Official DnD, D20, and OGL - who are you?

[Bendris Noulg]

I think we've been called the "d20 latte set" by someone in the past.

I always wondered what that meant...

Really? Cool! Where is it? Mine's sitting right here at the moment. That campaign should be starting within a week or two -- I've finally got everything ready.

Link in sig, but things are still on the PC for now... Check back in a week (what I get for upgrading to Adobe 6. Dang thing is conflicting with something... Likely AutoCAD again. Phantom Printer vs Virtual Printer; had a similar problem with Firework's exporter.). Besides, as a fan of W&V, it kept feeling redundant to develop stuff for the web ("This version is for home play, this version is OGL compliant..."). Get Adobe working and its (finally) green lights all the way.

Ironically, though, it sounds like monster books would be one of the few types of books that you could use completely as is; it doesn't matter much for your game if that's OGC or not, since you're probably unlikely to put monsters up on your campaign website.

This is true, but I like to put things into a niche rather than dropping it in where it might be cool, so while I could push the limit at the table from time to time, I've no real compulsion to do so. At any rate, after having to replace Mind Flayers as the primary nemesis (Props to Eden Studios for the Zhival, excuse the radical change to psionics), I've just decided not to go there anymore.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I have every 3rd edition product WotC has produced, Call of Cthulhu D20, Wheel of Time, al the Star Wars books, and all the D20 Modern books. That takes up almost 2 shelves. I have an entire other book case full of D20/OGL products. Despite my the balance of my collection, I probably use about 2/3 WotC material and 1/3 3rd party stuff. The third party books range quite a bit, from adventures, to the Tome of Horrors, to variant rule sets, like Darwin's World and Babylon 5. I see no reason to deprive myself of rules from either side of the fence, especially since I help write material for both. There are many 3rd party rule sets that I like better than some WotC rules and there are a lot of WotC rules I like better than similar 3rd party stuff. I really don't have a lot of respect for "WotC purists" simply because they are focusing in too much on one source of material where there are a lot of companies producing outstanding material that is useful in D20 games.

On the other hand, I categorically disagree with anyone who thinks that the recent D&D books have been of lesser quality than 3rd party material. I've seen the amount of playtesting and development that goes on and I can say with confidence that any time you pick up a WotC book, it has been properly playtested to ensure that it's power level isn't out of whack, and the mechanics and their interractions with mechanics from other sources are sound. I can also say that the same is not necessarily true for some of the 3rd party products I've been involved with in the past. While there is effort put into making those products better, they do not get the same rigorous development, playtesting, and editing that happens at WotC. Are there occasional mistakes in WotC book? Of course there are, but I have yet to see any book on the market that is free from minor mistakes.

 

[reiella]

For the most part, I strongly perfer WotC books myself.

Although, I do have a fair stock of D20 and OGL books.

However, typically if I can find something in a WotC book that achieves what I want, I go with that before a d20/ogl item.

My OGL books (EQRPG for the most part) are used to introduce a foreign flavor to some elements of my game.

My d20 books are used mostly to fill in some gaps or provide some building bricks, stuff such as Seafarer's Handbook and Traps.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I love the OGL and I probably have least 5 or so books from every major publisher.

I have a complete set of FFG's Legends and Lairs, Green Ronin's Master class series and Races of Renown. Allot of Mongoose but none of their series are complete.

I also have all of the three times as many 3rd party books as WotC but that’s only cause of volume. I have all of the WotC books now.

 

[diaglo]

On the other hand, I categorically disagree with anyone who thinks that the recent D&D books have been of lesser quality than 3rd party material. I've seen the amount of playtesting and development that goes on and I can say with confidence that any time you pick up a WotC book, it has been properly playtested to ensure that it's power level...

i can say with confidence that we must agree to disagree.

the quality of the playtesting is hit and miss as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I am more DM and world builder than player, which I guess makes me d20/OGL. I look for different ideas and thoughts to build my game / story from using what appeals to me.

 

[Nellisir]

On top, because I'm (yet again) putting my stuff online, and adhering to the OGL, I pretty much avoid non-OGL books, which means WotC stuff.

Ditto, though I took down most of my site, and have yet to put up version 2 -- Dawnforge meets Unearthed Arcana meets Conan meets Arcana Unearthed (plus a little Morningstar, Midnight, and Rokugan). I love high fantasy meets sword & sorcery -- none of this low-magic mumbo-jumbo for me!

I do buy WotC books, but they're just for reading. I get alot of pdfs, GRR, AEG (fantasy), and Bastion.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Desdichado]

Ditto, though I took down most of my site, and have yet to put up version 2 -- Dawnforge meets Unearthed Arcana meets Conan meets Arcana Unearthed (plus a little Morningstar, Midnight, and Rokugan). I love high fantasy meets sword & sorcery -- none of this low-magic mumbo-jumbo for me!

I got you there; I'm a confirmed kit-basher. More like an addict to kitbashing, really.

But I like pulpish action in a low magic setting. To me, that's what Sword & Sorcery is all about.

 

[Psion]

I think the merit of "official" WRT 3e is only as a marketing buzzword.

Wizards R&D stamp of approval makes most of their material better than the worst third party d20 products. But AFAIAC, since the WotC big-name diaspora, they are consistently behind the best.

 

[WizarDru]

I have almost every D&D 3E release, only passing on a few books that simply didn't seem of great interest to me (Ghostwalk, Draconomicon) or didn't work the way I desired (Book of Exalted Deeds). While the classbooks were uneven, they always seemed consistenly good (if flawed), and you could definitely see the evolution on WotC's part, as they figured out how to improve their product. Comparing Sword & Fist against a product released two years later would be silly, for example, as opposed to comparing against, say, Bastion's Arms and Armor.

Anything outside of the core requires my approval, and I try to hew as close to the core as possible. That said, while I am picky about what I pick up that's not from WotC, I do pick up and use non-WotC material. The books of Eldritch might are good reads, even if I don't use them any longer. All of the books from Bad Axe get my A++ rating, for example, and Fiery Dragon is almost always a winner.

However, I tend to steer away from some releases, as they just don't fit my particular design ethics, such as Mongoose's Quintessential series, or don't really float my boat, such as Freeport. Some materials, like Midnight, just rock on toast, even if I'm not sure if I'll ever use them.

But we've got an embarassement of riches, and I couldn't be happier, though I could be richer.