What 3rd Party D&D Companies Are Left?

[Nightfall]

Yeah, with Goodman, Necro, and WotC all doing nostalgia experience adventures, we figured that area was pretty well covered.

Not to mention unlike some others, Chris, much of the Bleeding Line ties into products say like Book of Fiends and/or stuff of great d20 classics from Green Ronin's past. Which I like.

 

[Henry]

I hate to point out the obvious, but ENPublishing is still in d20 adventures in a BIG way. War of the Burning Sky, which has some pretty good designers working on it, is just taking off for 2007.

 

[Nightfall]

Henry,

Yeah but that's PDF and the fact it is also fan supported (by guys that often buy online stuff anyway) isn't the same as the distribution problems/sales that affect most print companies.

 

[Henry]

True, but the main question was, "I was wondering what companies there are that are still making D&D products?" However, I'll concede there are damned few print publishers left for d20, Compared to just 2 years ago.

I can only hope that the fans will still be able to support even a small stable of them, because with the direction WotC's taking the game, I'll still need them.

 

[DaveyJones]

i'm still buying products when i see them.

but in truth i am seeing less and less third party ones. not that i saw that many at my FLGS to begin with. still they are getting fewer and fewer.

 

[Nightfall]

Henry,

Yeah well I didn't mind when a few (like say FFE) went under that were either a) not that good or b) not doing their job to support themselves.

but seeing some go under (especially now) makes it's tough for me.

 

[Treebore]

I don't think I am going to worry about Necromancer anymore. I don't think their problems are as hard to deal with as they think.

The biggest hang up is that this is a "part time hobby job". So I think the biggest question that really needs to be answered is if they are able to stay financially viable and able to pay their writers and other "employee's". Which I think is the heart of what Clark has been saying.

Even with WW Necro's sales dropped to around 1,000 to 1,500 copy print runs. With as few as 400 sales on one title. Which is the only one they lost money on so far.


I am sure they will keep the whole product line available as pdf, but as far as continuing to business as normal and be exclusively pdf? Isn't going to happen.

How expensive is Amazon's Print on Demand? If that is a viable way to go, then maybe that will generate enough revenue to support "business as usual". I say Amazon rather than Lulu.com because Amazon has far greater name recognition. Plus my wife liked what she saw when she checked into publishing her own novels. So anytime anyone searches Necromancer on Amazon all their products will show.

 

[Cam Banks]

Sovereign Press has been succeeded by Margaret Weis Productions, although it's all the same people. Still producing official Dragonlance products for D&D, and now also Ed Greenwood's Castlemourn setting (which is OGL), in addition to licensed game settings that use the Cortex system (Serenity and Battlestar Galactica).

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I think there's still plenty of companies to choose from, although I'm of course disappointed that Malhavoc has back burnered D&D. Compared to the 1E days though, there are still plenty of companies producing material.

 

[jdrakeh]

AEG just released a D20 product, I believe...

Officially their last, I believe.

Mongoose is producing D20, as is Green Ronin.

True, but Mongoose has shifted much of their effort to its Runequest line and GR is focusing largely on True20.

Fantasy Flight Games still has the Midnight line.

Are they still publishing new books for that line?

Sword and Sorcery is still producing games...though mainly only the WoW D20 game at this point.

They're officially winding down when they finish out their current future releases list (which has one whole book on it), I believe.

I think that the e-market is doing fine, but market trends seem to indicate that those publishers who work primarly with physical (i.e., printed) d20/D&D products are cutting back and/or diversifying in an effort to optimize their business models. That is, they seem to be having some problems caused by a recent downturn in sales of physical, third-party, d20 products.