Age of Worms & Savage Tide HCs

I was wondering, with the parting of ways between Paizo and WOTC, is it now more or less likely that we will ever see an Age of Worms and/or Savage Tide hardcover?

Chad

Sadly, I don't think we'll see them now.

I think Wizards will cut off their own arms before they allow Paizo to do these hardcovers.

That's what I was afraid of. Sad, really.

Chad

Really? But why would wizards interfere?


I assumed Dungeon had all the IP for doing this sort of stuff. I know Dungeon is going out, but is publishing this just not worthwhile for the profit, or can wizards actually interfere with the process?

Arrgh! Mark! said:

I assumed Dungeon had all the IP for doing this sort of stuff. I know Dungeon is going out, but is publishing this just not worthwhile for the profit, or can wizards actually interfere with the process?

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Dungeon is WotC (i.e., Dungeon is IP owned by WotC that had previously been licensed to Paizo). They aren't interfering with anything, merely exercising control over IP that they own.

The official word is that the companies are considering future collaborations, and some kind of reprint of the adventure paths would certainly be possible.

Course, if Wizards really is unveiling a new edition of the rules next year, wouldn't it be nice to have a big 20-level campaign to release right along with it? If the adventure paths take an average of about 2 years to play through, and 4.0 is due before that, there's no way Wizards would authorise it as a 3.5 volume. As a 4.0 book though? Hmmmm.

Shawn

Paizo has been asking to receive permission to publish an AoW hardcover for a few years now.

They've never received it. There is no reason now to think that it will ever be granted.

It's not hard to see why WotC does not want to see a hardcover like that out in the marketplace. It's huge, necessarily very expensive and so would not likely sell very well. Worse, among the gaming groups that do buy it and play it, its size and length pretty much take that DM and group out of the market for other adventure products for a year or several more.

I've been running the AoW AP from Dungeon for 2 years this month. My session today marks the start of our third year on the camapign, as session #32. My players are about two thirds of the way through module #7 The Shadow of Long Spire. At this rate - our AoW campaign will go another year and a half at least - and maybe even 2 more.

During that time, I have bought Savage Tide of course as I am a Dungeon subscriber. I bought MWP's Price of Courage as it was a third volume in an adventure path series I stared to buy before I was running AoW. But I didn't look at buying any other adventures of any kind over the past two years at all. Pathfinder excepted, I don't expect to do so over the next two years, either.

My point: While WotC's decision not to license an AoW hardcover may not be in the interest of some hardcore players, I can certainly see why they don't want to compete against it with their own FR adventure path books and other modules. It just cannabalizes their own sales with a monster product that has a lower margin.

Since WotC owns all of the IP for AoW, ST, and Maure Castle, they could easily decide to publish such compilations themselves, and make all of the profits from such, too.

It seems, though, that WotC is more interested in publishing original material of their own creation (WRT d20/OGL third party content), so if they follow the same course as they do with the rest of the d20/OGL content available to them, they wouldn't publish this "foreign" IP either. Of course, this IP is set explicitly in Greyhawk, so perhaps that fact makes WotC perceive it in a a different light than purely-external IP that has no basis in a WotC setting.

Thoughts?

grodog said:

S Of course, this IP is set explicitly in Greyhawk, so perhaps that fact makes WotC perceive it in a a different light than purely-external IP that has no basis in a WotC setting.

Thoughts?

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Given the imminent release of Expedition to Castle Greyhawk, and explicit setting use within AoW for FR and Eberon, I don't think setting is the issue.

I think it's the price of the product. The margin has to be scaled back on those $100 a piece books. I think it's just better business to sell 5 Red Hand of Doom style adventures to a customer than one AoW hardcover - and a lot less risky.

An AoW Hardcover is a niche luxury good among RPG products. I think we must conclude that Shackled City did not sell well enough for WotC to think the benefit was there to fish in those waters again.