D&D 3.x 3E publishers and 4E: Who's in, who's out?

[MoogleEmpMog]

I'll be encouraging the publishers I regularly work with to dual-stat their .pdfs, and I can't imagine the .pdf market not going this direction for at least a while. I mean, why not? Any time you can reuse significant portions of a document and have a chance at selling to a wider market with near-zero costs (since there's no cost to keep the .pdf out there and the art is already paid for), why WOULDN'T you do so?

I'm still working on setting up in-house publication, but when I do I'll be releasing every product in as many open systems as possible, including both 3.5 and 4e.

I don't think you can consider the 3.0 to 3.5 switch in the same light as the 3.5 to 4e switch. 3.5 basically cleaned up some grandfathered rules from 3.0, and made some sensible but uninteresting upgrades to the tactical engine. 3.0 products were completely compatible, if not always complete. 4e is an actual new edition with major fluff and crunch changes, so there are likely to be a lot more holdouts.

I guess I don't really see what 'staying with 3.0' would entail. Stubbornly clinging to 5 x 10 horses in adventure stat blocks? Most people probably wouldn't notice or care, and would simply see the Large in the size line and use it as 10 x 10.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't blame him.

Invalidates a great deal of his work and said, basically, "we're going in a different direction."

But as I said on their boards - if he wants to continue making stuff for the old cosmology, I'll buy it.

4E stuff for the 3E (and earlier) cosmology would probably be popular, but it'd be a tricky balancing act to avoid stepping into Wizards' IP. That said, doing it in a monster book (4E Book of Fiends ...) would be easier, when talking about non-named individuals.

 

[Gundark]

It will be very interesting to see how third party publishers respond to the splintering amongst their fans.

The Paizo boards seem to be slightly favoring a 4E switch, but a very large number of the posters there are claiming they are not switching.

Necromancer Boards seem similarly divided.

Most players will convert over to 4e. Maybe not right away, but they will. The 3rd party publishers know this. It doesn't make business sense to keep making 3.5 products for the long haul. Once they switch the fence sitters will follow.

 

[Gundark]

Based on James Jacobs' reactions to the demon/devil changes, I could see Paizo leaning away from 4e.

Hmmm I read his comments too. I don't see how this means he would lean away from 4e.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Hmmm I read his comments too. I don't see how this means he would lean away from 4e.

Agreed. To me, all it suggests is that Paizo's default setting won't adapt the various outsider/planes-based changes as the 4E core. It says nothing about the company moving to 4E or not.

 

[Reaper Steve]

from the Paizo boards:

Sebastian wrote:
What do you like about the Great Wheel? Like I said, I can see liking the abyss and the nine hells, but do you really have a soft spot for ysgard? I've never seen a good defense of the Great Wheel and would really like to know what you find so appealing about it.

James Jacobs reply:
It's been part of D&D as long as I have, and I just like all the flavor that's been written about it over the past 30 years. I like Planescape a lot. I like how the 9 planes map to the 9 alignments. I like how it incorperates such a huge range of fantastic mythology with real-world mythology. I just like it. I like how it's built its own set of tradition over the years, while at the same point is infinitely expandable and had plenty of room for every DM's personal touch. I like how it (used to) connects all the D&D worlds, published and home-brewed alike, together, so you can have people from one world visiting other regions. I do, in fact, like Ysgard; I love the idea of Ragnarok and a way to incorperate real-world Nordic myths into D&D. I love how Mechanus/Nirvana is a set of interlocking geers. I love the fact that Gehenna's tilted on its side. I love the fact that animals can talk in the Beastlands/Happy Hunting Grounds. I love the fact that there's room for Egyptian gods, Finnish gods, Mesoamerican gods, Greek gods, Japanese gods, and D&D gods to interact.
I like how it's all inclusive.

Funny how all the reasons he loves it are all the reasons I think it's hokey. This is something that pushes me from the game, not something that draws me to it.

 

[DaveMage]

Though I wish it were otherwise, I agree that pretty much all 3rd party companies that want to write D&D products will go 4e - the question is, will they have enough fans with them to sustain their desired RPG product line with the same or better numbers than 3.5 products?

Necromancer Games now has small print runs. Will 4e eneregize their sales, or diminish them further? I've bought every NG product to date, but unless I can get 3.5 stats with the new ones they make under 4e, I'm probably going to give them (and all third party 4e-only products) a pass.

 

[Acts]

This may well be stupid...

But were any of these companies clamoring to purchase rights to use 2nd edition rules? Not sure if that's even possible, but I can't imagine a large market of die-hard 2nd edition players being squandered if the rights for the old rules were up for grabs. Further, I can't imagine Wizards not wanting to sell those rights (assuming they were there's to sell).

Back in 2000, there was a lot of outcry from people who still wanted to play 2nd edition, but 3e launched and it was a superior product in the opinion of many, many more. I can't imagine the industry marching along with 4e unless it's just awful...

Besides, 4e actually sounds like it make it easier for developers to conceive new rules, assuming the license is as hands-off as the original.

 

[Khairn]

I believe that there would be a benefit, both from a sales as well as a customer relations side, if one of the major publishers came out with a clearly defined statement of intent to continue to support 3.5

There are a large number of players who have expressed serious reservations about 4E, and that target market would very likely be galvanized to have a publisher committed to supporting them.

Support doesn't necessarily have to come from solely 3.5 products, as I believe that many would be happy with dual stat as well.

 

[Vigilance]

There are a large number of players who have expressed serious reservations about 4E, and that target market would very likely be galvanized to have a publisher committed to supporting them.

Misread.