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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prime_Evil" data-source="post: 4327142" data-attributes="member: 11984">This is truly awesome news!Personally, I would like to see those companies who intend to move towards Pathfinder compatibility work closely together to strengthen the Pathfinder brand as a whole. I think that there are potential benefits in a coordinated effort to build up the Pathfinder-compatible brand as a strong alternative to 4e D&D. This would require a level of cooperation between companies that never really happened with the d20 license.  IMHO, the big challenge will be to ensure that the market for 3.5-compatible material remains viable until the final version of the Pathfinder rules is available. I suspect that the 3.5 market is still viable for small to medium scale publishers at the moment, but it is uncertain how long this will remain true. The risk is that  disaffected players will decide to leave the hobby entirely or focus their interest on a non-d20 RPG.Obviously, the 3.5 rulebooks are now falling out of print. In addition, I suspect that many publishers will choose to retire 3.5 product lines in December with the end of the d20 trademark license. This may hurt the long-term viability of the market for Pathfinder-compatible material unless decisive action is  taken by publishers.The final version of the Pathfinder RPG won't be out until GenCon in 2009 - which means that there will be an eight month gap during which there will be few 3.5-compatible products being produced. Publishers must actively fight the perception that 3.5 is dead during this period or there is a risk that the OGL market could gradually dry up. The open playtest of the Pathfinder rules is a step in the right direction, but it may not be enough on its own. It would be great if Paizo could convince a couple of the second-tier publishers (Green Ronin, Malhavoc, Necromancer Games, Mongoose, Goodman Games) to throw some weight behind the Pathfinder-compatible brand, but it is not clear whether this will happen. I suspect that many of these publishers are adopting a wait-and-see approach at this point in order to gauge which way the wind is blowing with regard to 4e and the GSL.   Perhaps it would be good if those publishers interested in producing Pathfinder-compatible material to form a publisher's cooperative in order to coordinate their efforts. At the bare minimum, it would be great to see a shared marketing strategy that builds recognition for the brand as an realistic alternative to D&D 4e. The 'open' nature of the brand could be used as a selling point, as could the notion that Pathfinder is attempting to preserve the traditional 'feel' of D&D. Some shared advertising would be a smart move, as would some form of shared trade dress for Pathfinder-compatible publications. It would also be great if third-party publishers identify some opportunities for shared ventures using Pathfinder-compatible material.</blockquote>

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