To Many Publishers?

[BiggusGeekus]

Dungeon & Dragon are great magazines and I agree that they are a great value. But, then again, they get to have lots of ads and they can get away with magazine-style binding.

A great deal of what out is crud, but some of it is @#$%ing awesome. I mean really @#$%ing awesome. I picked up one d20 book and I said to my friend, "#@$%! This book is @#$%ing awesome!" Which is quite remarkable when you consider how hard it is to prounouce things like @ and #.

So, no, there are not enough d20 publishers. However, there could be more d20 reviewers!

 

[Corinth]

That sounds good, but the agendas of those involved would prevent this on a wide scale.[/b]

I don't think so.

Heck, just look at how different companies treat their Open Game Content designation. Some (like Bastion Press) make almost all of their content open, while others (like Malhavoc) keep as tight a hold on their content as possible.[/b]

This conversation is ongoing on listservs such as those hosted by the Open Gaming Foundation, as well as private correspondance (that I'm not privy to, but hear of by those participating--i.e. "I've talked to (X) privately about this."), but it's not the only issue that must be addressed. Why are there not more companies publishing under the Sword & Sorcery Studios banner? Why not negotiate an accord that creates a new and viable channel of publishing module support materials for third-party settings? Why not work together to develop and publize alternative distribution channels to the current outlets? Why not create a hobby-wide organization--one that subsumes existing, but too-specialized groups like GAMA, the GPA and the OGF--that possessed the resources and size required to do the things that individual publishers want to do but can't because they're too small- such as following WotC and WWGS into leveraging their IP into other media, such as comics and videogames.

I'm throwing out ideas here. The point is that if the publishers were to act on the principle of working for the advantage of the other--to create a business community where publishers, retailers and distributors actively and earnestly cooperate on all things--then the long-desired goal of mainstreaming the hobby (something that's already happening with videogames) not only becomes possible, but inevitable. That is entirely a good thing for all concerned; gamers have more people to play with, publishers have more buyers and thus more resources to make more games, retailers can grow their stores into the ideal forms desired by all and distributors will be able to grow their networks into forms that fully realize their desire to connect all sellers to all buyers.

We had this once in the United States. We called it "The New Deal".

Also, all the d20 companies are fighting for your dollar and want to produce what they feel will sell best, not necessarily what's best for the consumer and the market.

Which is the seed that shall bring about their downfall. This is a short-sighted view that generates actions that damage the community and the marketplace that serves it, which in turn fractures the community and turns it against itself. The tragedy of TSR shall repeat itself again if this continues, and the hobby will decline into utter obscurity (leading to extinction within a generation) as the result of such a wicked paradigm. Thinking in terms of how to best serve the whole of the community, and to do so over the long-term, is the way that--in all things--is certain to produce the desired longevity and relevance that many in and out of the business of the hobby desire (and rightly so). This is the idea behind such things as the Open Gaming Movement.

That one cannot sense a thing does not mean that it isn't there. This short-sighted "all-against-all" thinking is what nearly destroyed the hobby twice, once in the early 1980s and against when TSR fell in the late 1990s. A third such event shall end it all for everyone. We--regardless of position--cannot allow that to happen, not if we are truly a just people.

 

[SGTScott]

Hi-
Some great stuff is being mentioned, but my point is, there seems to be an over saturation of product out there. When I was DMing, all I had was my core stuff and the FR campaign book and I managed to do a decent job of running a game without all the chrome out there. Then again I was intheater, so I had to travel light.
It just surprises me that there is such a shear amount of stuff available to us the consumer.
I also must add, that Green Ronin is my personal favorate, what with their Freeport adventures being topnotch.



Scott
MP's Lead the way

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I wonder, though, how much seeing all of the d20 products out there affects those that may be just entering the hobby (as a DM).

I noticed that you overlooked another big monster of a setting, Forgotten Realms. And remember that every generic 3E book relates to the default setting, Greyhawk. I'd say that WotC's own settings stack up there as well, setting a rather high bar for other companies to guage themselves by.

Keep in mind, however, that this saturation is, indeed, what WotC wanted (although the economy was still in an upswing when the whole OGL thing started). The entire idea is that WotC can select items from these releases to be included in the main body of the SRD (infact, the upcoming Unearthed Arcana is the fulfillment of this ideal as it includes such items for just that purpose). Yeah, some of the stuff's crap. Some of it's also better than the Core product line. A lot. No, let me reiterate: A LOT.

But also bare in mind that, with the economy on the downward slide and such a wide variety of choices available, it really is a buyer's market. Don't just walk into a store with $50; Read the reviews and choose your purchases wisely. Get to know the companies; you'll find that each tends to have their own leanings regarding style and flavor, with their products often "feeling" related with some consistancy even if not mechanically intertwined.

Try to stear clear of settings unless the product is definately something you want. There are plenty of non-setting books available that easily conform to most typical settings with ease. There are also (as Buttercup pointed out) plenty of one-book settings that are ripe for the GM to develop to his own accord (in theory, every setting is a one-book setting, with the rest being gravy). Also look for stand-alones that are intergrated regardless. For instance, Bastion's Alchemy & Herbalists and Arms & Armor are stand-alone, but the entirety of these books is considered "default" in Oathbound (this, I believe, is true of nearly every Bastion release, with perhaps their work on mythological deities being the only clear exceptions).

 

[Crothian]

Hi-
Some great stuff is being mentioned, but my point is, there seems to be an over saturation of product out there. When I was DMing, all I had was my core stuff and the FR campaign book and I managed to do a decent job of running a game without all the chrome out there. Then again I was intheater, so I had to travel light.
It just surprises me that there is such a shear amount of stuff available to us the consumer.

You're right the extra stuff isn't needed. Some people do like have 100 books to look through and all those options that they didn't think of. The great thing is you can either buy the books or not.

 

[Nifft]

*raises scotch glass*

Yes! To many publishers!

*silence*

Oh, you don't like spelling flames. I'll just get my hat.

-- N

 

[der_kluge]

*raises scotch glass*

Yes! To many publishers!

I wondered how long it would take. I just bit my tongue, even though it killed me on the inside.

 

[d20Dwarf]

I also must add, that Green Ronin is my personal favorate, what with their Freeport adventures being topnotch.

So you buy the crap, but there's too much crap?

 

[Vigilance]

Yes! I agree totally. Too many publishers!

Down with choice! Down with people spending their own money earned at meaningless and drab jobs to see their dream on the market!

We should all buy only what WOTC thinks we should buy.

And when some small publishers do become successful, we should all link together to form one monolithic group, even using organizations bigger than GAMA to tell us what to do... err... leverage us into new media! A small company could never biuld something up like, say, Rifts, that ends up being optioned as a feature film.

I agree totally! Only the BIG publishers should stay.

Chuck

 

[Treebore]

Chuck

No one is saying it is ALL crap. There is plenty of stuff out there i won't buy but others will, and there is stuff I buy, such as Ravenloft, Dungeon World, and Oathbound, that A LOT of people think of as crap.

SGT

The bottom line is that you can buy as much or as little as you want. I sure don't need all of the books I have, I just like them for the ideas and inspiration.

I bet you would like Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous, if not love it.