Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MoogleEmpMog" data-source="post: 2044579" data-attributes="member: 22882">I agree with most of what you're saying here.&nbsp; Good d20 publishing (and OGL publishing) requires a certain level of expertise with the system.&nbsp; Initially, no one had it.&nbsp; Then, Wizards mastered it (coinciding, in my opinion, with the release of d20 Modern and the revisions to D&amp;D in 3.5) and left the companies that didn't behind.However, I disagree that WotC is producing designs that are superior on every level to third party stuff.&nbsp; What you and Monte are doing at Malhavoc is, IMO, on par if not better than WotC's stuff.&nbsp; What the post-Conan Mongoose is doing with their material, especially in that line, is on par if not better.&nbsp; What Green Ronin is doing with Blue Rose and, indeed, all their d20/OGL material is on par if not better.Quite a few companies that didn't do d20 well are dropping out.AEG is a good example.&nbsp; Their Rokugan material never really had the kind of rough parity that WotC expects of D&amp;D products; power spikes and dips were more extreme and more common.Old Mongoose is another example, but where AEG pulled Rokugan to its own system, Mongoose has adapted by improving its overall standards and moving more and more toward an OGL model.Green Ronin probably did d20 better than any of the first wave of third party publishers.&nbsp; But their big new releases are OGL (Blue Rose) or a unique system (WFRP).What seems to have happened is that the publishers that were essentially non-d20 publishers out to make a quick buck or fans convinced that their homebrew and house rules were the bestest ever are dropping out of the d20 market.&nbsp; The former are going back to their old way, the latter are facing the reality of how expensive and difficult RPG publishing can be.The professional d20 companies are learning how to use the system, just as WotC has.&nbsp; Quite a few of them seem to be finding it more lucrative to release OGL variants that, though more compatible with D&amp;D than, say, a Storyteller game, are nonetheless games unto themselves.&nbsp; I suspect that Mongoose and Green Ronin, for example, both have business plans now whether they did at the outset or not.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MoogleEmpMog, post: 2044579, member: 22882"] I agree with most of what you're saying here. Good d20 publishing (and OGL publishing) requires a certain level of expertise with the system. Initially, no one had it. Then, Wizards mastered it (coinciding, in my opinion, with the release of d20 Modern and the revisions to D&D in 3.5) and left the companies that didn't behind. However, I disagree that WotC is producing designs that are superior on every level to third party stuff. What you and Monte are doing at Malhavoc is, IMO, on par if not better than WotC's stuff. What the post-Conan Mongoose is doing with their material, especially in that line, is on par if not better. What Green Ronin is doing with Blue Rose and, indeed, all their d20/OGL material is on par if not better. Quite a few companies that didn't do d20 well are dropping out. AEG is a good example. Their Rokugan material never really had the kind of rough parity that WotC expects of D&D products; power spikes and dips were more extreme and more common. Old Mongoose is another example, but where AEG pulled Rokugan to its own system, Mongoose has adapted by improving its overall standards and moving more and more toward an OGL model. Green Ronin probably did d20 better than any of the first wave of third party publishers. But their big new releases are OGL (Blue Rose) or a unique system (WFRP). What seems to have happened is that the publishers that were essentially non-d20 publishers out to make a quick buck or fans convinced that their homebrew and house rules were the bestest ever are dropping out of the d20 market. The former are going back to their old way, the latter are facing the reality of how expensive and difficult RPG publishing can be. The professional d20 companies are learning how to use the system, just as WotC has. Quite a few of them seem to be finding it more lucrative to release OGL variants that, though more compatible with D&D than, say, a Storyteller game, are nonetheless games unto themselves. I suspect that Mongoose and Green Ronin, for example, both have business plans now whether they did at the outset or not. [/QUOTE]

Verification