Is the d20 market completely saturated?

[der_kluge]

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?

 

[EricNoah]

I often think so, and then ... someone publishes something I didn't realize I really really wanted.

That is, I think, what separates the so-so D20 companies from the really good ones -- the ability to discover the "must have" products that we don't even know we "must have."

 

[Drawmack]

I don't think I'm the average gammer. I only own two books, aside from the core rules, that I bought because I had to have them. Every other book I own was purchased because I needed rules to cover something that was coming up in the campaign and purchased the books with those rules in them. In case you're wondering the must haves were T&T and T&TII - but when you run a political intrigue game you're probably not going to have a lot of monsters in the aristocrats mansion.

 

[kenjib]

Maybe the D&D based d20 market, but not d20 in general. I think there is still room out there for new d20 games because the range of products that can be made is almost as large as the general rpg market. If d20 is saturated in this regard then, to some extent, much of the entire industry is, no?

 

[Mark]

There's always room for a new perspective. I think the great number of d20 publishers is indicitive of how broad the diversity is in the number of potential and viable perspectives there are in the market. It's a result of the many ways in which a complex game can be played and the number of ways in which we want to play it.

 

[Psion]

I think so. I hear lots of rumbles that it is hard for new publishers to get distributors to take their product seriously, and the flurry of material is more than FLGS' can fairly market to their customers.

I think all of the "easy marks" have been made. That is, most of the obvious needs that people have have been fulfilled (if not always in the most compelling manner, enough so that further entries in certain segments are hard sells.)

I think that publishers have to come up with more unique ideas to sell products. And some are doing just that. Other, well, will not.

 

[Henry]

The market is saturated - with products that tell the same stories, sell the same prestige classes, magic items, races, and spells.

However, there is STILL room in the d20 market for original material. What's original material? If I knew, I'd be publishing it myself. But as Eric said, you know good original material when it comes along and makes you say, "Darn, that's cool! It must be mine!" For me, good original material is like some of the books from Malhavoc Press, such as the 'events' series (Requiem for a God, Cry Havoc), and books that detail things that many people don't detail, such as the Book of Hallowed Might. I swear, Monte can take the casting of one spell, and make a movie special effects shot out of it. (Take the spell Wellspring of Soul's Light from Book of Hallowed Might, for an example.)

Also original are products such as Mutants and Masterminds from Green Ronin. I don't own it yet, but I intend to, because its handling of d20 and the Superhero Genre are quite elegant; it's the system I'll be using when I one day run another superhero game.

I'm sure many others can bring up original material that made them say, "WOW!" but there's my answer; 80% may follow that-famous-law-whose-name-i-can't-remember-but-starts-with-a-"g", but but the remainder consists of some darned good stuff, and there's a whole field out there open for more - ESPECIALLY with the brilliance of the PDF publishing industry, which allows for cheaper production costs.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Is the d20 market completely saturated? Nope. Not even close.

Just off the top of my head, there are numerous books coming out that I see a great deal of use my group will be getting (either through play and use or fighting against.)

Goodman Games:
Endless Dark monster book.
Morningstar (Always interested in settings, just picked up Midnight!)
Complete Guide Guide to Liches
Complete Guide to Beholders

Paradigm
The Essential Guide to Mindflayers
Bloodspeakers

Otherworld Creations
Mercenaries: Born of Blood

Scarred Lands
Creature Revision Book
The various class guide books
Termana

Warcraft III
Warcraft Monster Book

Etc.. etc.. etc...

 

[Psion]

Is the d20 market completely saturated? Nope. Not even close.

Just off the top of my head, there are numerous books coming out that I see a great deal of use my group will be getting (either through play and use or fighting against.)

Non-sequitir, Joe. Nobody said that products weren't coming out. Quite the contrary. It's just that the pipeline is so full that there's no room for new publishers.

It's a bit like saying "the air's not saturated, it's raining!"

 

[Carnifex]

I think in some areas it might be getting saturated, but definitely not all.

CAmpaign settings is an example of a market which it can almost be hard to saturate, because different settings are usually individual enough to mean that it's not more of the same being churned out. When the warcraft setting somes out I'm definitely going to pick it up.

I'm writing a d20 guide for Horade at the moment which I feel is dealing with material that hasn't been heavily covered so far, and I can think of plenty of different concepts that have yet to be covered by the d20 market. I think people might be getting tired of seeing yet more class books though