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

[DaveMage]

With the extremely vague wording of Monte's declarations in many of his products, I'm surprised he isn't more behind WoTC protecting their own IP.

I think it's more a case where the OGL allows the author to do anything while the GSL (supposedly) is going to be much more restrictive.

Monte seems more like a "play by his own rules" kind of guy than someone who wants a bunch of restrictions on his content. (At least, when it comes to doing his own publishing.)

 

[DandD]

I seriously doubt that the 3rd party developers could even influence 10% of the market share regarding D&D whatever-edition.

Let's be really honest, it's the core-rule-books of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast that really matter for success, not the adventures. They're just a nice bonus, if at all.

 

[Pinotage]

I seriously doubt that the 3rd party developers could even influence 10% of the market share regarding D&D whatever-edition.

Let's be really honest, it's the core-rule-books of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast that really matter for success, not the adventures. They're just a nice bonus, if at all.

Sure. But I'm not saying that the 3rd party publishers will take a 10% share. I'm saying a 10% of the market might not go to 4e because of the lack of 3rd party support and the lack of a GSL, irrespective of the share of the 3rd party publishers. At least here on ENWorld the listed poll indicated 61% would stay with 4e without a GSL. The other 31% would presumably not come to 4e without an GSL. I you reduce that 31% to 10%, that could still be a sizable chunk of the WotC market.

Pinotage

 

[hong]

Sure. But I'm not saying that the 3rd party publishers will take a 10% share. I'm saying a 10% of the market might not go to 4e because of the lack of 3rd party support and the lack of a GSL, irrespective of the share of the 3rd party publishers. At least here on ENWorld the listed poll indicated 61% would stay with 4e without a GSL. The other 31% would presumably not come to 4e without an GSL. I you reduce that 31% to 10%, that could still be a sizable chunk of the WotC market.

Pinotage

Again, the exact same thing happened with 3E. Go to Dragonsfoot and you will find plenty of people talking about 1E like it's 1989.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

The other thing to consider is that success for 4E is based on Hasbro ROI needs, not just making a profit. For much of the 3rd party publishers making a profit is considered a success. For Hasbro a success is making a huge profit. Anything less is a failure for them. If even 10% of the current base does not convert and is not replaced by "new gamers" this is a failure for Hasbro even if 90% is still millions of books.

 

[DandD]

Eh? Not to be discouraging, but ENWorld caters foremost to some few Game Masters who even know of this site. Players and other more casual GMs won't notice the lack of 3rd party support (they might not even know of Paizo, Necromancer and whatever RPG-support business there is), and most don't even buy that stuff. There's a reason why rule-books sell so well, and why Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast will (unfortunately) stretch out all the classes across several core-books. Players quite often still buy a copy of the rule-book, even if the GM has one already.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Eh? Not to be discouraging, but ENWorld caters foremost to some few Game Masters who even know of this site. Players and other more casual GMs won't notice the lack of 3rd party support (they might not even know of Paizo, Necromancer and whatever RPG-support business there is), and most don't even buy that stuff. There's a reason why rule-books sell so well, and why Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast will (unfortunately) stretch out all the classes across several core-books. Players quite often still buy a copy of the rule-book, even if the GM has one already.

Not to disagree with your larger point, and Morrus can correct my numbers, but I think "some few" is in the tens of thousands of registered users.

They say you can build a decent "long tail" income with 1000 True Fans.

I'd love to sell 1000 PDFs a month for $5 each.

EDIT: Of course, this would entail the real work of actually publishing at least one PDF a month...

 

[Pinotage]

Again, the exact same thing happened with 3E. Go to Dragonsfoot and you will find plenty of people talking about 1E like it's 1989.

Didn't the OGL come after the release of the 3e system, though? I believe when 3e came out the issue with 3rd party support wasn't as notable as it is now, simply because there was no way to do it. And the volume of good quality products from 3rd party publishers is considered by many to be superior to what WotC put out. If even 10% of the people are disillusioned with WotC, that could affect the bottom line and make a difference. I think, and I could certainly be wrong, that 3rd party support is paramount to Wotc. The prospect of high quality 3rd party 4e product will drive people to and away from 4e. And even 10% can make a difference.

Pinotage

 

[hong]

Didn't the OGL come after the release of the 3e system, though?

No.

 

[Vayden]

I was going to post something here about hoping that Monte would eventually re-consider and update Ptolus for 4E. Then I realized, that's not actually what I'm hoping for (although that would certainly be great). I have no particular attachment to the specifics of the Ptolus setting - what I love about it is that it's massively detailed, well planned out, and if I'm DMing there, if I need anything - dungeon, npc, shop, politics, religion - that could come up in my campaign, I can flip to a page and find a fleshed out entry that either works perfectly for me, or works with just a minor tweak. And everything fits together. That's what I want for my 4E - a gorgeous, high quality setting book with the level of detail and planning that went into Ptolus. If it's Ptolus updated for 4E, fantastic. If it's something different, that works fine too. But I want that good of a setting for my 4E, with the micro details that you just don't get with FR or Eberron or any of the continent-spanning settings.