Is the d20 market completely saturated?

[Mark]

You're a necromancer magnet apparently.

Naw. No Necromancy needed (on *this* thread, anyway). Just had to get it out of negative hit points and its posting along just fine, again.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For me, I've reached saturation with 3e product. Whether or not the market has, I don't know. It's definitely fragmenting. We have C&C fans, 3e fans (within that we have Eberron, FR, Greyhawk, Homebrew, etc.), d20 Modern, Conan, Blue Rose, Lone Wolf, Black Company ad infinitum. I think companies are more often seeking niches to occupy, rather than a broad appeal.

Some major companies have even forged ahead outside of D&D entirely. Troll Lords has Lejendary Adventures now, Green Ronin has resurrected Warhammer Fantasy.

On the subject of a necromancy magnet, I like the idea of the PCs having the same zombie continually come up against them; the poor schlepp just keeps getting animated.

 

[der_kluge]

Ok, maybe your hyperbole is broader than mine, but i for one would like to know what you have purchased before now that did "extensively add a huge amount of value to the game."

Touché.

what is this, beat up on die_kluge week?

 

[Henry]

The clever girls always were the ones that were ostracized from the group.

 

[WizarDru]

what is this, beat up on die_kluge week?

Darn it, no one ever copies me on the memos about these things! Yeesh.

 

[der_kluge]

The clever girls always were the ones that were ostracized from the group.

I can see my luck is only just beginning....

 

[JoeGKushner]

What I wonder, personally, is if there is still any market for adventures of any type, in any format? The last print adventure I saw (other than the Eberron modules) was Slave Lords of Cydonia, arguably more sourcebook than module.

All I can say is that you're not looking in the right spots then.

Goodman Games continues to come out with their Dungeon Crawl series. They just had a mega-dungeon PC killer not too long ago. Crypt of the Demon King or something.

Necromancer is still doing adventuers, even if the format changes sometimes as Glades of Death proves.

Ruins of Intrigue is adventure/sourcebook combo for Arcana Evolved.

This doesn't count Dungeon Magazine, still probably the best bet for adventurers, nor the Eberron adventurers, but I forget if they came out after or about the same time as Slave Lords.

None of this counts PDF/free adventurers, and I'm pretty sure that Wizards has had a few freebies since Slave Lords.

 

[rgard]

Excuse me while I wax philosophic here, but as a player, and a sometimes DM, there's really not much left for me to purchase that would extensively add a huge amount of value to the game. I mean, there are tons of splat books, tons of monster books, plenty of modules, campaign settings, and a host of other great products out there, that already add a lot to my game.

Do others see as I do, that the d20 market is saturated with product, and the margins are continuing to shrink down as fans reach a point to where more books add less and less to their already diverse game?

Thoughts?

Hmmm...not yet. When D20 Star Trek, D20 Lotr, D20 Aliens, D20 Barsoom, D20 Tarzan, D20 Fafrd and Gray Mouser, D20 Buck Rogers, D20 Flash Gordon, D20 Foundation Trilogy and others are done, we may be getting close to saturated.



Thanks,
Rich

 

[WizarDru]

Necromancer is still doing adventuers, even if the format changes sometimes as Glades of Death proves.

Ruins of Intrigue is adventure/sourcebook combo for Arcana Evolved.

If by the 'right spots' you mean my four local game stores, then you're right.

Seriously, though, Glades of Death and Ruins of Intrigue are hard-bound books, not actual modules. Both provide settings, campaign designs and module ideas, but not true modules. It looks like the only kinds of modules being sold now are mega-modules that can be put in hard-bound books, like Barakus, Thracia and so forth. Which is OK, but I guess after the huge glut of substandard product at the beginning of the d20 era, now it's that or nothing.

And unfortunately, only WotC, Bad Axe, Necromancer or Malhavoc even sees the inside of a brick-and-mortar shop, IME.

Dungeon appears to be the only market left for actual printed stand-alone modules.

I certainly don't mean to discount PDFs, but I'm much less in touch with the PDF market, honestly. I assume that's where modules are currently thriving. I was mostly curious how well, if at all, modules are selling. And the answer appears to be that in the current market, unless you're WotC, you can't sell a print module unless it's at least 96 pages, and really you need 192 pages unless you're Malhavoc.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I certainly don't mean to discount PDFs, but I'm much less in touch with the PDF market, honestly. I assume that's where modules are currently thriving. I was mostly curious how well, if at all, modules are selling. And the answer appears to be that in the current market, unless you're WotC, you can't sell a print module unless it's at least 96 pages, and really you need 192 pages unless you're Malhavoc.

What about the various Goodman Game Dungeon Crawls?

I've recently heard that the original Freeport trilogy is going to be updated and expanded in 3.5 format.

Adventurers may not be the bread and butter they once were but they're still out there from a few companies and Necromancer's web site indicates that several of their upcoming adventuers are in the 64 page range no?