have 3rd parties gotten the srd yet?
- Thread starter Gundark
- Start date
Scott_Rouse said:Like Andy Collins hinted at we made some great progress in our last meeting.
We are working to get things wrapped up and I feel really good about the progress we have made over the last week. It had been on the back burner for a few weeks as we are short staffed on the brand team right now but we are back at it. We know the schedule pressures the other publishers are under (Erik Mona and Clark Peterson are really good about reminding me) so we want to get this finalized ASAP.
Excellent News...!
Orcus>I understand that it definitely sucks not knowing when/if the OGL info will be passed on so you can fully develop the products, but what % of say an adventure is completely dependent on that? What % of the work is the fluff part...story, rough outline of possible encounters, etc? Isn't it possible to go ahead and write up the rough version of the adventure, write all the story elements out, rough character ideas for NPCs (4th level wizard bad guy here, a group of monsters equal to a 3rd level encounter here, preferrably orcs once we have stats, etc, 5th level trap/distinctive environment encounter here) and then once you have the material throw some stats together, playtest and tweak? I would think if all the rough guidelines are already there, that would speed things along once the actual info arrives.
Yes I'd imagine having a couple of bonus months to do in house gaming w/the new rules, really feel out all of the new information would be fantastic, but how much lead time like that happened for 3E? Or even worse 3.5? 3.5 wasn't the large change 3E was from the previous edition of course.
I'm not trying to be a smartass or claim adventure designing (or any other aspect of gaming) is easy. I can come up w/lots of character ideas personally, but please god don't make me come up with a name, I'm just awful at that
I've had characters go w/no name for the first 2 or 3 sessions until I have a really good idea of the character and have figured out what I want them to be called heh. I'm sure you guys already have a lot of ideas down on paper prior to receiving the info from WOTC, but I'm just curious how developed those things get. Is it just a few very rough ideas in a notebook and a general idea of level range? Is it (or will it be) a more developed story like I mention above, simply lacking all the actual crunch? I'm just very curious about the process of everything really.
Oh and total tangent, hopefully if things at work slow down in the near future Chris Boll may have some spare time on his hands Shameless plug for a college buddy who I know has worked for ya before.
Orcus said:
Fixed that for ya Clark. I keed! I keed! I seriously wonder sometimes how many decades would be totaled up if you added up all the months (and occasionally years) of delay from teh first time Kevin mentions a product release date and when it'sactually available in stores.
Yes I'd imagine having a couple of bonus months to do in house gaming w/the new rules, really feel out all of the new information would be fantastic, but how much lead time like that happened for 3E? Or even worse 3.5? 3.5 wasn't the large change 3E was from the previous edition of course.
I'm not trying to be a smartass or claim adventure designing (or any other aspect of gaming) is easy. I can come up w/lots of character ideas personally, but please god don't make me come up with a name, I'm just awful at that
I've had characters go w/no name for the first 2 or 3 sessions until I have a really good idea of the character and have figured out what I want them to be called heh. I'm sure you guys already have a lot of ideas down on paper prior to receiving the info from WOTC, but I'm just curious how developed those things get. Is it just a few very rough ideas in a notebook and a general idea of level range? Is it (or will it be) a more developed story like I mention above, simply lacking all the actual crunch? I'm just very curious about the process of everything really.Oh and total tangent, hopefully if things at work slow down in the near future Chris Boll may have some spare time on his hands
Shameless plug for a college buddy who I know has worked for ya before.Orcus said:
Fixed that for ya Clark. I keed! I keed! I seriously wonder sometimes how many decades would be totaled up if you added up all the months (and occasionally years) of delay from teh first time Kevin mentions a product release date and when it'sactually available in stores.
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Orcus
First Post
Tegel is all done. 100% written. Just waiting to tweak to 4E. Now, that could be a small tweak or a big tweak depending on what the rules say. For instance, lets say there are no ... ghosts in the 4E MM (impossible, but a good example). Then I would have to create a "ghost" and add it in a monster appendix.
One of the problems is that I dont know what tools I will have at my disposal. And, if those tools are important, do I have to create them myself? And if so, how?
Even adventures are hard to pre-plan. But yes they can be pre-written to an extent. But when you dont know how magic items work or new classes work, it is hard to do. Since alot of that design stuff drives story stuff for me--particularly for the first few adventures where you really want to show off some of the new shiny things in the new edition. For instance, tghe main PC in Wizard's Amulet was a Sorcerer--why, because it was a cool new class.
Clark
One of the problems is that I dont know what tools I will have at my disposal. And, if those tools are important, do I have to create them myself? And if so, how?
Even adventures are hard to pre-plan. But yes they can be pre-written to an extent. But when you dont know how magic items work or new classes work, it is hard to do. Since alot of that design stuff drives story stuff for me--particularly for the first few adventures where you really want to show off some of the new shiny things in the new edition. For instance, tghe main PC in Wizard's Amulet was a Sorcerer--why, because it was a cool new class.
Clark
JVisgaitis
Explorer
Orcus said:
I don't see how you can do it. I guess you can do the intro and everything else, but for us the mechanics play into the adventure itself. We've thought about pre-writing our adventures now and dropping in the mechanics later, but I think it will take way too much rejiggering in the end. I'm just hoping that when Scott says ASAP, that means some time in November. That will give us plenty of time to finish out what we have planned.
RandomCitizenX
First Post
What I want to know is what about new companies that have been putting off developing D&D stuff until the 4th ed SRD comes out. Will we get the SRD later than some of the bigger companies? Will we all get it at the same time? Will they just drop it on the website and see what happens?
Orcus
First Post
RCX, not to respond to you directly since I dont know you (I dont think). But just to respond generally for any people thinking of being a "new" company meaning you havent yet put anything out and are waiting for 4E then there are perhaps two different issues:
First, if you are planning on being a pdf publisher then the delay in the SRD is less problematic for you since you wont have to two month or more print turn around time that print publishers have.
Second, if you are a "new" company planning to be a print company, your problem is not one of when you get the SRD your problem is convincing distributors to carry you. My understanding is that distibutors are licking their chops for the end of 3E/d20 and the ability to cut their company list of all the marginal d20 companies.
If you are a new company thinking of starting up for 4E with print products make sure you have a distribution plan in place. The experience of the 3E glut has put a bad taste in distributors' and retailers' mouths. I dont see them making that mistake twice. Which means, as a result, if you werent in for 3E and havent already established a track record of good quailty product that hits on time that sells through reliably product after product, I'd be surprised to see any relevant distributors even sniff your new company. I'm not trying to be a dick or be all gloom and doom. Believe me, no one has been more supportive of new companies and encouraging people to follow their dream than me. But I also owe it to people to be realistic and give sound advice. Before you buy art and rack up stuff on the credit card thinking your "new" company for 4E will be a big hit, you better take the temperature of the distribtors and make sure they are going to carry you. Alliance solicitation is happening now for the relvant time period so you may have already missed the boat (not that you cant catch up, but you better get going).
Clark
First, if you are planning on being a pdf publisher then the delay in the SRD is less problematic for you since you wont have to two month or more print turn around time that print publishers have.
Second, if you are a "new" company planning to be a print company, your problem is not one of when you get the SRD your problem is convincing distributors to carry you. My understanding is that distibutors are licking their chops for the end of 3E/d20 and the ability to cut their company list of all the marginal d20 companies.
If you are a new company thinking of starting up for 4E with print products make sure you have a distribution plan in place. The experience of the 3E glut has put a bad taste in distributors' and retailers' mouths. I dont see them making that mistake twice. Which means, as a result, if you werent in for 3E and havent already established a track record of good quailty product that hits on time that sells through reliably product after product, I'd be surprised to see any relevant distributors even sniff your new company. I'm not trying to be a dick or be all gloom and doom. Believe me, no one has been more supportive of new companies and encouraging people to follow their dream than me. But I also owe it to people to be realistic and give sound advice. Before you buy art and rack up stuff on the credit card thinking your "new" company for 4E will be a big hit, you better take the temperature of the distribtors and make sure they are going to carry you. Alliance solicitation is happening now for the relvant time period so you may have already missed the boat (not that you cant catch up, but you better get going).
Clark
RandomCitizenX
First Post
I doubt you know me, unless you frequent the New Orleans area. Didn't come across as a dick or anything at all. To be honest we are primarily looking at a PDF business model for most of the reasons you spoke of, at least for any d20 material we release. Looking for a distributor will come about if we last long enough to release an in-house system (or if we prove successful enough to warrent the print attempt).
