3rd Party Support? (UA and others)

[JoeGKushner]

What's going on with publishers and third party materials? I remember Fiery Dragon and MEG jumping on Monte's bandwagon with their releases and Necromancer was coming out with some stuff for it. I remember some plans for Armagedon 2089 products as well.

I see Phil coming out with some products for EN World's latest product.

What are the general thoughts and ideas for it? For example, would people want to see more expansions for it? I think it tends to follow WoTC's plan for the Player's Handbook when support products coming out, interlocking with each other.

 

[jmucchiello]

What's going on with publishers and third party materials?

I'll admit that from a fan's perspective, third party cross-over material seems like the best thing since sliced bread. The flaw though is that by doing it, you are limiting your sales potential to whatever the original product's sales were. Now, with something like Monte's AU, that isn't as big a concern. Likewise, Phil is probably well followed enough that people will buy his Steel and Steam followup whether or not they own the ENW offering.

But as you traverse down the ranks of publishers, which is a better idea: Include 10 pages that requires you to have read some other book that's sold 140 copies? Include 10 page of new material? Or drop the material completely? For everyone but the 140 people who own the secondary book, the second two choices is the best choice. This is the same reason adventures usually refer only to the 3 core books. Established settings can have adventures that also refer to the core setting book, but that is usually as far from the core as an adveture can sway, safely.

 

[philreed]

So far, Ronin Arts has released:

Treasures of Freeport for use with Green Ronin's Freeport setting

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2762&


A Matter of Family for M&M Superlink

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2123&


Steam & Steel: Diseases for use with E.N. Publishing's Steam & Steel

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2854&


A Dozen Drow Items for use with Goodman Games' Complete Guide to Drow

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3076&


And there are more projects in support of other companies' products in varying degrees of progress and negotiation.

All of these projects are marketing tools being used to expand Ronin Arts' position in the PDF industry.

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Well, Blue Devil Games has gotten permission to do a pdf for Monte's AU setting; I should be making an official announcement on it in a couple of weeks.

The flaw though is that by doing it, you are limiting your sales potential to whatever the original product's sales were.

The other parts of the equation are: (1) competition amongst other publishers, and (2) fan loyalty.

So, while many more people own D&D, there are hundreds of publishers putting out D&D material. While there may be quite a bit fewer people who purchased Monte's AU, there are also quite a bit fewer people publishing supplements for it. Similarly, if a greater percentage of, by way of example, original AU purchasers buy supplements than your product has a better chance of doing well.

I'll add that this is another unique advantage of pdf publishing over print publishing. I can risk putting out a book dedicated to an inherently smaller fan base because I don't need to sell as many to turn a profit as I would with a print book.

I will also add that I queried Phil about an exclusive licensing deal for my upcoming Dawning Star sci-fi setting, and he still hasn't gotten back to me.

 

[Klaus]

And let's not forget Fiery Dragon's history of such products:
CC4 and Plague of Dreams for Arcana Unearthed
CP1: Demons & Devils as support for Green Ronin's Legions of Hell and Armies of the Abyss
CP3: Denizens of Darkness & Dungeons as support for Necromancer Games' Rappan Athuk trilogy

 

[Nellisir]

What's going on with publishers and third party materials?

What are the general thoughts and ideas for it? For example, would people want to see more expansions for it? I think it tends to follow WoTC's plan for the Player's Handbook when support products coming out, interlocking with each other.

I think UA is a tricky one to support, and possibly a bad example. Anything from UA is modular, and "support" will likely be from publishers incorporating rules changes (and including the new rules in their own product -- there is no legal way to reference UA).

I'd love to see more use of UA rules, though -- I've got a roughed out product (stuck in $$$ limbo) that will hopefully incorporate magic ratings, players roll all the dice, and a few other variants in a totally optional and easy to use fashion (assuming I can get the files to work like I want).

Ah, wait. I bet you meant AU, not UA.
Dunno.

Nell.