Only the Lonely: Why We Demand Official Product

[Seramus]

I've had so many players try to let them use unbalanced third party crap that my first reaction is to always say no to third party. At this point it is irrational.

Also the chip issue. If I let you use third party material, other players jump on it and want to use their own third party material.

And yes, quality is a concern. I assume blindly that most third party material has not been playtested for a hundreds of hours.

I've started to relax that position and allow things like Critical Role, mostly because it really does have thousands of people playing those classes for hundreds of hours to playtest.

 

[Zardnaar]

I allow 3pp stuff but only if I've vetoed/own it.

A player is going to run an EN5ider circle of life Druid. I'm using the Midgard setting.

So it's not open the floor gated but I allow select 3pp stuff.

 

[Fenris-77]

Open the floodgates for any and all 3PP products? My mind shudders as it gazes into the abyss of powergaming and depravity that would ensue. I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

 

[Stormonu]

I allow 3pp stuff but only if I've vetoed/own it.

‘That’s some Catch-22 level of DMing to keep it out of a game.

 

[Zardnaar]

‘That’s some Catch-22 level of DMing to keep it out of a game.

Yeah didn't word it right. Say some turns up with a small DMGuild PDF. I'll look through it and ok parts or all of it.

For the most part I'll supply a small amount of extra options. I'm allowing the Midgard Heroes Handbook (odd banned spell), a PDF of 10 extra feats and other stuff by request.

It's Egyptian themed and people still want Samurai and Viking type stuff.

Heroes Handbook has more archetypes than the phb.

Two many options just leads to options paralysis. I allow an extea 60 archetypes, 30 off feats and spells from Midgard are generally restricted to feats and archetypes /domains and can't be taken via magical secrets.

 

[Haffrung]

I do feel it's a bit of a shame that this particular edition of D&D seems to be the most "official canon only!" edition in terms of player opinions. I'm not sure why that is; even 3.x was much more DIY. My favourite thing about D&D is home-brew; to me that's what D&D is.

There are three sources of D&D content:

A) Official WotC
B) Third-party
C) Homebrew

You can use both A and C without being interested in B.

 

[Morrus]

There are three sources of D&D content:

A) Official WotC
B) Third-party
C) Homebrew

You can use both A and C without being interested in B.

You can, but that’s not what I was talking about.

 

[TwoSix]

Open the floodgates for any and all 3PP products? My mind shudders as it gazes into the abyss of powergaming and depravity that would ensue. I'm going to go cry in a corner now.

One can both be open to 3PP and still be discerning. I've absolutely tossed stuff that players have suggested to me as unsalvagable. Just don't tell players that they can make their characters sight unseen. Ideally, you're providing guidance during a session zero, both at the table and electronically.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm going to rotate what I allow. Run themed games, players pick the theme and I allow stuff that fits the theme. Next one probably pirates or Eberron.

 

[Fenris-77]

One can both be open to 3PP and still be discerning. I've absolutely tossed stuff that players have suggested to me as unsalvagable. Just don't tell players that they can make their characters sight unseen. Ideally, you're providing guidance during a session zero, both at the table and electronically.

I wasn't suggesting otherwise, just shuddering at the thought of not running things that way.