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<blockquote data-quote="Philotomy Jurament" data-source="post: 3271922" data-attributes="member: 20854">I admit that full color hardbacks of that size would probably fall out of favor in a smaller market; as you say, the economies of scale would make them cost-prohibitive.&nbsp; It wouldn't be the same.&nbsp; However, I don't think it would be a return to the pre-AD&amp;D days/situation, either.&nbsp; The situation today is far different, with things like print-on-demand, Lulu, PrintFu, PDF, offering opportunities outside of (and in addition to) the traditional print and distribution chain.&nbsp; The Internet makes small markets much more viable (and even more &quot;professional&quot;) than they might have been in the past.&nbsp; There're also non-traditional models like pre-order &quot;voting&quot; on what products to produce.&nbsp; Some companies&nbsp; producing wargames (e.g. Multiman Publishing, GMT Games) are successfully using <a href="http://www.gmtgames.com/p500/gmtp5d.htm" target="_blank">that model</a> so they know where to devote their resources.&nbsp; I'm not arguing that a smaller/hobbyist market is necessarily better.&nbsp; However, I don't think it would be terrible for the hobby, either.&nbsp; If WotC crashed and burned, the hobby would live on and the market would adapt and reinvent itself.&nbsp; Personally, I think the market is probably going to fragment a bit, even with Wizards still going strong.&nbsp; In one of his Line of Sight articles, Monte Cook mentioned that he thought the success of 3E was something of a &quot;perfect storm,&quot; and that those conditions are probably not going to repeat themselves for 4E (although you never know).&nbsp; I think he's right about that.&nbsp; And thank God (and Wizards of the Coast) for the OGL.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Philotomy Jurament, post: 3271922, member: 20854"] I admit that full color hardbacks of that size would probably fall out of favor in a smaller market; as you say, the economies of scale would make them cost-prohibitive. It wouldn't be the same. However, I don't think it would be a return to the pre-AD&D days/situation, either. The situation today is far different, with things like print-on-demand, Lulu, PrintFu, PDF, offering opportunities outside of (and in addition to) the traditional print and distribution chain. The Internet makes small markets much more viable (and even more "professional") than they might have been in the past. There're also non-traditional models like pre-order "voting" on what products to produce. Some companies producing wargames (e.g. Multiman Publishing, GMT Games) are successfully using [url=http://www.gmtgames.com/p500/gmtp5d.htm]that model[/url] so they know where to devote their resources. I'm not arguing that a smaller/hobbyist market is necessarily better. However, I don't think it would be terrible for the hobby, either. If WotC crashed and burned, the hobby would live on and the market would adapt and reinvent itself. Personally, I think the market is probably going to fragment a bit, even with Wizards still going strong. In one of his Line of Sight articles, Monte Cook mentioned that he thought the success of 3E was something of a "perfect storm," and that those conditions are probably not going to repeat themselves for 4E (although you never know). I think he's right about that. And thank God (and Wizards of the Coast) for the OGL. :D [/QUOTE]

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