Is the "official D&D product" really that big a deal?
- Thread starter CarlZog
- Start date
Basically, I've only been using WotC official products, or those from companies owned by ex-TSR/WotC guys (Green Ronin, Malhavoc, Paizo), or from companies that employ people I've at least met in person (FFG when they still had d20 other than Midnight, Necromancer.)
I've bought plenty of other d20 books, but they receive little to no use at all in my games (Mongoose).
(Note that this statement is in terms of books. There are plenty of good PDF publishers who have had nothing at all to do with the official D&D brand.)
I've bought plenty of other d20 books, but they receive little to no use at all in my games (Mongoose).
(Note that this statement is in terms of books. There are plenty of good PDF publishers who have had nothing at all to do with the official D&D brand.)
Sigurd
First Post
I don't think WOTC stuff is important but I have to say they are consistently a good bang for the buck if you buy them right. Sure the book price is sometimes high but compared to a lot of 3rd party publications they're huge.
And if you consider that they are basically the only game system available in the chapters near me .... Over the counter books are WOTC.
Sigurd
And if you consider that they are basically the only game system available in the chapters near me .... Over the counter books are WOTC.
Sigurd
TwinBahamut
First Post
Other than Wizard's own products, I only ever bought Iron Heroes. That was mostly because it really caught my interest, and Malhavoc had a good web presence for its advertisement. I liked Iron Heroes too (ran a short campaign with it), but it was shockingly apparent how it was a one-man product without the positive influences of enough other sets of eyes to look it over.
I guess I almost exclusively buy from WotC because they advertise better, have more people scrutinizing their work (both inside the company and on forums), and have more consistent quality, save some incredible disasters (d20 Future, ugh...). Unquestionably, it is a lot easier to walk into a FLGS and buy Wizards books off the shelf than a third party book. I also find third-party books often make excessive rules tweaks or crunch/fluff assumptions (like that highly irritating Iron heroes "god's don't exist" assumption I had to correct my players about). At the very least, Wizards succeeds reasonably well at not telling people how to play their games.
I guess I almost exclusively buy from WotC because they advertise better, have more people scrutinizing their work (both inside the company and on forums), and have more consistent quality, save some incredible disasters (d20 Future, ugh...). Unquestionably, it is a lot easier to walk into a FLGS and buy Wizards books off the shelf than a third party book. I also find third-party books often make excessive rules tweaks or crunch/fluff assumptions (like that highly irritating Iron heroes "god's don't exist" assumption I had to correct my players about). At the very least, Wizards succeeds reasonably well at not telling people how to play their games.
EyeontheMountain
First Post
I put up a post here a while back asking a similar question but using 3rd party stuff. I got a lot of good responses, but not many convincing ones, as they boiled down to "I like 3rd party" or "3rd party does something wizards does not do" which is great for those cases, but not a reason for me to explore them.
The main reason I sue WOTC only is that I play most of my games online, and having a strict baseline is nice. To me (I am the DM usually) it would feel like cheating to sue a book most of the players have never heard about to stat up an NPC. Using a wTOC book the players do not have is fair game though, in my opinion as long as they were allowed to make up characters with that book also.
Making a list of a bunch of small print run books (or even worse, pdfs) jsut does not suit me much.
The main reason I sue WOTC only is that I play most of my games online, and having a strict baseline is nice. To me (I am the DM usually) it would feel like cheating to sue a book most of the players have never heard about to stat up an NPC. Using a wTOC book the players do not have is fair game though, in my opinion as long as they were allowed to make up characters with that book also.
Making a list of a bunch of small print run books (or even worse, pdfs) jsut does not suit me much.
Herremann the Wise
First Post
I predominantly purchase WoTC books. I limit my campaign to WotC books though for several reasons:
- I trust that in terms of balance they are at least within a tolerable range. Further if there is an issue, because their products are well known and discussed on many forums, any cracks quickly appear and can be fixed just as quickly.
- These products use a lot of the information/rules that I already have access to - the complete series & other supplements etc. 3rd party products pretty much only have the SRD and Open Content.
- The high quality of production (full colour/suitable/evocative artwork - the recent "Drow of the Underdark" has raised this quality up another notch in my opinion).
- It's easier to limit resources in a game - Core Only/ Core and Complete/ WotC 3.5 Catalogue
- It has the "official" tag on it. The campaign I am currently running has zero house rules. All rules and options are taken out of WotC books. I have found the rules arguments that seem to develop in other games that I have played in, simply do not happen in my game. Everyone knows the "official" baseline and works within that. Perhaps it's just that most people (at least that I know) seem happier to play "official" rules rather than "fruitier" DM house rules where perhaps not all agree/appreciate/like such changes from the "official" guidelines. YMMV on this point - this is just my personal experience.
I also have a reasonable-sized collection of non-WotC material. Most of this is purely for interest with almost none of it seeing the light of day in my campaign. Some material, I bought because of quality/collectibility - Ptolus, George R R Martins ice & fire d20 collaboration. Others I have bought for campaign construction assistance - Everything by Expeditious Retreat Press, a variety of peculiar pdfs. Others I have bought because I simply wanted them - A lot of Malhavoc stuff, Book of the Righteous etc.
And then unfortunately, I have purchased non-official materials that I regret (but would prefer not to mention).
I'll give 3rd party stuff a look at (and if it's good I'll purchase it), but for the moment, none of it will see active use in my campaign.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
- I trust that in terms of balance they are at least within a tolerable range. Further if there is an issue, because their products are well known and discussed on many forums, any cracks quickly appear and can be fixed just as quickly.
- These products use a lot of the information/rules that I already have access to - the complete series & other supplements etc. 3rd party products pretty much only have the SRD and Open Content.
- The high quality of production (full colour/suitable/evocative artwork - the recent "Drow of the Underdark" has raised this quality up another notch in my opinion).
- It's easier to limit resources in a game - Core Only/ Core and Complete/ WotC 3.5 Catalogue
- It has the "official" tag on it. The campaign I am currently running has zero house rules. All rules and options are taken out of WotC books. I have found the rules arguments that seem to develop in other games that I have played in, simply do not happen in my game. Everyone knows the "official" baseline and works within that. Perhaps it's just that most people (at least that I know) seem happier to play "official" rules rather than "fruitier" DM house rules where perhaps not all agree/appreciate/like such changes from the "official" guidelines. YMMV on this point - this is just my personal experience.
I also have a reasonable-sized collection of non-WotC material. Most of this is purely for interest with almost none of it seeing the light of day in my campaign. Some material, I bought because of quality/collectibility - Ptolus, George R R Martins ice & fire d20 collaboration. Others I have bought for campaign construction assistance - Everything by Expeditious Retreat Press, a variety of peculiar pdfs. Others I have bought because I simply wanted them - A lot of Malhavoc stuff, Book of the Righteous etc.
And then unfortunately, I have purchased non-official materials that I regret (but would prefer not to mention).
I'll give 3rd party stuff a look at (and if it's good I'll purchase it), but for the moment, none of it will see active use in my campaign.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Pale
First Post
I pretty much buy WoTC, Green Ronin, Malhavoc, Privateer Press (love Iron Fantasy) and S&S (which includes Necromancer Games). But I'm fairly picky about what I do and don't pick up, even with the WoTC books.
Most of the other companies would have to doubly impress me with presentation for my to even glance through the book, let alone buy it.
Most of the other companies would have to doubly impress me with presentation for my to even glance through the book, let alone buy it.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
I don't buy Wizards-Only, but of the total 3E purchases I've made WoTC products outstrip everything else combined.
CarlZog said:
This is really strange question, if you think about it- "why would you use D&D products to play D&D?" Would you also ask why someone would use World of Darkness products to play World of Darkness?
I think one good reason to not use 3rd party stuff is simply that there's no reason anyone needs to. There's only so much of relevance that can be covered for a single edition of D&D, and it doesn't take more than one game company to do it. You could argue that there's not really enough to keep even one company busy.
Another reason is that official D&D products reference and expand upon each other in a way that 3rd party products don't, despite the existence of the OGL. Taken as a whole, 3rd party products reinvent the wheel several times over, and not everyone is interested in sorting through it.
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