D20 Modern in 2007?

[Roudi]

What can I say? We got few, nearly nil, adventure submissions for MODERNIZED. The forum for d20 Modern adventure paths existed, it's just that the contributors were lacking. Someone's got to want to write them, after all.

 

[Vigilance]

What can I say? We got few, nearly nil, adventure submissions for MODERNIZED. The forum for d20 Modern adventure paths existed, it's just that the contributors were lacking. Someone's got to want to write them, after all.

Someone's got to buy them too.

As someone who has written more Modern Dispatch articles than anyone else, and is in a position to see how all of them have sold, the sales of the mini-crunch articles I do is significantly higher than the sales of the mini-adventures, even when I write 3-4 in a row that link together, to form a 15-20 page adventure, the sales are still less than comparable crunch articles Ive done.

That makes me fairly reluctant to set aside a month of time for a full length adventure.

 

[buzz]

As someone who has written more Modern Dispatch articles than anyone else, and is in a position to see how all of them have sold, the sales of the mini-crunch articles I do is significantly higher than the sales of the mini-adventures, even when I write 3-4 in a row that link together, to form a 15-20 page adventure, the sales are still less than comparable crunch articles Ive done.

Any thoughts as to why this is? Maybe that d20M, being more of a "toolkit" RPG, has no one "default mode" that most of it's users are playing? I.e., there's a "core story" in D&D and some genre assumptions that insure most modules are usable by anyone; but a GM could be using d20M for anything from urban fantasy, to survival horror, to space opera.

I wonder this because my beloved HERO seems in a similar boat.

 

[Vigilance]

Any thoughts as to why this is? Maybe that d20M, being more of a "toolkit" RPG, has no one "default mode" that most of it's users are playing? I.e., there's a "core story" in D&D and some genre assumptions that insure most modules are usable by anyone; but a GM could be using d20M for anything from urban fantasy, to survival horror, to space opera.

I wonder this because my beloved HERO seems in a similar boat.

I think that's a huge part of it.

When you write a fantasy module, there's a place in the center I call the "Tolkein-Howard sweet spot" where you can write an adventure and it will fit 75% of the campaigns out there.

Modern doesnt have that. Ive done sci-fi adventures, military adventures, martial arts adventures... most of them are probably suitable for... 20% of campaigns?

And this doesn't even count the problem *fantasy* d20 modules have: the level range. An adventure could be the greatest ever, but if its for 5-6th level characters and your party is 10th, you probably wont buy it.

So on top of the wider range of Modern campaigns, you have all the regular problems.

 

[Ranger REG]

No TRPG brand is as popular as D&D. None even come close. That doesn't man a non-D&D brand can't still be profitable.

So, what you're saying they should have a double standard between D&D and "miscellaneous" RPGs.

For an RPG that is not D&D, d20M is doing pretty well. The question is, is it doing well enough in WotC's eyes to continue publishing product.

That's the thing, isn't it? Will WotC reprint d20 Modern when the demands call for it? Even WotC's other continuing RPG -- Star Wars RCR -- have undergone Second Printing (albeit mislabeled, but I do have that copy). There are many d20 Modern First Printing unsold. They didn't even offer an official errata for d20 Modern Core Rulebook (only a de facto errata download compiled by TheOtherNiceMan).

So, will third-party publishers help boost d20 Modern Core Rulebook sale in the next 12 months, and force WotC to order up a Second Printing run? No pressure, but the ball is in the other court (third-party side).

 

[Ranger REG]

Any thoughts as to why this is? Maybe that d20M, being more of a "toolkit" RPG, has no one "default mode" that most of it's users are playing? I.e., there's a "core story" in D&D and some genre assumptions that insure most modules are usable by anyone; but a GM could be using d20M for anything from urban fantasy, to survival horror, to space opera.

I wonder this because my beloved HERO seems in a similar boat.

Maybe we should do a comparison between d20 Modern, HERO, and GURPS, aka "Toolbox" RPGs.

I would include Palladium but then Kevin Sembieda would get all crazy.

*throws Palladium books in the never-to-be-looked-again garbage bin*

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

My thought has been that, perhaps, adventures for a discrete "Campaign Setting" for d20Modern would be more popular/profitable than any possible "general" module ... sci-fi, mystery, action, etc ... if you create a general adventure, it's very much not going to mesh with the homebrew "action" or "sci-fi" setting of the average GM.

I mean, adventures get published for modern-era systems with discrete settings ... Call of Cthulhu and the like.

Though, on the whole, the traditional module has been declining in popularity across the board, I think.

For myself, I'd LIKE to write modules, but I don't know that there'd be a market for them. It has long been my intention to create a line of modules for the conspiracy/occult thriller genre that I like to work in ... but:

a) I think a defined "setting" may be required to draw/keep a critical market level
b) I think the current module format is of too limited utility to GMs
c) I think the current module format is too time-intensive for writers

On and off, in what free time I muster, I've been toying with various formats for modules that would be easier/faster to write, of greater utility to GMs "in the field", and ... be producible given the resource limits I'm currently faced with ... which is to say, I can't draw a map to save my friggin' life.

--fje

 

[buzz]

So, what you're saying they should have a double standard between D&D and "miscellaneous" RPGs.

I dunno if I'm saying "should." I mean, if it's not profitable for them to produce, then they should drop it.

However, I get the impression that the line does well by anything-but-D&D standards. Assuming that's true, I'd think it be worth at least some minimal effort from WotC. Also, I think there's enough room for improvement with the core book itself and support product that they could make it even more profitable.

d20M is great system that's simply lacking a "killer app," at least from WotC. I think RPGObjects' Darwin's World is a good example of a third-party effort. Right now, I think that an improved Urban Arcana setting line that had the appeal and depth of FR or Eberron could be a big shot into the arm of WotC's d20M line.

 

[Vigilance]

Darwin's World is the closest thing to a third party setting able to sell modules right now imo.

Of course a LOT of that likely has to do with the fact that Dom Covey writes way better modules than me and is better at sticking to one project long term than me too.

Chuck

 

[Darrin Drader]

At this point I'd just like to see them post the web enhancement for D20 Apocalypse I wrote and was paid on over a year ago now.

And then there's Project Javelin - again, something where I know of at least three more completed adventures that are sitting inactive at the moment.

Last I heard they were all going to go live at some point, but man the time that has passed.....