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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 1731331" data-attributes="member: 1129">Probably wouldn't be here. Adventurers tend not to sell as highly. Even companies that focused on adventurers have scaled back or had limited print runs.I've never had this problem. One character in my campaign has armor from a book from a publisher long out of print (Materia Magica), another is using a two-handed sword from The Game Mechanics. I don't expect a publisher to have to hold my hand. D&D is generic fantasy and at least 80% of the sourcebooks focus on, yes, generic fantasy. Heck, better tell those people playing FR that they should stop because there aren't a lot of new adventurings telling them how to use WoTC material.But how many people are going to buy Book of Iron Might? And what's worse, how is the publisher going to indicate the material from the book? Are you going to have to have two, three, of four books open at one time? Imagine is Green Ronin decided to publish a city sourcebook that used all of their race and class books. It would be a nightmare.IMO, the publishers have failed many new GMs not through poor products or bad ideas, but by not getting the word out enough. I'm one guy and I try to get the word out to my fellow players. I also post reviews here and I've even been an Ennies judge.I think in some aspects, Wizards has also failed the publishers. They've provided the d20 license, but didn't use their own tools enough to promote awareness of how great some of the third party material is. Sure, Dungeon/Polyhedron did a few bits here and there, but that's the stepchild of Wizards. Unearthed Arcana used all OGC, but didn't really go into detail about why those mechanics made the cut and what made them stand out above similiar material.Another thing is that we, the consumers, have failed the companies. I discussed this on another post but gamers often complain about wanting 'fluff' and then complaining when a book of 'fluff' comes out and it's not what they want. They complain about not having innovative settings, but then don't buy those innovative and different settigns because "it's too different. Dinosaurs in the west in space during a civil war style game is just silly!" Look at all the complaints about the Ennies. "I've never heard of this publisher or these products." "Well sir, many of those pdf publishers are having sales on their products." "But I've never heard of them before!" "Well sir, I can't help you as apparently, you're incapable of going to their website or doing a Google search for reviews outside of those on EN World, of which there are several."If people arent' spoon feed the details, they don't care. I can't blame them for that as it's apparently something in the water and to a limited extend, I'm guilty of it too. Just try to introduce me to a new game system when I'm still picking up stuff for HARP, Hero, and occassionally Exalted.The sad truth I suspect, is that if it doesn't have the WoTC label on it, that it's invisible to the masses. This isn't always true as several companies like Malhavoc, Green Ronin, Necromancer, and Mongoose seem to move along with little signs of slowing but for others it seems much more a struggle. The most ironic part of people complaining about these small companies to me, is that three years ago, almost all D20 publishers were small including Green Ronin, Malhavoc and Necromancer. "I don't want to try Blue Devil Games, Dog House Games, Ronin Arts,  because they're new! I can't take the time to judge them when I have quality coming from Publisher Y!" Hate to say it, but Publisher Y doesn't always have quality.</blockquote>

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