Has 3rd Party Material Helped (!!!) WotC ?
- Thread starter Ogrork the Mighty
- Start date
Storyteller01
First Post
Crothian said:
I'm with this. I have the three nessecary core books, some dragon mags, and a few WotC splatbooks (3.0). Everything else (about 35 or so books) is 3rd party. PLayers seem to enjoy it, and I don't worry about the player that memorized all the WotC books!
A big part of it the cost. I can get several OGL books with similar or greater quality for the same price. That and I'm not much of a WotC fan anymore...
Campbell
Relaxed Intensity
My approach to crunchy bits has always been to pass or decline approval based on character concept and a thorough evaluation of the material at hand. If the material has balance issues I'll seek to revise it if at all possible. I guess I've always considered my approach the norm.Crothian said:
Storyteller01
First Post
Campbell said:
I've tried this. The main problem occured when players started mixing traits from various books to bring min/maxing to a new level. You simply can't forsee every effect from each piece of that much material. Worst case I had was a player trying to make a character from Savage Species, Iron Kindoms, Dragon Star, Dark Sun (dragon mag), and three on-line sources he printed up.
So I houseruled. Find an approved book that best suits your concept. Stick with it, and use those feats/abilities in addition to the core books. Works well, and I don't have to hear the arguement of 'the Complete (X) IS part of the RAW..."
pogre
Legend
I think the hardcore gamers around these parts are going to disagree, but for more casual/ less devoted gamers I think you are onto something. I personally use core only with a few approved 3rd party rules for extras and I'm fairly hardcore. If you look in most hobby stores with gameboards for players wanted a LOT of them say Forgotten Realms and WOTC books only. Now, I cannot say whether that's because of the third party glut or not...
Turjan
Explorer
Well, if I look at the general question, whether 3rd party material helped WotC, I'd say yes. It was the source of many good ideas, and I cannot believe that nobody at WotC read the better (or even the not so good) 3rd party stuff for inspiration 
. The sole existence of 3rd party material caused a much better reputation for WotC than the predecessor ever had (no T$R anymore ). Then it helped cementing WotC's consumer base: Many people were driven away by some of the awful stuff that was available in the first d20 days and went back to the source. On the other hand, I don't think that players constitute the bulk of buyers of 3rd party material, but DMs; this means that the 'WotC only' policy will be unnecessary in most groups.
As far as I am concerned, I have more 3rd party material than WotC products. I'm also very happy that I stayed on this path, despite some initial buys that I really did not like. There's so much good stuff available
.
. The sole existence of 3rd party material caused a much better reputation for WotC than the predecessor ever had (no T$R anymore ). Then it helped cementing WotC's consumer base: Many people were driven away by some of the awful stuff that was available in the first d20 days and went back to the source. On the other hand, I don't think that players constitute the bulk of buyers of 3rd party material, but DMs; this means that the 'WotC only' policy will be unnecessary in most groups.As far as I am concerned, I have more 3rd party material than WotC products. I'm also very happy that I stayed on this path, despite some initial buys that I really did not like. There's so much good stuff available
.
MoogleEmpMog
First Post
pogre said:
I have to say, I haven't noticed this phenomena locally. The only "Players Wanted" poster I've seen in the last year was for an Iron Kingdoms game.
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Let us see now... WotC books:
D&D 3.5 all three core books.
D&D 3.0 core - PHB only, rest has been given away.
3.0 splatbooks
Unearthed Arcana
Heroes of Battle (oddly it was a 'bad' review that convinced me to buy it, and I am glad that I did.)
That's it. (Though I intend to look Stormwrack over, I tend to have naval games...)
Non-Wotc:... Too durned many to count! (I lost track somewhere after 'oodles'.) Both print and PDF. D20 and OGL.
The Auld Grump
Currently doing a lot of Iron Kingdoms stuff.
D&D 3.5 all three core books.
D&D 3.0 core - PHB only, rest has been given away.
3.0 splatbooks
Unearthed Arcana
Heroes of Battle (oddly it was a 'bad' review that convinced me to buy it, and I am glad that I did.)
That's it. (Though I intend to look Stormwrack over, I tend to have naval games...)
Non-Wotc:... Too durned many to count! (I lost track somewhere after 'oodles'.) Both print and PDF. D20 and OGL.
The Auld Grump
Currently doing a lot of Iron Kingdoms stuff.
Wombat
First Post
Campbell said:
I know for me it is not book-by-book, but rather case-by-case. For example, I am using Skull & Bones as an adjunct to my current campaign, but only parts of it -- some of the weapons, a couple of the prestige classes, some of the creatures, and the naval combat rules. The rest doesn't quite fit with my world.
Or you could look at my use of the MM -- I have taken the basic animals (and some of their dire equivalents), as long as they fit in a jungle environment. I have also taken zombies, vampires, skeletons and ghosts, but none of the intelligent monsters (such as orcs, goblins, lammasu, mind flayers, etc.), as they also do not fit with my game world.
It's all a matter of simply picking and choosing, from any source as seems appropriate, to create the right texture and flavour for a particular gaming world. I don't worry about which company makes the material as much as how much the material seems appropriate.
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