NDA Early access to 3.5 rules for d20 Print Publishers

[d20Dwarf]

The point that PDFs can be upgraded "on the fly" works in defense of the policy. You can upgrade basically for free, while a print product cannot be upgraded until the next printing.

Also, Wizards is taking on a cost in man hours, printing, and binding to do this. There is no barrier to entry in the pdf market and asking them to invest even more time in determining which PDF publishers are "legitimate" is unrealistic, and frankly would be pushing the limits of decorum.

Also, deciding that PDF products are better than a print product is very subjective. What is not subjective is the financial risk undertaken by a company producing a print product.

It's incredibly generous for Wizards to spend all this money to help d20 publishers remain up to date with their products....an amazing gesture, really. So to belittle them and say that their actions are against the spirit of the OGL is a bit off the wall.

This isn't an issue about "respecting PDFs" or some other such nonsense. That's another crusade and one better fought when there is ground to stand on. If you want to produce in the e-book market, then you're going to have to accept what that entails. It is significantly different from the print market, in gaming and outside of it.

 

[Orcus]

I hear you. I remember back in the day sending a letter to Ryan Dancey asking for an advanced copy of the 3E rules. I didnt get squat. Why? Because I hadnt published yet. I was a rookie. Nobody knew who the heck I was or if I had a clue.

I understand the reasoning. They didnt want to send out free copies of the rules to every guy that says they are going to publish. They want to give the free stuff to people they know will publish. The same thing holds true here.

I would imagine that, despite the wording, accomodations will be made for serious PDF publishers who have put out PDF products.

So I would suggest that despite the online poll current PDF publishers should contact WotC and send in the NDA just in case.

But if you havent yet published, you are probably out of luck, like I was back in the begining. But look where that got me

Clark

 

[Orcus]

As an observation, the fact that they are being so dilligent about making the rules available is good evidence that WotC continues to consider d20 to be important to sales, or they wouldnt bother.

Clark

 

[jmucchiello]

I hear you. I remember back in the day sending a letter to Ryan Dancey asking for an advanced copy of the 3E rules. I didnt get squat. Why? Because I hadnt published yet. I was a rookie. Nobody knew who the heck I was or if I had a clue.

Thanks for the perspective, Clark.

So I would suggest that despite the online poll current PDF publishers should contact WotC and send in the NDA just in case.

I've already filled out the survey and the NDA will go out in the mail this week. And I held my head up high as I enter 0 into all of the survey fields. I just expect to have to wait until July.

As an observation, the fact that they are being so dilligent about making the rules available is good evidence that WotC continues to consider d20 to be important to sales, or they wouldnt bother.

True. I'll be more impressed when they make the next release to the SRD of anything that is not in the 4 core books. (Epic, MotP, MM2, FF, etc.)

 

[Nightfall]

Now I wonder if that means the guys at S&SS will then put out CC Revised once they see the stuff? God knows people want it.

 

[Kerrick]

Thanks for the link, BFG. We (our company) were really worried about how this would impact us, since we have one book out in pdf (which will be going to print in about a month), another in final edit, and two more either done or very close.
I was rather surprised when I saw this, frankly, but I'm also glad that Wizards is willing to extend the support to us little guys. Making it available to print only publishers may seem like a case of favoritism or "haves" vs, "have-nots", but it makes sense - WotC's shelling out a fair bit of money to print the books up for those companies (there are probably a couple dozen who have products in print), so it would make sense that they'll want to keep their costs down (and not only that, but the fewer people who have the revised rules, the less chance of leaks). We'll cross our fingers and hope we're one of the lucky ones.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Now I wonder if that means the guys at S&SS will then put out CC Revised once they see the stuff? God knows people want it.

???? We ( you were there! ) were told in this thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38650
that CC Revised is being delayed so it can include the new rule changes. True SSS-Druid was somewhat cryptic... but it could mean nothing else.

 

[malladin]

Personally I'd like to echo the Sigil's comments.

I'd also like to point out that the argument that pdf publishers are not included because they can easily upgrade their products is c^@p.

If this is the reason, why have they chosen to allow companies with ex-WotC employees to get hold of it? There are a number of such people producing pdf work (JD Wiker is the current no 1 at RPGNow, for example).

I think it's an issue of quality control. I think Wizards have the opinion that tha majority of pdf publishers are producing second or third rate products. And to be perfectly frank, there is a lot of crud out there (not mentioning any names, but you know it's true). Even some of the publishers Sigil mentioned (oursleves included) have produced products that, while the text content has been high quality, the artwork or overall prouction quality has left much room for improvement. Admittedly, this is largely due to a lack of artwork which falls back to the Sigil's argument about the startup resources.

That said, it's no surprise to me that the RPGNow polls show that 37% of people buy pdf products because they are good resources. There are a few of us who have recieved good reviews who are probably keeping the pdf market alive (personally I wouldn't buy a pdf unless it was getting 4 or 5 stars in a review, whereas I might buy a print product that got 3...). Admittedly, James and RPGNow play a big part in that, but if there weren't any quality pdfs out there the market proabably wouldn't survive and RPGNow would, no doubt end up being ditched. INstead the pdf market seems to be going from strength to strength, as evidenced by the fact that it is attracting some bigger players, like Mongoose.

Therefore I think Wizards need to reconsider their policy and come up with a different citeria for quality control.

There's another similar thread on this messageboard at teh moment, where someone mentions that publishers who were putting work on hold could perhaps produce work for D20 Modern instead. Personally this is what e intend to do. After Forgotten Heroes Sorcerer is released (probably about 2-3 months away) our following products will be for d20M. (and we've also got a freebie for D20M coming out soon).

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter, go ahead and flame away.

Ben, Maladin's Gate

 

[Nightfall]

???? We ( you were there! ) were told in this thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38650
that CC Revised is being delayed so it can include the new rule changes. True SSS-Druid was somewhat cryptic... but it could mean nothing else.

I know but I thought once they have access...they wouldn't put it off. However I emailed Joe and he said "Better safe than sorry." So that means wait until June/July.

 

[smetzger]

If this is the reason, why have they chosen to allow companies with ex-WotC employees to get hold of it? There are a number of such people producing pdf work (JD Wiker is the current no 1 at RPGNow, for example).

That statement is not completly accurate. The report said ex-WOTC employees that had worked on the revision.