things from 3rd parties. I want adventures, monsters and adventure support material (locations, groups, etc.)

[jasonbostwick]

I can count myself among the less than 100 people who bought most of their products, but I have to admit that none of it has seen use in my games yet.

My players already have enough character concepts from Wizards material to fill up a dozen one-shots, and the support in the Compendium and CB really tips the scale.

While the preview for the Witch-Doctor was promising, by the time the product was released I knew that 3rd party player material would never get any traction in my game. I had the same problem with Ari's Advanced Player's Guide - great material, but my players only ever half-considered it when it was released. Now that the PHB2 is out, it can't really compete with classes that have all of their powers in the Character Builder and are continually supported in Dragon.

I've got the monsters from Death Mother printed out on index cards like I've done with all the MM and Dungeon monsters, but haven't really found a good spot to use them. Killing a Death Mother is pretty much an adventure on its own, and it hasn't fit in yet.

The one OBE book I'm still hoping I'll get some good use out of is Poisoncraft. While I don't think any PCs will take the Poisoncrafter feat, that won't stop me from handing out vials of poison as treasure.

[WampusCat43]

Pity. We used their 'Hard-boiled Armies' to simulate a large-scale battle using 4e rules the other night, and it was very well received. Good stuff.

[JoeGKushner]

Originally Posted by ggroy

What's the likelihood of this happening? (ie. Short of hacking DDI).

If I was Goodman Games, it would priority #1.

If I was going to keep doing crunch sourcebooks like Forgotten Heroes races/classes.etc... books.

How likely is that to happen? No clue. Relies on way too much information that we have no access to.

Have 3pp approached WoTC about it?

Would WoTC be open to it?

etc... etc.. .etc...

[Psion]

Originally Posted by Rechan

Hopefully this will give them more time to work on Dresden Files RPG.

^ This.

[darjr]

More FATE work is probably good.

It's cool that they'll keep the current product line for sale.

[mevers]

Originally Posted by Glyfair

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.

[mach1.9pants]

Originally Posted by Jack99

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

So sad.

[AllisterH]

It's weird now....

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.

[thecasualoblivion]

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.

[garyh]

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.

[jdrakeh]

Originally Posted by Vorput

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.

[ggroy]

Originally Posted by jdrakeh

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 ...?

[Wulf Ratbane]

Wow. I wasn't aware that One Bad Egg was comprised of more writers than Justin Jacobsen, but that is one talented list of writers there.

[ggroy]

Originally Posted by JoeGKushner

If I was Goodman Games, it would priority #1.

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).