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<blockquote data-quote="Synicism" data-source="post: 21654" data-attributes="member: 489">Well, from a consumer's standpoint, d20 has created a huge wealth of new stuff for me to choose from. Some of it is really, really good... much better, it seems, than similar offerings from Wizards of the Coast. Some of it is terrible. An awful lot falls somewhere in between. It's all about choices, and choices are good.From a designer's standpoint, it's given a lot of good people the chance to publish when they might not have been able to before. Any writer will tell you that the first publishing credit is always the hardest to get.So what do I think will happen? Darwinism. Outfits that produce solid books with good content will stick around. Outfits that don't, won't. There's a lot of speculation out there as to how many will remain standing when the d20 boom finally crashes.&nbsp; But I'd be willing to bet that they all share certain traits.1. They have a stable income. Either because their books sell real well or because they have a stable product base outside d20 and make enough off their d20 lines to be self sustaining.2. Their books are mechanically sound and people are willing to use their &quot;crunchy bits&quot; in their games. Some people's crunchy bits are really good. Some are so horribly overpowered that you'd have to be insane to allow them in a game. Publishers that have more reasonable, well constructed crunchy bits will do better in the long run than publishers that don't. Especially now, as the market is growing up and designers and editors alike are developing more of a feel for the system.3. They'll put out something that is fairly unique to them. Even if they publish mainly OGL, if you can identify a publisher by its books (great crunchy bits, a unique campaign setting, historical fantasy, and so on), you're more likely to pick them up if you're looking for what they specialize in.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Synicism, post: 21654, member: 489"] Well, from a consumer's standpoint, d20 has created a huge wealth of new stuff for me to choose from. Some of it is really, really good... much better, it seems, than similar offerings from Wizards of the Coast. Some of it is terrible. An awful lot falls somewhere in between. It's all about choices, and choices are good. From a designer's standpoint, it's given a lot of good people the chance to publish when they might not have been able to before. Any writer will tell you that the first publishing credit is always the hardest to get. So what do I think will happen? Darwinism. Outfits that produce solid books with good content will stick around. Outfits that don't, won't. There's a lot of speculation out there as to how many will remain standing when the d20 boom finally crashes. But I'd be willing to bet that they all share certain traits. 1. They have a stable income. Either because their books sell real well or because they have a stable product base outside d20 and make enough off their d20 lines to be self sustaining. 2. Their books are mechanically sound and people are willing to use their "crunchy bits" in their games. Some people's crunchy bits are really good. Some are so horribly overpowered that you'd have to be insane to allow them in a game. Publishers that have more reasonable, well constructed crunchy bits will do better in the long run than publishers that don't. Especially now, as the market is growing up and designers and editors alike are developing more of a feel for the system. 3. They'll put out something that is fairly unique to them. Even if they publish mainly OGL, if you can identify a publisher by its books (great crunchy bits, a unique campaign setting, historical fantasy, and so on), you're more likely to pick them up if you're looking for what they specialize in. [/QUOTE]

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