Is the "official D&D product" really that big a deal?

[CharlesRyan]

I'm quite omnivorous in my purchasing habits; I'll look into anything that might contain a few cool ideas or that treats a topic that interests me. Often that limits me to d20 products, as WotC rarely goes into detail on some of the topics I'm interested in.

That said, I'm very, very picky about what I'll use. I don't deliberately stick to WotC, but the bulk of what non-core material I use comes from WotC books. I simpy find the crunch to be more robustly developed and closer to my style of play than most non-WotC stuff.

 

[hexgrid]

No, you could argue that WotC likes to retread the same ground over and over again and not venture into areas where products would sell in smaller numbers, while still being viable ideas. Anyone who's ever bitched about the lack of psionics support or the lack of military or kingdom rulership options from WotC, you lose by not checking out D20 products.

All I said was that the extra stuff wasn't needed, not that no one would ever be interested in it. I've bought plenty of non-WotC books myself, and am always interested in new adventures, regardless of the publisher.

You can (and plenty do) play D&D with just core rules. These people don't even need other WoTC books, let alone 3rd party stuff. What's the point in questioning why people don't buy stuff they don't need?

 

[TerraDave]

What they said

People don't know what it is: As said above, if I want something for D&D, then I buy something with D&D on it. D20 logo? Whats that?

People can't find it: Oh, thats what the D20 logo is. But my local game store closed last year, and Borders/Barnes & Noble/Hastings/Walden Books only carries Wizards stuff.

People don't need it: Ok, looking at Amazon...what is all this stuff, what is all this stuff from Wizards? I can probably just stick to Wizards to get that rules suplement, monster book, player option, campaign setting, or adventure. They have plenty!

Are people missing out? On adventures, definetly-but Wizards has gotten better. On monster books, without question, but then again, how many do you need? On other stuff, maybe not so much, except for some very specific kinds of products, which may not even be D&D, but another D20/OGL game or setting.

 

[Shade]

I've bought probably 90-95% WotC, 5-10% other.

My reasons are thus:

1.) I really, really like alot of the D&D IP. Only WotC can provide me with material on a large portion of the Great Wheel, many of my favorite monsters, some of my favorite campaign settings, and so forth.

2.) While the third-party material is often excellent and groundbreaking, WotC ends up putting out their own version of the same material down the road. When both creep into the campaign, conflicts arise. I'm willing to spend alot of prep time DMing, but one area I dislike is trying to go through and allow this thing/disallow this other thing. Also, once something has crept into the game, it's hard to take it away from the players. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed the Books of Eldritch Might. But as the game evolved, spells like greater magical flow enhancement and mantle of egregious might have caused me colossal headaches. Sure, some of the WotC stuff doesn't play well with other WotC stuff, but overall there's a greater balance if it's all coming from the same source.

That's why most of my Third-Party books are monster books. It's very easy to use monsters from different sources, as they usually function independently of other mechanics, make only a brief appearance in the game, and if they do damage the campaign, it's alot easier to mend.

 

[kenmarable]

I am certainly not one of those who do get jazzed over the "100% official content" label, however I do buy mostly WotC products for 2 reasons.

1) I happen to like more WotC products than 3rd party lately. (Was far less true a few years ago)

2) For the fluff. I play a lot of Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and Planescape, so the WotC-IP in the magazines and WotC books is very useful.

But I have no real bias for any labels, though I have met some people who have had that bias. I've tried to... educate them.

 

[TheYeti1775]

If it's on my shelf or in my PDF's you can use it within reason. Just ask.

We play in 3rd Party worlds, Dawnforge by Fantasy Flight Games. Use a lot of Scarred Lands stuff in it as well, everything from Creature Collections I & II to Relics & Rituals I & II.

If the flavor of what you ask for fits, by all means lets try it out. Most of the players I game with are all of the type if it's out of whack they are willing to drop or change it.

 

[Lockridge]

I used to be a WOTC brand label shopper just to be sure that I was getting a quality product. Then I tried some stuff from Malhavoc, Necromancer and Green Ronin among others and realized how much I was limiting my choices.

Two reasons I buy non-WOTC stuff:
1. Price. A lot of what I purchase is in pdf and I find that WOTC overcharges for pdfs while other publishers charge half or less of the printed costs.
2. Creativity. I find that a lot of 3rd party publishers are not limited to what "the marketing department is trying to push". Imagine being a game designer with a really great idea for a adventure that takes place in setting X and is 100 pages long. Then your boss tells you that we want to support(push) Eberron and people have short attention spans so your great idea becomes mangled to fit a different setting and must be only 32 pages long.

 

[der_kluge]

I think for most of the reasons people have already cited are why a majority of folks don't buy 3rd party stuff. I think the biggest is quality. Some people probably got really, really burned by some really whacked out 3rd party product with bad editing, worse art, and atrocious rules. Certainly, there's plenty of stuff that fits that category out there. So, it's easier (and cheaper) to just prohibit all of it, if not a little reactionary, obviously.


The second big reason is research. Most people simply don't have the time to go out and read reviews, or keep track of what is available in the market, or what products might give them that thing they need or want. And since much of it is not available at the FLGS, they are limited to what they can find there.

My FLGS does seem to have a decent selection of 3rd party stuff though, so it's definitely out there and available.


For my part, I tend to prefer 3rd party stuff. My core game is the core books + the 4 core splat books, UA, and maybe some from MMII. The rest comes from the ToH, the Wilderlands Books, and (usually) Necromancer Games' modules. I use magic item creation rules (which I wrote) from Mystic Eye Games, and have also used Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns, and a host of other pdf and 3rd party stuff added here and there.


I find WoTC's books to be of a consistent "feel" and quality. The quality of a WoTC book, IMHO, tends to be at about average or above average in terms of content and rules. They're hard to beat in terms of art and production. 3rd party books can't rival them in that department. But I find 3rd party books often have much more freedom in terms of what they can do, and to me, the very best 3rd party books are way better than anything I could ever find in a WoTC book.

 

[jdrakeh]

Not for me. The worst d20/D&D material I've seen is generated by third-party publishers, of course -- but so is the best. If I only bought WotC material, I'd miss out on excellent products such as Northern Crown (easily more imaginative than any of the official D&D settings), Legends of the Samurai (a Japanese-inspired product that knocks the snot out of Oriental Adventures), Slayers d20 (which contains a rockin' magic system), and Ptolus (which is the bar for d20/D&D product quality).

 

[amethal]

I buy all sorts of stuff. I don't care who its by, only that it looks interesting.

WotC gets preferential treatment, in that I buy everything they do unless I can think of a reason not to. *

However, rather than buy stuff off what I consider to be their "B list" I prefer to buy the best stuff from other companies.

My FLGS has no trouble getting most of what I want, if I'm prepared to order it and wait (and wait, and wait ...), and thanks to the good folks here there's little chance that I won't have heard of a top 3rd party product.

*EDIT at the moment I'm boycotting them for cancelling my magazines, but I'm not sure how long that is going to last