3.X Petition

[mhensley]

And the word I've been hearing is that d20/D&D products are moving as slow as molasses overall (with a handful of exceptions). If that's true then it certainly doesn't bode well for those hoping for loads of new 3.5 material.

And I would say that it's too late for the buying of 3.5 materials to keep it alive. If 3.5 had still been selling really well, I doubt we would be seeing 4e right now. The time for serious buying was a year or two ago.

 

[Khairn]

I think Morrus is right in that strong 3E sales may be instrumental in bringing back publishers. But with no one willing to take a shot at supporting 3E gamers, exactly who should we buy from in order to show our support for 3E? WotC? Necromancer? Any purchase of their products means very little for the 3E crowd, as both companies have publicly stated their plans to abandon 3E.

I think that if a publisher gave a commitment to release new products and support 3E gamers who are not interested in adopting 4E, (even if they supported 4E at the same time) that they could generate the fan support and interest that would help generate sales. Even if that means competing against some heavy discounts by competitor's who are dumping product in an effort to clear out inventory. Gamers are some crazy a$$ed consumers who are very willing to pay extra for something that meets their needs.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Morrus is right in that strong 3E sales may be instrumental in bringing back publishers. But with no one willing to take a shot at supporting 3E gamers, exactly who should we buy from in order to show our support for 3E? WotC? Necromancer? Any purchase of their products means very little for the 3E crowd, as both companies have publicly stated their plans to abandon 3E.

Goodman Games has promised to support every line that has sales. They support 1E and C&C, after all. Hie thee hence.

PDF publishers are also a pretty obvious choice, since it's a lot cheaper for them to take a shot at a product than it is for someone doing hard copy. (And if it sells well enough, they can always slap it onto Lulu.)

There are PDF publishers are still putting out 3E material. If you're not buying it, you're telling them not to bother.

3E material vanishing from the market is the fault of the consumer, arguably especially the folks who say they aren't switching but then don't financially support the 3rd party publishers still creating new material for 3E.

Money talks, message board posts walk.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I will continue to buy anything I really like in 3.x, d20 or OGL-based flavours. None of my money will go towards anything D&D 4th edition.

So sure, I'm in.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Honestly, I wasn't really being sarcastic. I've been around the internet long enough to know this is what will happen:

1. someone makes a forum for an oop game
2. edition wars rage on the forum
3. more extremist factions create their own forums that are "more true" to the oop edition
4. forum increases moderation and bans talk of newer editions to pacify extremists
5. factions that hate moderation create their own forum to badmouth members of the old forum
6. ....
7. Profit!!!

3.1 the terrorist win

 

[scruffygrognard]

The only "petition" that will make such a prospect viable to publishers is called "buying their 3.x material with actual cash"...

With an 80% drop in 3.x sales, publishers are losing money on them. This is a fact.

You want 3.x stuff, start buying it. Now. Because thrid party publishers can't sell stuff that people don't buy. The climate right now is this: the market is sending a clear message that they don't want to buy 3.x materials in the indisputable manner of not buying 3.x materials.

Don't you think that a large part of this problem is caused by the impending release of 4th edition? A lot of people don't want to invest more money in what will soon be a dead system.

This doesn't hold true for me, as I've been busily collecting 3.X compatible materials to use with future 3.X campaigns (I have zero interest is 4th edition based on the bits of information that have trickled out).

Because it's true that "where Wizards goes, so goes the industry" all current makers of 3.X are, no doubt, having a difficult time as they, and consumers, await 4th edition. This is why I'd like to see people who are interested in keeping 3.X around voice that interest so that publishers have a better idea of how feasible it might be to stick with 3.X (whether or not they plan on producing 4th edition materials).

 

[Psion]

I was wondering when someone would create a dragonsfoot-type site for 3.x grognards.

Does D20 Haven not count?

 

[GMSkarka]

I speak from the POV of a 3.x publisher who has experienced said drop immediately following the 4E announcement, and who has heard from dozens of others who say the same, and who has been advised of RPGNow's sales drops of d20 material overall by the owners of said company.

Same here. Sales of our d20 MasterKit line of 3.5e products pretty much dropped off to nothing when the announcement was made in August.

If you guys really want 3rd Edition support, you've got to let us know.

 

[Glyfair]

Don't you think that a large part of this problem is caused by the impending release of 4th edition? A lot of people don't want to invest more money in what will soon be a dead system.

I think that's exactly the point. Do you think that somehow the release of 4E is going to magically make them want to buy products for a "dead" system?

I think there will be a small market for 3.5 materials from here for the undetermined future. How many companies think they can afford to serve that market is the big question. I suspect that it's somewhat larger than the skeptics think, but a lot smaller than the 4E haters predict.

 

[cougent]

Unfortunately for the publishers there is also a "I am not buying anything new for a while" crowd, or is that just me?

I have more 3E stuff than I will probably ever use, but might still buy more if I stay with that game (and by *I*, I mean my *group*)

However, as a dedicated fence sitter towards a totally new game (also known as 4E), I don't want to spend more money on stuff I may never use after next June.

So, I wait. This is not good for the publishers (sorry guys) but is the best choice for my wallet... which is NOT infinite in size.

Then there are sales of things I already want but don't have that tempt me to go spend, but on previously created products and while that benefitrs me, it still doesn't help the publishers with future projects.

Unfortunately for me and the publishers, I may decide next July that 3E is where I want to stay, but by then they may have had to adapt to 4E and we may both suffer... me from not having new 3E material and they from not getting my dollars on 4E stuff. It is a tricky situation and will continue to be so for another 6-7 months at least.