Has the release of d20 material slowed down?

[johnsemlak]

It seems to me like there are far fewer releases of d20 material nowadays. I haven't made an empirical study, but one of the poeple who posts news of d20 releases here it certainly seems like I have less to report than last year (though maybe it's me that's slowing down).

Certain companies (e.g. Mongoose) seem to be cranking stuff out at the same rate, but others seem to have visably slowed down. Nearly all the major players seem to be still in existance (compared with say, 2 years ago), however.

Last Year's Gen Con seemed to have a lot more releases being announced, in particular.

 

[Cergorach]

Yeah, D20 material output has slowed down, D&D output on the other hand has sped up (and have become bigger and more expensive).

 

[johnsemlak]

Yeah, D20 material output has slowed down, D&D output on the other hand has sped up (and have become bigger and more expensive).

Yeah, that's another thing; WotC's release schedule doesn't seem to be slowing down, though the emphasis on minatures is noticeable

 

[Warden]

Perhaps in print, yes, but PDF still seems to be going strong, if not stronger, from what RPGNow says. We did an interview with him on our site and he reports that electronic d20 is still going up.

 

[reanjr]

It seems to me like there are far fewer releases of d20 material nowadays. I haven't made an empirical study, but one of the poeple who posts news of d20 releases here it certainly seems like I have less to report than last year (though maybe it's me that's slowing down).

Certain companies (e.g. Mongoose) seem to be cranking stuff out at the same rate, but others seem to have visably slowed down. Nearly all the major players seem to be still in existance (compared with say, 2 years ago), however.

Last Year's Gen Con seemed to have a lot more releases being announced, in particular.

All the companies producing crap products have disappeared or are spending more time making quality products. Seems like a good thing.

I still think there's way too many, though.

So far I've stuck with WotC, Sovereign Press, Sword and Sorcery Studios, and KenzerCo only, since expanding my horizons any farther would kill me.

Strangely, I'm least pleased with WotC out of the four...

 

[Treebore]

According to an empirical study of my bank account there is still plenty of new d20 stuff to buy.

 

[Krug]

I don't know... with WotC producing so much stuff, the d20 stuff is becoming more and more niche. With Liber Mortis or whatever the undead book is called, it'll probably render the Necromantic books already out there mostly obsolete, just as Races of Stone will leave little reason for new Dwarf/Gnome books to be done. Publishers will have to be extra creative in coming up with products, or try other non-d20 RPGs.

 

[DaveMage]

A slowdown isn't a bad thing in my mind - at least not as far as my bank account is concerned.

With Wizards releasing the minis - that's a drain on many a d&d player's coffers.

Also, there will be a few high-end (or, at least, high dollar) products coming out in the 2nd half of this year, such as the World's Largest Dungeon, the Accordlands books, the Midnight box set, a few hardbacks for $34.95 and over, etc.

 

[atra2]

Then there's people like me, who just don't care about non-WotC products

My 3.0 ownership list:
--
PHB
DMG
MM
Tome and Blood
a few FR products

3.5
---
PHB
DMG
MM
Complete Warrior
Complete Divine
Complete Arcane (November)
Complete Adventurer (whenever it comes out)
Player's Guide to Faerun
FR Underdark

Ok, I'm done. I play in a 3.5 FR Underdark game (3.5 converted City of the Spider
Queen is our current campaign) and use just the 3.5 books listed above. The
rappeling at fast speeds on rope from FR Underdark has been used more than a few
times, and we have one Drow in our party. If they hadn't made the Caver feat
stupid (Underdark-only Self-sufficient, cause they didn't coordinate with the 3.5
PHB writers!) my dwarven rogue/ranger/Dungeon Delver (someone else owns Song
and Silence; I'm waiting for Complete Adventurer) might have had an Underdark
feat by now (9th level).

You know, it's always amazing to me how much mileage the main core books and just
a few WotC supplements can give you.

I would have been equally happy using only the 3.5 PHB for my character, and
targeting ranger10/rogue10.

Anyone else here as uncaring as I about non-WotC d20? I must admit, I'm just
playing these days (with occasional judging of RPGA events) so I'm not writing
my own campaign setting from scratch, but I see little need for five gazillion
extra products

In fact, while I do enjoy the side books (Complete... Player's Guide to...) sometimes
I think just the 3 core 3.5 books plus a suitcase of D&D miniatures is all you need to
have fun I've only gotten two of the Harbinger starter packs of the minis so far,
but I look forward to Aberrations so my Dungeon Delver can kill more of his favored
enemies!

 

[DaveMage]

I agree that you can certainly get by with just WotC books, or even just the core books without ever needing to buy a non-WotC product.

The advantage of the 3rd party books though is that they offer other designer's perspectives on the game. That in itself is what makes d20 such a wonderful thing (IMO).

Also, since WotC simply does not produce that many adventures and campaign settings, companies like Necromancer Games (adventures), Goodman Games (adventures), Green Ronin (Freeport), Bastion Press (Oathbound), Fantasy Flight Games (Midnight, Dawnforge), and others can fill that niche (and fill it quite well IMO).