D&D 4E Monte Cook on licensing (and 4E in general?)

[Dedekind]

So Monte Cook doesn't seem pleased about the 4E licensing (near the bottom):

http://montecook.livejournal.com/140809.html

I can understand, but he just spent the preceding X paragraphs explaining how he loved the PDF distribution. It seems that he is on the leading edge of a low cost way to be a 3rd party publisher.

1) Right your own stuff
2) Distribute via the Internet without hard copy versions (No printing time)
3) PROFIT!!!

I am also a little disappointed he has written off 4E. (That isn't meant to be loaded language; He wasn't mean about it.) He gave no criticisms, but he has always seemed the coolest and most even tempered of the ex-WotC employees. I expected for him to at least have the rules before reading such a declaration. From prior posts, SKR implied that Monte and he had not seen them. Or perhaps I read too much into it...

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

His PDF sells well because he has a solid following built upon the precipice of actual, physical books.

PDF sales purely as a means to make money for new publishers who's writers have never seen the light of day is a crapshoot. However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with building a business model around self-publishing by PDF. Given time, digital books are likely going to be the most prevalent of distribution methods with the rising cost of paperbinding and bookmaking.

 

[Mercule]

If I understand the situation correctly, the 4e license hasn't been released yet, is way overdue, and it's about as sure as possible without copy in hand that most of Monte's bread and butter 3.5 products wouldn't be possible under the STL.

I can't blame him for being less than impressed. Heck, other than the last point, WotC should be pretty embarrassed by the current state of licensing. I hope they don't honestly expect a full $5,000 for the early adopter version.

 

[trancejeremy]

I think that post actually illustrates why WOTC/Hasbro hasn't made licensing a priority - the top selling PDF of Monte Cook, probably the top selling 3rd party author, only sold 20,000 copies.

That is great for him, obviously, but for a company the size of Hasbo, it's probably not even worth the effort from their point of view.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I am also a little disappointed he has written off 4E.

Me too, though I can't say I'm terribly surprised. We've got a growing list of prominent 3.x publishers who are not terribly interested in the new product.

Not to say he's jumping on some kind of bandwagon; he's always used sound reasoning before, so I don't doubt his reasoning in this case is any less thoughtout.

 

[Mistwell]

So Monte Cook doesn't seem pleased about the 4E licensing (near the bottom):

http://montecook.livejournal.com/140809.html

I can understand, but he just spent the preceding X paragraphs explaining how he loved the PDF distribution. It seems that he is on the leading edge of a low cost way to be a 3rd party publisher.

1) Right your own stuff
2) Distribute via the Internet without hard copy versions (No printing time)
3) PROFIT!!!

I am also a little disappointed he has written off 4E. (That isn't meant to be loaded language; He wasn't mean about it.) He gave no criticisms, but he has always seemed the coolest and most even tempered of the ex-WotC employees. I expected for him to at least have the rules before reading such a declaration. From prior posts, SKR implied that Monte and he had not seen them. Or perhaps I read too much into it...

I think you are reading too much into it.

It was the last few lines. He says "don't expect any 4E-compatible material". As in tamper any expectations. It's the same thing he said about 3.5, to not expect any more 3.5 stuff after Ptolus (and as you can see in that article, he still published plenty since then). He says he doesn't want to do 4e stuff...and he also said he didn't want to do any more 3.5 stuff, and then went ahead and did it. Heck, he didn't want WOTC to do a 3.5 anyway, and yet he went ahead with 3.5 stuff eventually himself. And he says the licensing situation is currently a morass. Well, sure. But, that won't last forever.

At some point, when licensing gets figured out, and his peers are playing 4e for a while, and he starts to try out 4e a bit here and there, I strongly suspect Monte will come around and publish 4e stuff. Because at heart he is a gamer, and someone who often changes his mind about RPGs. He just cannot stay away.

 

[GeorgeFields]

I am also a little disappointed he has written off 4E.

Have you seen his Book of Experimental Might? While 'flipping' through it, I kept thinking to myself, "Is this a 3.5 version of 4e?"

 

[WhatGravitas]

Not to say he's jumping on some kind of bandwagon; he's always used sound reasoning before, so I don't doubt his reasoning in this case is any less thoughtout.

And it's pretty understandable - 3E is basically one of his big works, together with AE and Ptolus - he's pretty deep in the 3E material (and probably mindset, as well as personal investment). Considering that he has now something else than RPGs for a living, as well as the not very impressive situation with the GSL, I wouldn't be enthusiastic about 4E as well, if I'd be him. Especially as writer/designer.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Dedekind]

Have you seen his Book of Experimental Might? While 'flipping' through it, I kept thinking to myself, "Is this a 3.5 version of 4e?"

I have not seen it, but everything I read about it gave me the same impression. Surely that says something about the limitations (I shall not call them flaws ) of 3E?

More importantly, if Ptolus is so awesome, why not do an FR-style update in the new edition? Maybe not immediately, and maybe not next year, but hopefully he will consider it later. This isn't a criticism of Monte as a person. He is very reasonable and his statements are not binding forever. I just hope he considers it.

 

[ruemere]

[...]I am also a little disappointed he has written off 4E. (That isn't meant to be loaded language; He wasn't mean about it.) He gave no criticisms, but he has always seemed the coolest and most even tempered of the ex-WotC employees. I expected for him to at least have the rules before reading such a declaration. From prior posts, SKR implied that Monte and he had not seen them. Or perhaps I read too much into it...

(Even if I wanted to do 4E stuff, and to be honest I really don't, the morass that the current licensing situation appears to be in is not at ALL attractive to me as a publisher.)

Hmm. I don't think he's "written off" 4E, he's simply stating, that as an industry professional, he does not really see any means to plan anything due to lack of license. To him, a self-publishing writer, it would be pointless to start working without knowing the system underneath.

How do you start baking bread if you lack proper recipe and ingredients?
Why would you start baking bread to sell it for a living, if you did not know whether it would be possible for you to sell it?

Regards,
Ruemere