Publishers' opinions on v3.5

[sotterraneo]

I just worry about the effect it could (emphasis on "could") have on d20 sales. It's certainly muddied the waters and made d20 a more confusing place. I've already had people tell me "I won't buy your product if you convert to 3.5" and others say "I'll only buy your product if it works with 3.5." That's a lose/lose situation for me. While you can make logical arguments all day long that the changes aren't that severe, that it's all compatible, etc. what matters in the end is consumer perception.

I share, as a retailer, Monte's concerns and I asked him via this forum if his upcoming Arcana Uneaerthed book would have been compatible with 3.5 for this very reason. I suppose many fellow retailers around the world, especially the ones with local translations (I *hate* the term 'localisation') are wondering about the long term interest for customers of the books they currently have. I do, for sure, and I manage my inventory with extra caution - I keep having out of stock the PH 3.0 anyway...

At the moment, I keep repeating customers the mantra that "3.5 is not a new version of the game, is just an amelioration of it so nothing you own will be obsolete". I noticed a great interest for the new MM, due to its new enlarged size and so many new monsters (please note that MM II was never translated into Italian however and that Monsters of Faerun was perceived 'for FR only' by many customers) and in the same time I am very careful with orders of 'new' books. I'm sure many other retailers worldwide are doing this and in particular any book being distributed in June and July will have a though time getting in stores. I anticipate a strong flood of 'clearance sales' from publishers and distributors - I already noticed robust listings from Diamond/Alliance for many D&D titles (especially the splat books about classes) and d20 titles being sold at a very low price.

 

[Dextra]

All the publishers have advanced copies of the 3.5 ruleset.

Not ALL the publishers.

 

[Ashy]

Since all of my adventures are generated on the fly I'm toying with the idea of putting in a "3.5 switch" you can choose to generate the 3.0 version of the adventure or the 3.5 version. Although thus far the reaction I've gotten from people I've talked to is that the changes will be so minor it won't really matter, and that I should just standardize around 3.5.

Being a lowly PDF publisher I haven't seen the new rules (although I do have so freelancers who have) I don't know how extensive the changes are, but from some of the stuff I've seen in the rumor mill they're extensive enough that this sort of switch might be very popular. Any other PDF publishers thinking of doing the same thing? Generating two versions of a book for sale on RPGNow?

I think that this would be a very good idea, Ross! Also, I think that Bastion has some plans for something like this, but I do not have an official word or anything...

 

[Drawmack]

I'm currently working on a sourcebook that will need so pretty major changes when 3.5 comes out. I'm pushing along and finishing up the rules in 3.0. Then when 3.5 comes out I'm going to carefully catalog every change I must make and throw the inverse of the changes into an appendix for 3.0 users.

 

[Drawmack]

I'm currently working on a sourcebook that will need so pretty major changes when 3.5 comes out. I'm pushing along and finishing up the rules in 3.0. Then when 3.5 comes out I'm going to carefully catalog every change I must make and throw the inverse of the changes into an appendix for 3.0 users.

 

[jmucchiello]

I'm currently working on a sourcebook that will need so pretty major changes when 3.5 comes out. I'm pushing along and finishing up the rules in 3.0. Then when 3.5 comes out I'm going to carefully catalog every change I must make and throw the inverse of the changes into an appendix for 3.0 users.

I'm not alone!!!!!

 

[jmucchiello]

Being a lowly PDF publisher I haven't seen the new rules (although I do have so freelancers who have) I don't know how extensive the changes are, but from some of the stuff I've seen in the rumor mill they're extensive enough that this sort of switch might be very popular. Any other PDF publishers thinking of doing the same thing? Generating two versions of a book for sale on RPGNow?

When I release, Character Customization for 3.5, I intend to leave the original 3.0 PDF in the zip. Future books, I will probably leave 3.0 notes as either sidebars or an appendix. Tree of Knowledge is an adventure and I will probably duplicate the stat blocks. DMs can print out whichever blocks the prefer.

 

[woodelf]

I have to wonder if the potential group of customers for D20 products is the same as the potential group of customers for D&D. I think the former is a lot smaller than the later. The question then is where the first group is located in the spectrum of D&D customers. Is it located in the part of the spectrum that is not affected at all by the migration to a new version of D&D, in the part that is heavily affected by the changes, or is it spread evenly among the D&D customers.

I assume by "d20 customers" you mean "d20-but-not-D&D customers", because otherwise it's a superset of D&D customers, by definition. They're definitely not the same crowd. Poke around RPGnet for a while, and you'll see a reasonable populace of people who aren't interested in D&D but either don't mind some of the other versions of D20 out there, or are willing to put up with it becaues of the games in question (especially licensed games). Then, too, there are those of us who recognize that "D20 System" is a pretty broad umbrella, and have problems with the system that are relatively specific to D&D. Frex, i'd never run a D&D3E game, and i only played in one reluctantly, but i *love* Spycraft--i so want to play a game of that, and i don't even particularly like the genre--and i think that M&MM is one of the better games out there, and probably the best D20 game to date--precisely *because* of how different from D&D it is. [Well, hell, i'd even be willing to run a "D&D" game, just not with D&D3E (or 3.5E)--maybe with Arcana Unearthed or Everquest, or with the rules i'm workingon right now, which are essentially a reworking of D&D (much like AU), but i digress.]

I personally think that the D20 customers are of the sort that either don't care that there's a new version and happily use 3.5E material with their 3E game, or hare happy to 'upgrade'.

Again, depends who you mean. If you mean "D20-but-not-D&D", i don't think they even care--and why should they? They'll go on playnig Spycraft, or CoC D20, or T20, or M&MM, or Farscape, or whatever, and never even look at the new D&D books.

 

[woodelf]

IMHO, 3.5 is a good fix. I've had copies of it for months. Game play is smoother. Was it released too soon? No. All the other editions also went through changes during their lifetimes (remember the differences between 1st Ed and 1st Ed Revised?). But now that there are more 2nd and 3rd party publishers, it just seems to take on a broader scope.

Do you know something i don't know? Only one edition of 1st ed--unless you're counting the cover art changes? Or did you mean the revised 2nd ed--which was also just an art/layout change?

 

[Drawmack]

I'm not alone!!!!!

JM you're also not far from me, I'm in the pocono mtns. pa - maybe it's something in the water.