Is WoTC even relevant to you anymore?

[maddman75]

I don't really like D&D. To be honest its not the rules, its vanilla fantasy - orcs, elves, dungeons, vaugely medieval incoherant settings, all of it. I'm bored of it and play other games. (If you're wondering why I hang around here its because there's good discussion on things that are applicable to all games - player/GM issues, working with characters, game design, etc. And I been around so long this "EN" name seems all newfangled. Anyway)

WotC is still relevent to me, because they publish D&D and if you're a gamer D&D matters even if you don't like it. If I'm needing new gamers, I'll get them in the door with D&D and run an adventure for them with the idea that after we get to know each other we can talk about what to do next - continue D&D, play something else, whatever. Generally after they play and the group gels some they'll go for whatever.

So even though I don't like D&D and don't plan on buying any new D&D books its still relevent to me. The social networking D&D allows is what lets me build up my player base. I might get 4e just to continue this advantage, if it isn't too pricey. And I've heard awesome stuff about the new Star Wars game. So they make good stuff, there's lots of D&D gamers, I can recruit them and get them to play Buffy or Exalted or whatever I'm itching for.

 

[Vocenoctum]

What materials? I've seen posters sometimes.

See, I may be the wrong person to say this, since I think most game stores suck, but people on here are always telling us how central they are, so I dunno.

Either way, retailer kits have some promotional stuff in them, but they lack direction on how to promote effectively. Since most game stores are badly run, relying on them to actually perform the local part of the equation is probably quite a bad idea indeed.

That's hardly the issue. Just because other companies aren't doing any advertising or promotion doesn't mean that WotC's advertising and promotion is top-rate. Or perceivable. It's not something that's measured on a relative basis.

It is entirely the issue when you're speaking of WotC's relevance to the hobby. That is the point of this thread. Anything WotC does is more than what most of them do, so I believe it matters for this thread.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm aware of World Wide D&D Game Day, but I've never seen a FLGS that does more than put up a few posters, maybe try to run some demos.

WotC can't twist the arm of every venue to properly support Worldwide D&D Gameday. I know both stores in my area support it and the larger of the two has had a full house from noonish until midnight. The other one has less traffic, usually a game and a half, but it's a much smaller location.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of stores seem to have some problems getting experienced gamemasters for RPGs. Roleplaying has gone underground in a sense. Large numbers of roleplayers game at their homes and aren't interested in gaming with people who aren't already part of their group.

 

[Pants]

The only d20 companies 'relevant' to me now are WotC, Paizo, Privateer Press, and MAYBE Necromancer Games.

Every other company seems to be spending sooo much time reinventing wheels that I find very little use with what they do now *coughGreenRonincough*. Sure, Privateer Press doesn't really make much stuff that sticks close to 'core' D&D, but their stuff is fun to read and I like the flavor. And the books have nice art.

Paizo, WotC, and Necromancer make stuff that I can slot into my game fairly easily without introducing rewrites of various rules systems (though they do do that a little). I'm pretty happy with d20 on the whole so anything that sticks with that makes me happy and makes my game better.

 

[Uder]

I'm a DM not a player. I'm not relevent to them.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

WotC is still relevant to me because I use most of their materials in game. New WotC products, however, are growing less and less relevant. I haven't added a source to my game since Complete Mage. Since then, I haven't been impressed.

I've stated this in other posts, and I suppose I'll state it here, too. I loved the first round of Complete books because they took existing mechanics and added to them. More feats. More PrCs. More spells. More base classes. Even alternate class features.

However, lately WotC has been adding new mechanics rather than using the traditional ones. Incarnum. Maneuvers. Skill Tricks. Affiliations/Associations. And I could go on but I'm tired and can't think right now. I'm just not interested in adding complexity to the game - at least not more than we've already got.

When WotC puts out another book on mechanics that are largely Core and/or psionics ... I'll continue to buy. But if they keep giving us resources like "expansion packs" that can be plugged in or not - no thanks.

Having said that, this is not judgmental to those who use them. By all means, have fun with them! It is just adding a level of complexity that destroys the game in our group by bogging the play down to always look up new rules.

 

[jdrakeh]

I'm not interested in many (if any) of their upcoming releases -- that said, other recent-ish releases (e.g., Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Magic Item Compendium, etc) pique my interest. And, of course, I still pick up an occasional Monster Manual. So. . . ah. . . yes?

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Sure, The shape of their upcoming rules crunch really aligns with my gaming direction at the moment.

The network effect of playing in the mainstream I find is better than the muttering in the dark I find when outside the main sequence.

To be fair, those outside the main sequence don't *always* mutter in the dark. Occasionally they yell out, "Get off my G#((*##M lawn!"

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yes, they are still relevant to me.

I buy the [er, very] occasional book of theirs, and have already bought a fair number, I would say. Plus, their Dungeon Tiles look nice.

That said, I buy more third-party than WotC books. My gaming bookshelves look pretty strange, in that sense. Apart from completely non-d20 stuff (a goodly portion), most of the D&D books um, aren't.

It's all a matter of what catches my eye, what reads well, and most of all what will be useful in my games. So far, that means less of WotC's than other companies' stuff. But that does not mean zero WotC material. So nope, I ain't no hater neither.

Oh, and I am genuinely curious about 4e. When it comes. No hurry though.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I'm a DM not a player. I'm not relevent to them.

This is so far from the truth it was the first post that compelled me to comment.

DMs are our single most important customer type and everyone in the both R&D and Brand knows it.