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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vartan" data-source="post: 4970109" data-attributes="member: 26155">Let me say that I think there are two question in the OP's question: "What can they [3PPs] sell," and "What can the sell that is going to be worth their time to produce?" This is complicated, as the OP points out, by the Character Builder: 3PP crunch is going to be difficult to sell for 4E because it can't be incorporated into CB, and CB is an insanely attractive feature of 4E.So what can 3PPs sell that will be worth their time to produce? 3PP crunch has to be so good that it makes a player want to ditch the Character Builder. That, or it has to appeal to everyone who doesn't use CB. That's the hurdle for crunch.Adventures and (to a lesser extent) campaign settings are another option for 3PPs. Both of these options are labor-intensive, which is a hurdle, but I can't say that they're more or less labor intensive than writing new crunch. I can say that writing good crunch requires a different skill-set than writing good adventures/settings. Lots of writers can do both, but others are more proficient at one or the other.3PP publishers have sold fine 4E products, but can they sell enough to make it worth their effort? For better or worse, WotC made their position clear with the GSL: Mutants and Masterminds takes too large a piece of their pie, but the Dungeon Crawl Classics line is just right. The lack of support for "homebrew" crunch in the Character Builder might be due to a lack of programming resources on WotC's part, but regardless of intent or reason the net result is that 3PP crunch is less profitable than it was under the OGL.IMO, if there is money to be made then it is in adventures and campaign settings. Whether or not such products will yield enough profit to motivate talented designers is a question that has yet to be answered. From what I've read there is a lot of room to work with in this space: the pre-fab WotC modules don't appeal to every gamer, and there are more than a few players who are looking for something other than "Points of Light" or the new Forgotten Realms."What can they sell?" Most of the same sorts of things they used to sell. "What will sell well enough to make it worth their time?" That question will only be answered over time.</blockquote>

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