...the REST of our gaming groups

[arwink]

D20 has kinda started my players buying their own products. I'm in a group of six players, at least 5 of whom gamed with me before 3e came out and only 1 of which is another DM. Back in 2e days, I was lucky if there were two copies of the players handbook at the game table, really lucky if they were both for the same edition.

When 3e came out, that went up. There are four handbooks between the six of us, one of them shared between a couple who baught it together and are already making rumblings about needing another. The player who doesn't own a players baught his own copy of the Psionic's handbook, as that's he's prefered classes and magic type. While that's a bit of a jump, and a shock to my system after ten to fifteen years of being the rule-book guy, we also went from me being the only person who baught dragon to about three people picking it up every month, again with one of those people being part of a couple. There was a recent rush to get the various WOTC spatbooks, at least three copies of both the books of eldritch might I and II, a scattering of Scarred LAnds stuff with the other DM, a gradually growing collection of miniatures and a few other bits and pieces We went from no-one really paying attention to various websites to having a fair number of people being drawn to en-world, at least, even if it's only to keep up with the story-hour being told about their characters. Now that the various splatbooks are all in someone's possesion, the general consensus is that 3rd party stuff is looking good, and the slow creep of aquisition will continue.

 

[Valicor]

Out of the Group I play with,I own the most book's.

Around 19-21 or so. I used to be the main DM, now that I am not running a game, I don't really buy the books as much, every now and then I do.

Another in our Group has around 8 books.
Comming in second is a player with 4 books.
Then one more with 4 books.

The other 4 players have none of the books.

 

[Sulimo]

As I see it, it isn't so much as a lack of interest on everyone's part (though that's a factor), but that most books cost quite a bit of money. Especially with WotC releasing all these nifty 300+ page hardcover extravaganzas that cost a pretty penny, it's hard to buy everything under the sun (as I've been known to do from time to time).

Yep. Thats the main killer for me..there was a time when I'd buy almost anythign just to be used as reading matter and then put it on the shelf. Now I think VERY seriously about what I do purchase. I still remember the days when our group would a copy of every game that came out.

Also, from my experience, if a d20 product isn't vastly different from the norm in any way, most people I know won't bother even looking at it. Even so much as just another fantasy setting will get passed over because we've already got a bunch of fantasy settings. But if it's a nifty looking sci-fi setting or what have you, then maybe it'll be bought.

Plus, do you really need all these supplements? I know I stopped buying rules supplements long ago (the last probably was Sword & Fist). The only thing I buy now is setting materials.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

Of my players (I have five):

Two own Player's Handbooks.

That's all, in terms of 3e/d20 materials. They didn't buy their PH's, either, I gave them each one as a birthday gift. None of them have any plans, as far as I know, to purchase anything else.

Of the six of us, four have computers, but only two of us use the Internet (myself and another guy). He uses it to play Total Annihilation occasionally, and that's about it. None of them have ever been to ENWorld, though they've heard me mention it.

Now, in 2e days, that was a different story -- we all owned a buncha stuff. Different spending priorities in those days, I reckon.

 

[Corinth]

Y'know, I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing either. So long as my crew has their PHBs, reads them and knows the rules I really don't care if they never buy another product.

 

[Falcon]

Everyone I game with has the Core Rules (about 30 people). I and one other person are the most active d20 consumers. I DM a lot and he is a game designer. However, the people I game with (DM one campaign, play in three), have all bought the class books and whatever else entertained their imagination. If you want dollar figures, I have spent about $1,600 on d20 stuff and I estimate my 20-odd colleagues at $400-800 on average.

I know who suits my taste and style, and quite frankly, there is a lot of d20 schlock out there from certain publishers I won't buy. I look for consistent quality and responsiveness to questions regarding their products. I buy from them, no questions asked.

I scout pretty much everyone d20 out and pass on my thoughts to my colleagues.

 

[FungiMuncher]

Personally: I buy quite a bit of d20 stuff. As a response in an earlier thread, I think I counted about 45 books. I also bought four books this week. Most of it is third party stuff. I prefer general materials that I can use in my home brew campaign.

I have two gaming groups. In the game where I am the DM, there are four players in the middle school age group. Three of them have the PHB, and that's all. Of the four adults, they each have the PHB. One of the players is also a DM, and his collection could easily rival mine. He prefers running the Scarred Lands, and has a lot of stuff related to that.

In the group where I'm a player, one player has the PHB, and I think that is all. One player/DM has a few additional books (and is the only person supporting a family). One player has much of the WotC stuff. Two players have collections similar or larger to mine. And, oh, one player is a second edition hold out, and refuses to buy anything third edition. Popular titles amoung this group are Rokugan, Ravenloft and Forgotten Realms.

So, the people I know may be unusual. One of the gaming stores here in Columbus is very good with respect to 3e/d20 materials. That may be a factor. Also, I was rather surprised by the selection I saw in a chain bookstore recently (I think it was Walden Books). Usually, Media Play carries only WotC and SSS items, but this store carried some Atlas, AEG and a couple others. Columbus is supposed to be a "test market" town, so maybe thats the reason.

Another comment: Over a month or so ago, one of my friends wanted to start a non-HERO super heroes game. Had he been able to find a d20 version on a store shelf somewhere, I'm sure he would have gotten that (and probably several more of us would have, as well). I told him about some of the up coming items, but he has since bought a non-d20 game.

FM

 

[Seaver]

I only own the DMG, PHB, MotP, and FR. I used to own the Psionics HB up until last night.

I had lent it to my DM who owns, or rather owned, everything out there by WoTC, other than the Psionics book and FR, plus quite a lot of stuff by other d20 publishers.

Apparently he was in a hurry to get to work and forgot that his gaming stuff was still in his car. While at work someone stole all his gaming stuff, plus a few other things. Over $200 in gaming books easy which included my Psionics book, plus ALL of his materials on his two current campaigns.

As far as the books go fortunately most of the players have all the core books and one owns everything d20 related he can find.

Unfortunately any maps, notes, NPCs, etc about the two campaigns are gone....

 

[JoeBlank]

die_kluge, my group seems somewhat like yours. We are all 30+, married with children, attorney, pharmacist, two engineers, and a marketing representative. All are "casual" gamers except myself and one other. He and I both subscribe to Dragon, he also gets Dungeon. We both have PHB, DMG, MM, FRCS, Hero Builders, and some splat books. I also have MoF. I am the only one who regularly visits EnWorld. (Longtime lurker, found Eric's site during pre-release days and was hooked, usually without much to say.)

We have kind of an odd situation, in that we are spread out over several states, from Georgia to Wisconsin. We game mostly on OpenRPG, and sometimes by email. I think this is out of the ordinary, in that we all originally lived closer and played in person, rather than meeting online to play online. When 3e came out we had the itch to start up again, played in person a couple times and then to WebRPG and now OpenRPG. I mention this because we can't share books, so when I want to use a spell from T&B, the others have to take my word for it.

The others realized that some of us were more into it, and they did not want to curtail our enjoyment, so they agreed that we could use non-core books, but we limited it to WoTC. This was probably fear of the unknown, and a feeling that we could trust WoTC to produce balanced material. Now we are considering allowing non-WoTC materials, probably on a case-by-case basis. Have others encountered this, a fear of non-WoTC products?

 

[MEG Hal]

I do not see the "doomed to fail" side, rather the "wow, if people only new about us side". WoTC sold over 500,000 PHB's so to only get a % of a % would be a great pre-order number, I agree with my friend die_kluge that is is weird that some stores do not know what d20 is and it is D&D 3e...so by getting our products into major bookstores, trying to come out with catalogues, advertising and being "available on-line" to the customers is the way to get exposed...so our goal in 2003 is to have more gamers AND game stores know who we are and feel confidant in our offerings...hope that sheds a different light on something some of us have seen for awhile.

So spread the d20 news.....make people aware of this great hobby we have!