Poll: How much 3rd party do you use?

[Mark CMG]

It's not much of a shift, really.

That said, it is a shift and that is what I find refreshing. My apologies but I edited my above post and added some text if you do not mind having another look.

 

[Psion]

Revisiting the edited post:

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

Not too different, personally, the main shift being that most print products I find I have to haul around are WotC instead of third party. And that technology is making it even easier for me to move PDFs around. (With cavernous 4 GB thumb drives, I can do prep on any computer wherever I am. That boosts PDF availability in places that normally only print would be an option.)

It used to be that I used a lot of third party products that were also only available in print: Relics & Rituals, FFG's Portals & Planes and Wildscape, Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous and Aasimar & Tiefling, Mystic Eye's Bluffside, and so forth. Now that more of these products have become available in PDF, I get them and can use them there. But there are more Wizards products I use and my players have access to, so I still find myself needing to drag print books around, the main shift being that these books are more WotC and less third party. Further, there are a diminishing number of third party publishers distributing in print first, so this also contributes to not having print version of those products.

 

[Valesin]

About 25%. I used to use a lot more, but I found that they didn't synergize well. I ran a campaign with Malhavoc's "Requiem for a God", the Books of Eldritch might and a lot of Scarred Lands stuff, but they were uneven and needed a lot of house-ruling, even more than D&D stuff.

I may have issues with some WotC stuff sometimes, but at this point there is so damn much that I can cherry pick what I want, ignore what I don't and run the game I envision.

That being said, I use classes from Green Ronin's Advanced Guides, monsters from its Bestiary, and stole some ideas from Arcanis, and am loosely basing my campaign in Ptolus, so I am hovering at about 25%.

Hmmm, now that I re-read that it may be more than 25%.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I'd say 80-90%. We use the core rules, but any book is fair game if approved by the dm on a case by case basis. Hell, we even use "Buy the Numbers" instead of classes sometimes. We hardly ever use a WOTC splatbook, 3rd party gets the most use there.

 

[Psion]

FWIW, while my local players do seem most familiar with WotC stuff, my last group (that relocated to Norfolk ) was shifting to BESM d20 for their next game.

 

[Jolly Giant]

75% WotC, 5% Malhavoc, 20% my own material. Unless we're playing Vikings D20; then it's all my own stuff, except for the SRD.

 

[XO]

I kinda lied...

I replied 50%, which was initially true, but since WotC tends to recuperate other people's d20 / OGL stuff in an "official" version, the trend tends to become more WotC (sigh).

I often mix up a bunch of stuff.

Most published adventures are ok but need improvement, tailoring and customizing. Necromancer & Goodman provide me with a decent base.

Love Green Ronin supps.

I use a large mallet and get all square published supplements pegs to fit the round holes of my campaign.

 

[Greg K]

Currently, about 50-50. However, what I would allow ( either if not currently limited by finances or the players were to buy) is about 60-40 or 70-30 in favor of third party material. Interestingly, the split is divided primarily along player material vs. DM exclusive material with player material making up the bulk of the third party and DM exclusive making up the majoirty of WOTC material with monster book making up the majority of DM exclusive content

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

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

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I voted 0%, but that's a qualified vote.

I use a lot of Paizo materials, be it Dungeon or the Dragon Compendium which is licensed material and 100% approved by WotC. I don't consider that "3rd party" material like Mongoose or Green Ronin or what have you.

I would also add - this is what I am currently using. I like Green Ronin's stuff and buy it. I just don't use it IMC right now. When I was running DragonLance, I used all of Sovereign Press' material and continue to buy it. Sovereign Press is also in a bit of a different situation though - it is a licensed property and the core has been WotC approved. Like Paizo, it's not so much 3rd party as it is 2nd party