Advanced Class Codex by Green Ronin

[Pants]

Aw, I was really looking forward to this book.

I kinda wanted the Classes from the Advanced Player's Guide, but I didn't want the rest of the book. I was hoping they'd all be in the ACC.

Too bad to see it get canceled.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Damn, I'm sorry (albeit not surprised) to hear this. I think of all the Advanced books, this was the one--with the possible exception of the Bestiary--that I was most psyched for.

 

[Land Outcast]

Not the best news I know but such is the state of d20 in 2006.

Boy, that hurts.

 

[Sammael]

Afraid that entry is out of date. Diamond, who handle our book trade distro, requires info far in advance of the hobby, so we had them solicit the ACC last year. Since then we've had to cancel the book due to the continuing decline of the d20 market.

I was so looking forward to this book! *sob* PDFs are just... not... the... same...

Not the best news I know but such is the state of d20 in 2006.

And yet, WotC is publishing more books than ever. Either they're operating at a loss, or you guys have given up without a fight.

EDIT: I think the unfounded 4E paranoia is the biggest problem here.

 

[Aus_Snow]

So where is the problem then. . marketing?

Anyway, this is a damn shame. One book I was looking forward to all this year... will no longer be here.

At least I sometimes buy PDFs, I suppose. So I might pick up one or two of those. *sigh*

 

[Mouseferatu]

And yet, WotC is publishing more books than ever. Either they're operating at a loss, or you guys have given up without a fight.

Neither.

I don't think people who aren't in the industry truly understand the difference in WotC's market vs. everyone else's. WotC sells books on an order of magnitude higher--that's not hyperbole--than other D20 companies. It's entirely possible to have a market that will support WotC, but in which few of the "small fish" D20 companies can survive.

A poor seller for WotC is still well in the black. A lot of books from smaller D20 companies never make it out of the red these days.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

A poor seller for WotC is still well in the black. A lot of books from smaller D20 companies never make it out of the red these days.

And that is the problem, even uninspired books, not playtestet and with questionable mechanics and errors every Stat Block are bought, because the are official.
Books that brought us such Highlights like Frenzied Berserker or Hulking Hurler.

It is us gamers that buy the books and do not buy 3rd party books. I even know some gamers who would never buy a 3rd party book because it is not offical.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I haven't met anyone who based a buying decision on whether or not something was 'official'. But aside from myself, the other gamers I know don't spend a lot of time here interacting with the community at large or the publishers who hang out here. When their RPG itch needs to be scratched, they are going to gravitate to WotC material for two reasons.

First, it's more accessible, since they'll see it browsing the sci-fi section at the bookstore instead of having to make a trip to the NSFLGS. While there is some third-party material there too, they have pretty much the entire current Wizards catelog. Kind of a self-fullfilling prophecy in that the Wizards stuff is stocked because it sells better, but part of the reason it sells better is because they stock it. That's always the nature of the beast with the retail book world, though.

Secondly, while Wizards has put out some less than stellar material, their overall track-record is pretty damn good. For the casual gamer that doesn't know one third-party publisher from another, going off the beaten track can be a riskier proposition. While the d20 market has weeded out some of the slackers (and taken some good ones out too), the initial glut created some bad impressions. I think that was a price worth paying for the OGL, but it still kinda hurt.

 

[Pinotage]

As one who rarely buys hardcovers, I'm happy to see it coming to pdf. Right up my alley! Looking forward to it.

Pinotage

 

[JoeGKushner]

Afraid that entry is out of date. Diamond, who handle our book trade distro, requires info far in advance of the hobby, so we had them solicit the ACC last year. Since then we've had to cancel the book due to the continuing decline of the d20 market. That cover is now being used for True Sorcery. Some of the material that was going to be in the ACC will be released as smaller PDFs. The holy warrior section will be the first of that material to appear. It's done, our graphic designers just need enough of a breather between print projects to bang it out.

Not the best news I know but such is the state of d20 in 2006.

Shakes fist at Amazon.com. "Damn you Amazon.com. You blew it all up."