The 3.5 renaissance!

[Desert Hare]

Personally I'm loving being a gamer right now. Except for the bloated prices on the core rulebvooks and some online retailers increasing the price on books above their MSRP, I'm having fun snapping up titles at reduced costs. Hell, I even managed a copy of the Iron Kingdoms World Guide at exactly retail!

 

[Jack99]

Back around 2000, Ryan Dancey predicted that this would happen if Wizards walked away from the OGL and the core game established by 3rd edition.

Which? That some would stay behind and continue to produce products for those that wouldn't switch? You do not need to be RD to predict that. It's just common sense. And good business. For some at least.

 

[cangrejoide]

I find it actually very funny and Ironic that most ( if not all) of this would actually exists if it wasnt for the way the GSL was done. If GSL was done a littel less restrictive many of those products would have been done for 4E nstead of 3E. So there you have it the GSL is good for the industry.


This thread should be calles the 3E resistance!

 

[Dimitris]

The only thing I will say is that I am a very very happy customer of PAIZO.

I understand the concern that PAIZO has to attract new players and not only support the existing players. I believe that the shift in PAIZO's products towards a D&D for RP-centric experienced players (and also mature audience) could help them positioning the Pathfinder as a different product than the standard WotC D&D product. It is not that they just maintain the 3.5e.

Dimitris

 

[Jack99]

I find it actually very funny and Ironic that most ( if not all) of this would actually exists if it wasnt for the way the GSL was done. If GSL was done a littel less restrictive many of those products would have been done for 4E nstead of 3E.

Doubtful. Paizo saw an opportunity to make more money by staying behind, well knowing that at every edition change, a decent amount of gamers had chosen to stick with the old version of the game. I think that even if 4e had been released under the OGL, they would still have stuck with 3.5.

Edit: Just wanted to add that I think that Paizo did the right thing for them. I also think it's great that those who chose to stay with 3.5 have a company that produces high quality products for them. I mean, I know exactly how much it sucks to be stuck with an edition that you do not like and no official/high quality products being made for your favorite edition.

 

[Imban]

I dunno, it still seems like putting off the inevitable: 3.5 entering the closet of older versions of D&D with a slowly dwindling (and graying) fan base.

The question here would be, well, why should I care? Regardless of what I personally do, I'm going to get gray hairs eventually.

Honestly, this always struck me as more of a business concern than anything, because it determines whether there are enough people to sell to. If you've got a gaming group or community as opposed to being in search of one - and I'm thankful that I do - people's system preferences are rarely enough to make it so you can't play your favorite game; it's theme preferences that are a much bigger deal. (Most of my community is apathetic or worse towards Vampire, for instance, so we're probably never going to play that, but a decent DM and pitch could sell any reasonable fantasy system.)

On the other hand, I also have a sizable crowd of people who, while they're certainly enjoying my gestalt 3e game, also wish someone (and at this point it seems like they mean me <_<) would run a 4e game that isn't ass and lasts more than one session. If only I didn't hate 4e's treasure system so... but that's really a topic for another thread.

 

[bouncyhead]

I am curious if anyone knows what percentage of active D&D players switched to 4e and stayed, and how that compares to the other edition changes. My guess is that it is a smaller percentage than with 3e, although still the majority and perhaps greater in number.

That's very difficult to say. There have been a couple of polls on ENWorld that give (to me) very surprising results. Try here for a summary of one of the largest:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/247762-changeover-poll-39.html#post4645585

Seems to break down to about 55-60% 3E and 30% 4E with about 10% playing both to some or other degree (for this example at least). IOW the majority have stayed, with a large proportion trying 4E and switching back. There are other polls out there but maybe someone else has links?

Should be borne in mind that a) ENWorld may not be representative of the D&D community at large (certainly rpgnet community seems to be more pro-4E), b) Polls are self-selecting, c) At least on ENWorld they just tell you what the existing community are doing and what's really at issue is where the new players are going.

But, for all that, it looks like the '2nd fiddle' tag may be a little extreme

Good luck to all editions and all who sail in them.

 

[an_idol_mind]

I find it actually very funny and Ironic that most ( if not all) of this would actually exists if it wasnt for the way the GSL was done. If GSL was done a littel less restrictive many of those products would have been done for 4E nstead of 3E. So there you have it the GSL is good for the industry.

While the GSL certainly contributed to the decision of some companies staying with 3rd edition, I don't think it's the main factor. 4th edition, for good or ill, is a significant break from the D&D that a lot of people know and love. Since 3rd edition has the OGL and is such a different creature than 4th edition, odds are good that several publishers would have preferred the 3rd edition mechanics and stuck with that system regardless.

Now if 4th edition had been more of an evolution of 3rd edition AND the GSL hadn't been so restrictive, I think things would be quite different. But then WotC wouldn't have been able to create the game they wanted to in the end.

 

[Imban]

Should be borne in mind that a) ENWorld may not be representative of the D&D community at large (certainly rpgnet community seems to be more pro-4E)

I wouldn't really say RPG.net is more pro-4e so much as anti-vitriol, because RPG.net has been dealing with system-vs-system vitriol since the dawn of recorded time and ENWorld was originally a place for 3e fans specifically. It'd take something like a month of observing the amount different versions are discussed to really ascertain the actual system preferences of the community.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

And let us not forget Necromancer Games supporting both Pathfiner AND 4e!