D&D 4E What if 4e (whenever it happens) is not OGL?

[Melan]

What 3rd party publishers?

Precisely. Goodman?

 

[dmccoy1693]

No matter what, publishing 3.5 material will eventually be a slow ship to oblivion. Plenty of people are satisfied with 3.5 and won't switch over to 4.0, regardless of how good it is. But plenty more will switch over to 4.0. But the number of people playing 3.5 will only get smaller, not larger.

So what's a 3rd party manufacturer to do? 1) Take the bull by its horns. Those that will still be playing 3.5 will still need adventurers, monsters, settings, etc. WotC not putting out that material for it anymore means there will be a void that needs to be filled. A manufacturer that steps up and publishes a well thoughtout, innovative, and large scale setting before the mass teasers of 4.0 begin can help to reenergize the 3.5 base. Having this setting in stores (not just PDF/POD) will go a long way to propel a small company into the big time and establish it as one of the new major players. Being daring is key to maximizing the life of this option. The base will quickly dry up of all that is put out is $2 single class supplements. (Giants in the Playground, The Vorlon and The Shadows are leaving, now the Humans and the Minbari and others must step up.)

Note: This option will also require tough choices on the part of the companies. Companies that keep putting out products that are of limited success will not last long. White Wolf use to put out a number of small supplements for their Exalted line back in 1st ed called Caste Book (similar to race books). They didn't sell well at all. They were to narrowly focused and didn't contain enough eye catching material to sustain them. WW kept putting out the Caste Books despite losing money on it (perhaps out of tradition, perhaps out of completeness, I don't know), but when they made money on a larger supplement that covered many different topics (Outcastes, regional setting supplements), they changed their model for 2nd ed Exalted and now all their supplements sell well.

2) Jump ship. Having your own system (True20, Quick20) or writing for a different OGL system (OSRIC, Mongoose Runequest) will give a company a new market. But they will be behind those that are more established companies and will be playing catch up to them. Some companies will cooperate (Green Ronin-Ronin Arts, Necromancer-Paizo); others will licence game/systems from other companies (Mongoose). But this option requires them to live off another and are subject to external events outside of their control. (i.e. everyone remember what happened to WEG after they lost Star Wars? And they have their own system.)

3) Grim Reaper. Invaribly, some companies will not survive the changing landscape. Those that cannot adapt well to the new environment (or don't make the hard choices quickly enough) won't continue on. They'll be bought by others for pennies on the dollar after much debt has arisen. Sad, but it is true.

 

[Ranger REG]

A tangent from Emirikol's thread:

If 4th Edition happens some time in the next five years, and it is no longer open in any way, what is the best strategy for 3rd-party publishers, in your opinion?

One must assume that the release of a 4th Edition will have a negative effect on sales of 3.x compatible materials. Later slumps notwithstanding, the OGL (along with the pdf market) created a revolution in role-playing, with more private entities producing rpg material for sale than ever before. What can the companies who owe their existence to making D&D-compatible products do to survive a market where large numbers of people stop playing d20?

Please don't debate when 4E may happen or the future of the d20 license at the expense of the topic at hand. I'm interested in seeing what people think.

I swear I already answered this topic in an older thread.

 

[Quartz]

I think it will depend on licensing costs. If the licensing cost is nominal (say, $1, just to acknowledge copyright etc), then things will continue pretty much as before. Remember that WOTC gains from 3rd party stuff too.

 

[EditorBFG]

I swear I already answered this topic in an older thread.

A thread I started at the end of April came to this question partway through, but I was hoping for a discussion specifically on this. I didn't see a post from you in there, though, so maybe it isn't the one you mean.

 

[jgbrowning]

What 3rd party publishers?

Precisely. Goodman?

Uhem....

Expeditious Retreat Press is still publishing regularly. 1 on 1 Adventures #7: Eyes of the Dragon as well as Advanced Adventures #2: The Red Mausoleum are coming out this month. Next month we will have two more releases.

joe b.

 

[EditorBFG]

What 3rd party publishers?

Like I said, the only d20 company regularly publishing in print now is Goodman Games.

I appreciate that print is a much bigger deal than pdf, but let's not dismiss the electronic only companies.

Because of pdf, I can now buy a greater variety of rpg products on a greater variety of individual subjects than ever before. Which means, in general, I can get exactly what I want instead of sort of what I want. Which is a good thing.

Yeah, I work for a pdf company, so I'm biased. But as a customer, I want to continue to have this much variety available to me. If I'm about to run an adventure with a haunted feast-hall, I want the option of buying a pdf of 20 magical beer-steins, or whatever.

So I want to know what the best strategy is for as many publishers to survive as possible.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

It'll be a disappointment, but I'll manage.

 

[trancejeremy]

Uhem....

Expeditious Retreat Press is still publishing regularly. 1 on 1 Adventures #7: Eyes of the Dragon as well as Advanced Adventures #2: The Red Mausoleum are coming out this month. Next month we will have two more releases.

joe b.

While I'm glad you're still going, I meant companies whose products are well, commonly available in game stores, or places online like Amazon.com or FRPGames. And even you are proving my point - your "Advanced Adventures", half your current output, it seems, is for Osric, not d20 per se, and you are also branching out into True 20.

 

[trancejeremy]

I appreciate that print is a much bigger deal than pdf, but let's not dismiss the electronic only companies.

I wasn't, really (I mentioned Phil Reed and RPGObjects, IMHO, the most prominent PDF people), it's just as far as I know, most of them have diversified beyond d20 as well. Including your company, Big Finger Games, which does M&M and True 20 stuff, and is actually probably better known for your True 20 stuff (Mecha vs Kaiju) than anything else.

Still, I was thinking more of full time companies, where people do it for a living, not as a hobby. Since they have more riding on it.