D&D General Kobold Press Going Down a Dark Road

[Snarf Zagyg]

I'm I really not being clear here or just being gaslighted?

Remember, there is a way to feel good!

 

[Bolares]

If it walks like a duck...

yeah... that sucks, because I'm really self-contious about being clear in what I'm saying in english. I hate being misinterpreted, and this not being my first language ends making me second guessing my statements quite often. I guess I'll just disengage.

 

[BrokenTwin]

.... and I think that some products and the "advertising" or "marketing" around them did not change to reflect the times. Whether that's a deliberate choice (FUD) or because they still have that mindset is not for me to say. I would note that we have had a senior person from KP on the thread, and while I wouldn't put him on the spot, it would be nice if there was a simple retraction or correction of this language.

Yeah, I don't have any serious issues with the marketing in and of itself, but it was clearly written with OGL fiasco in mind, and could stand to be rewritten to be more neutral towards WotC and positively focused on their own product.
Whether or not you believe that the antagonism towards WotC is still justified after they backed down, post-fiasco it just comes across as kind of... petty? Like, ultimately, I don't think they would lose anything by rewriting it. But I'm not really their target market, so maybe they have good reason to believe otherwise.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

what's FUD?

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt - see here: Fear, uncertainty, and doubt - Wikipedia

 

[Micah Sweet]

1 new book per month (heck sometimes 1 new book per 3 months) compared to say 10 compaies putting out anywhere from 1 a month to 1 per 3 months...

As has been said, you absolutely don't have to look at every book, just the ones people are interested in. But, I'm not going to bug you about it any further.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm I really not being clear here or just being gaslighted?

This is unclear:

being incorret is not the only definition of dishonest...

I literally don't know what that means. Indeed, if you're merely incorrect, you're not being dishonest - you need mens rea - i.e. to knowingly mislead - to be dishonest.

Re: prognostication you're being extremely clear - you're just incorrect to assert it's not prognostication.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Then it's a good thing that those 3PP exist for you and are available. Because there is no "standard" judgement of "better". There are qualities of those other products that appeal to you, and it's great that we have such an open game (unlike the TSR days) that they can offer a product to you. Go for it.

On the other hand, you deciding that other products are superior for you, doesn't affect my estimation of the value of WOTC's product to me and my group. I'm not looking at other products with a jaundiced eye, I have a few products from Kobold Press and Nord Games to name a couple. They're ... okay. Mostly supplements that I thought I would use and that ended up gathering dust on my computer. So for me? I don't really bother looking anymore, they simply don't buy enough for me to make it worth my while.

I have a hard time accepting the idea that some people have done the research and concluded that WotC actually makes the best 5e stuff, but obviously I have my biases too.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

If it walks like a duck...

That's a pretty crap thing to say when I don't think you can parse the sentence I was referring to either. If you can, why don't you parse it?

 

[TwoSix]

IT isn't just them wanting broken stuff (but look at my screen name i know people who that is true for) it's Ross wanting a new cool warlock pact, and Jim wanting the werewolf class from this, and kurt wanting just these two feats from these two books.... it adds up

Just seems like it adds up to getting players to be more invested in the game, which seems like a good thing to me.

 

[Imaro]

But it's not game design 101. So we know what comes first.

So maybe this is lost on you and some people who forget that bad business almost killed D&D before WotC bought it, but yeah... we do know which one needs to come first if we want a game that's actually still around, being published and provides products that are cutting edge in technology and whose production values are consistently high. That said there is no inherent dichotomy in designing the best game you can for your market and practicing good business sense. The fact that you don't like D&D 5e means your suggestions of how the massively successful edition should be run are suspect... you're self-admittedly not a fan and you apparently think the business aspect of a business (which all rpg companies and indie developers are) should come second, I wonder how many successful companies would actually agree.