Quality of WotC and 3rd party D&D books

[Jolly Giant]

(Inspired by the "Favorite Hardbacks" thread)

I noticed a lot of non-WotC books got mentioned in that thread, and frankly I was a bit surprised. I bought a few 3rd party books in the early days of 3.0 and was so thoroughly discusted by the amount of hopeless errors I soon dubbed every one of them "useless" and gave up on 3rd party publishers entirely.

Have things got as much better as the "Favorite Hardbacks" thread seems to suggest? I know WotC's proof reading has deteriorated quite badly, though they've never yet published anything as terrible as my old non-WotC books! To my eyes those books appeared to have been written by someone who had only had D&D explained to them at a party! (Ok, maybe they had tried a quick session once... ) Oops, nearly forgot: I've got the various "Might" books from Malhavoc! I figured that after having written the DMG, Monte was a safe bet (and he was).

So have 3rd party publishers really gotten that much better? Or are all those guys on the "Favorite Hardbacks" thread just plugging books written by themselves or their friends?

 

[zorlag]

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I can't say much about most publishers (I tend to stick with few reliable ones for most), but at least Mongoose Publishing has really improved alot... I really like their new Conan and Babylon 5 games for example. I'm really looking forward to new Privateer Press books about Iron Kingdoms setting as well.

Z.

 

[Crothian]

Ya, third party people have steadily improved since the first months four years ago. In many instances I think they are doing it better then Wizards. I likes Frost and Fur more then Frost burn, the Path books and some of the Quintessentials have been much more orginal then the Complete line. Some of Wizards books like Dracomomicon are top notch and haven't been surpassed though.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Well, I guess there has to have been some improvement. And I feel WotC's standards have fallen the last year or two... IMHO, the complete series are no better than the old splats, which they are mostly reprints of anyway. The Races of... series has not impressed me the least. Planar Handbook was nothing compared to Manual of the Planes... Draconomicon was fantastic though, and Libris Mortis wasn't bad either.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

3rd parties are a lot better. WotC is still really good. Editing errors are common in all products. People just expect more out of WotC, or hate "the Man". Thus the increase in 3rd party books to people's fave list. WotC still has most of my votes.

 

[Krieg]

Well, I guess there has to have been some improvement.

Gee thanks for the grudging admission.

The reality is that some of the 3rd party books are excellent and more than a few push D20 in directions in WoTC has been unwilling (or unable) to tread.

 

[Jolly Giant]

People just expect more out of WotC, or hate "the Man".

Sure, I too have higher expectations of WotC than of other companies. It's "their game" so to speak, and they have more to win and more to loose than any other company. Ergo, they should have higher standards for their books than any other publisher. Which makes it all the more frustrating and unnerving when their standards appear to be on the decline...

 

[Campbell]

In general, there's still quite a lot of crud coming out from 3rd party companies, but there are some companies that I've found who produce high quality content that serves my needs better than Wizards' material. I've found that Green Ronin Publishing, Malhavoc Press, Inner Circle Games, Privateer Press, and Bad Axe Games all deliver the goods. Malhavoc has started to produce even more worthwhile material since Mike Mearls joined the stables, and Green Ronin's lines that diverge from D&D support are notable values. Additionally, despite its genre AEG's Spycraft game includes many mechanics that have proved invaluable for the D&D games I've been part of. Denizens of Avadnu, Inner Circle Games' excellent monster book and Legends of Avadnu, its epic level cousin are both stellar products with some meaty mechanics work. In general, in these past few years I have seen some of the best gaming materials that I've ever run across.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Gee thanks for the grudging admission.

The reality is that some of the 3rd party books are excellent and more than a few push D20 in directions in WoTC has been unwilling (or unable) to tread.

I apologize, that obviously came out wrong. It wasn't meant as an admission; grudging or otherwise, it was intended to be more of a supposition. As I said, I havn't bought 3rd party books lately and therefore I don't know if/how much they've improved. Which is why I started this thread...

 

[Crothian]

As I said, I havn't bought 3rd party books lately and therefore I don't know if/how much they've improved. Which is why I started this thread...

check the review site:

http://www.enworld.org/reviews/index.php