Poll: How much 3rd party do you use?

[Psion]

This represents a rather fundamental shift in your approach from a few years ago, no?

How so, other than more print products of third party publishers have become available as PDF?


I've always believed that print is added value, it's just that the more print stuff there is, it's added weight, too. Hard drive space is cheap expressed in per-pound terms.

 

[Wombat]

Well, even at the beginning of 3e I got into "3rd party" (shouldn't that actually be "2nd party"?) material when SS&S got their monster book out before WOTC did.

My last D20 campaign was primarily based on Monte's AU with aid from material from Green Ronin (Skull & Bones in particular) and a host of pdfs; the WOTC material was pretty much the DMG (and that rather minimally) and a few monsters from the MM.

Over time, I found that other publishers did a much, much better job of providing material for D20 that fit my style of gaming; WOTC was still stuck in dungeons, over-reliance on alignment, and worlds that I had little interest in.

 

[diaglo]

i pretty much don't use WotC.

but i do use products to which they own the license

diaglo " OD&D(1974)" Ooi

 

[Mark CMG]

How so, other than more print products of third party publishers have become available as PDF?


I've always believed that print is added value, it's just that the more print stuff there is, it's added weight, too. Hard drive space is cheap expressed in per-pound terms.

You seem to have shifted from print being added value to print being different value. Electronic products (content aside) have always served a fundamentaly different purpose but in the past have been treated as a lesser product (because they weren't a print product), rather than a different product.

Generally speaking, do you prep differently now than you did five years ago?

 

[Shroomy]

Though I realize the utility of a PDF file on your computer, I really, really hate PDFs. I'll glance at or skim a PDF, or if I'm looking for something specific, I will reference a PDF file, but for me to really get use out of something, I need to have it physically in my hands, and printing out a really good-looking PDF is just a pain. Maybe I'm just a Luddite.

 

[Psion]

You seem to have shifted from print being added value to print being different value.

It's not much of a shift, really. If I don't know if I am going to use a book, I prefer it in PDF because it's generally cheaper and doesn't use much shelf space. If it's something I find out I am going to be using, I prefer having both forms: PDF for prep, print for play or for casual reading.

Which is why I hoped that the "package deal for both" type arrangement like RPGobjects and Behemoth3 had going on a few years ago would gain acceptance. Alas, it seems it was not to happen.

At any rate, I see DRM as being of diminished value compared to either. PDF is a long lasting, portable format. I can take my pdfs to different computers and still be able to work on them, and endure the inevitable PC turnover that seems to happen, without having to worry about being at the whim of a customer service rep who might decide they don't need to let me use my product on a new system. I'm not going to pay full print price for that. (Or really, any price. I have never paid for a DRM product, and for that matter, due to issues to porting to different systems, never bothered moving the freebies I got to my new laptop.)

 

[drothgery]

I occasionally buy non-WotC stuff (not often, but sometimes), but I never use it; it's in my great stack of gaming books that will never get used because even if I were the DM, I'd have to get all the other guys in my group on board to crack them out.

 

[Mark CMG]

Though I realize the utility of a PDF file on your computer, I really, really hate PDFs. I'll glance at or skim a PDF, or if I'm looking for something specific, I will reference a PDF file, but for me to really get use out of something, I need to have it physically in my hands, and printing out a really good-looking PDF is just a pain. Maybe I'm just a Luddite.

I would guess that you are still in the majority of gamers, overall, though probably in the minority of gamers afiliated with online communities (these days, though not five years ago).

 

[Psion]

I occasionally buy non-WotC stuff (not often, but sometimes), but I never use it; it's in my great stack of gaming books that will never get used because even if I were the DM, I'd have to get all the other guys in my group on board to crack them out.

Yup. I find that this "common acceptance" factor is a big barrier to third party products.

 

[Umbran]

I just got a couple of free PDFs due to answer ing antoehr poll on Enworld yesterday. I appreciate the gift, and will be sure to give the pdfs the attention they deserve.

But I am 99% sure they will never make it into my games. Even if they are amazing and have great ideas. I just don't play non-WOTC stuff.

Why? Partly becasue I live in Japan, and there is no local gaming store that has 3rd part d20 stuff in stock to flip through.

The argument "3rd party material is difficult to get, so I don't use it," does not really say why you are 99% unlikely to use a product you have, for free, in hand already. YOur inability to get it really isn't relevant, when you have it