have 3rd parties gotten the srd yet?

[wedgeski]

Can I ask if there will likely be any kind of tiered distribution of the SRD? In other words, are existing publishers likely to get favourable treatment over start-ups?

 

[CaptainChaos]

Hmmm... when I'm reading this, I don't see any reason, why 3rd party products would hurt the sales of this initial suite. In fact, every 3rd party product is an ad for WotC, because every 3rd party product will basically say "You need to buy the 4E corebooks to play".

I mean, 3rd party books may be competition for splatbooks, but for the very core books!? No 3rd party book can hurt the core book sales, because they're, well, core!

I'm not suggesting 3rd party products would harm the sales of the core books. WotC has a bunch of stuff coming out over the first few months of 4E in addition to the core books. It just seems sensible that they'd want to get 4E well established with product they have direct control over before opening the floodgates.

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

Hmmm... when I'm reading this, I don't see any reason, why 3rd party products would hurt the sales of this initial suite. In fact, every 3rd party product is an ad for WotC, because every 3rd party product will basically say "You need to buy the 4E corebooks to play".

While I can't say I'm terribly knowledgeable on the the release of 3.0 and the coming of the OGL, I've heard that there wasn't just a glut of support that came out alongside 3.0, there was a glut of fairly low quality support for 3.0. (Though that isn't to say there weren't diamonds in the rough as well.) Even if the core is solid, surrounding it with a pile of crap is going to make it a bit smelly.

This of course isn't intended to be a slam at any of the third party publishers, and may well be a lousy history lesson as well, but at the very least the hypothetical holds up, even if it's more than likely totally unrelated to WotC's plans.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

While I can't say I'm terribly knowledgeable on the the release of 3.0 and the coming of the OGL, I've heard that there wasn't just a glut of support that came out alongside 3.0, there was a glut of fairly low quality support for 3.0. (Though that isn't to say there weren't diamonds in the rough as well.) Even if the core is solid, surrounding it with a pile of crap is going to make it a bit smelly.

This of course isn't intended to be a slam at any of the third party publishers, and may well be a lousy history lesson as well, but at the very least the hypothetical holds up, even if it's more than likely totally unrelated to WotC's plans.

This time around, WotC has the option of only providing licenses at first to companies with a proven track record in the OGL scene. I think it will be very hard to come by an SRD until it's officially released, if you're not a recognized safe bet.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I'm not suggesting 3rd party products would harm the sales of the core books. WotC has a bunch of stuff coming out over the first few months of 4E in addition to the core books. It just seems sensible that they'd want to get 4E well established with product they have direct control over before opening the floodgates.

Even for that, getting out a SRD early is perhaps better: It allows good publishers (Necromancer, Paizo, and many more I forgot to list here) to polish their work. If they release it late, we'll see a bunch of rushed products. Especially from less established publishers, and then there are no good 3rd party products to counterbalance that.

Because after the first SRD release (heck, perhaps after the core book release), there WILL be publishers (esp. PDF publishers) who will produce some crap ASAP. With a SRD for good guys, you'll get Corebooks + Good 3rd party support. Without, you get Corebooks + rushed stuff.

Additionally, this time we have good publishers - last time, it was a new market. Now we have grown wiser!

Cheers, LT.

 

[Rechan]

Scott Greene and I (and some input from Mona) have talked about which monsters might need a rework. There will be new art for a good batch of the monsters too. And clearly the monsters will need modification from the Saga format we have now to reflect the new 4E stuff--roles such as skirmisher, etc.

Clark

I know you guys are going for the 1e feel, but will you also be doing what the 4e developers are doing - tearing the monster down to its root intention and designing its abilities around that, or will it be a straight 3e>4e conversion?

Will new monsters have monster-unique powers, or the ol' 3e method of "It's got spell-like abilities, look up the spell in the PHB"?

 

[TerraDave]

Demon Prince of the Undead: you are going to get peoples hope up with this stuff.

 

[Orcus]

I know you guys are going for the 1e feel, but will you also be doing what the 4e developers are doing - tearing the monster down to its root intention and designing its abilities around that, or will it be a straight 3e>4e conversion?

Will new monsters have monster-unique powers, or the ol' 3e method of "It's got spell-like abilities, look up the spell in the PHB"?

They wont just be straight conversions. We are going to put a 4E eye to them and that the chance to tinker with things. But know this: I do not approve of the "dungeon delve" style "the only powers that matter are what they use in combat" and "only give it one good power to use over an over" mentality. I dont think monsters should be like htat. That said, I like what they did with the spined devil, so long as they dont omit some other powers like spined defense, and other minor devil powers and summons abilities. I think that stuff is key to "D&D monsters." A monster is not just a combat roadblock.

It will be somewhere between a straight conversion and what they are doing. Unless we love what they are doing, then we will follow their lead. We will also fix stuff we think they screw up--succubii for example. they are demons. period. they are the demonic incarnations of illicit sex. i dont like their devils vs. demons distinction. i see us redoing some of that. and if they truly dont include frost giants, we will. but it will be all 4E style.

Clark

 

[Roland55]

I am trying to encourage WotC to understand that there is some significant resistance to edition change. Its evident from these and other boards. I think they do understand that. And if there are 3rd party publishers who want to switch to 4E, like Necro, that they have a strong incentive to get that stuff to us so we can be there at launch for 4E.

I think there are a good chunk of gamers that are on the fence about 4E and they are waiting to see what some of their trusted publishers decide to do. I sure hope that to at least some gamers I am one of those publishers. I'm sure Paizo is and Green Ronin and others. So if I am sitting here saying we are switching to 4E I just see it as a big mistake for WotC to not get us rules just as fast as possible. It just strikes me that it is in their best interests to do this. And as a general matter, my life experience indicates that people tend to do what is in their best interest when given the choice.


Clark

I'm an old gamer -- a very old gamer -- and I mostly just lurk. I certainly don't get upset ... not about any game ... even D&D.

I do believe you are right. I see and hear many gamers who are waiting to see what their favorite publishers do. Best of luck to you -- I hope WOTC sees that what is in your best interest is also in theirs.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Demon Prince of the Undead: you are going to get peoples hope up with this stuff.

Step 1: Complete.

Step 2: Slay the hopeful.

Step 3: Raise them as an army of a new form of undead, the Optimistic Fanboy. No one ever realized that MerricB was just a prototype for the Demon Prince of the Undead ...