Vigilance said:
Well they dont exactly share their books with me, but in a very short time they've become the biggest vendor on RPGNow, which isnt insignificant.
The fact of the matter is, it doesnt matter how much. You seem to be implying that if its not a LOT of money (in your opinion no less) that they shouldnt bother.
I'm saying that the amount of money, while present, might be better put into drawing more customers to the material and the later material that builds on it, rather than taking the money now and losing in the end.
No it didnt drive them out of business.
But it also hasnt had some of the effects you keep claiming that 3rd party SRDs should have, so I consider that support for my position and not yours.
It has NOT made GOO's d20 mecha or d20 anime rules the industry standard, nor has it led to other companies adopting those rules.
Where was this an issue? I said it'd help follow on sales of future products, if those future products depended on the rules. Also, it is a bit irksome to see Publishers repeatedly act like other publishers are the only beneficiary of the OGL. I don't care if D20 Mecha is the new industry standard, I only care that it's accessible to me. I'm not asking for an SRD to make publishers lives easier. I realize their business needs to be profitable, but they should likewise remember who they're selling to.
Quite often in industries like this, the companies seem more geared to their direct customer (Distrubitors) than their ultimate customers (Us).
Those SRDs have also been repackaged by a fellow 3rd party company and offered for sale (Phil Reed of Ronin Arts I believe).
Now Phil's a nice guy and I believe he did it with GOO's permission, but a company repacking an SRD and selling it is a very real possibility.
It does make his post above kind of funny.
See- we aren't all the dogmatics that you think we are- some companies have experimented with this- and I personally *have* watched it with interest- I just dont see any evidence of success to the point that I would not only lose a revenue stream from PDFs, but would also PAY SOMEONE to render it in a free format.
Chuck
I think the problem is that companies would rather sit back and blame others for the failing market. (i.e. 3.5 napalmed their fields) rather than admit that the slump is because of the vast amount of tripe that was out. Everyone wants to point to WotC business model as an exception when it suits their needs, but maybe they're just doing some things BETTER than other companies?
Heck, at least they have a website that's got some basic information on it, which is more than half the D20 Companies on the web.
So, to reiterate:
I myself find it a detractor when an alternate Core system (i.e. True20, Grim Tales) is published, and months or years later, the material is still not available for players in a usable SRD.
I also find that I don't buy from companies that do not provide Erratta for products, or support in the form of continueing lines or updates. This includes websites.
