Whatever happened to Necromancer Games?

[Pramas]

Fast forward to the present, WotC probably now sees the DDI character builder as a very useful "weapon in their arsenal" for tightly controlling the use of their D&D intellectual property, without ever having to make a strict 3PP license.

I'm guessing they are much more concerned about another unintended side effect of DDI: the strangling of their own book sales. This has become a real problem for WotC.

 

[ggroy]

I'm guessing they are much more concerned about another unintended side effect of DDI: the strangling of their own book sales. This has become a real problem for WotC.

This wouldn't surprise me anymore.

In my previous sandbox 4E game, very few of my players bothered to buy any books like the PHB2. They all had DDI subscriptions and used it for all their character builds, instead of going through splatbooks.

At several nearby FLGS, the owners have been complaining about 4E D&D book sales nosediving significantly over 2009 (especially after PHB2 was released). At the smaller gaming stores where tabletop rpgs are not their main business, the owners now only order one or two copies of new WotC 4E titles. Otherwise, most of the later 4E splatbooks end up sitting on the shelves for months at a time collecting dust.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I'm guessing they are much more concerned about another unintended side effect of DDI: the strangling of their own book sales. This has become a real problem for WotC.

No, the real problem is that WoTC needs to stop focusing on crunch material and start focusing on settings and modules. Less crunch = less reliance on the DDI and more people.... playing and talking about the World of Dungeons and Dragons as opposed to the latest build.

 

[ggroy]

No, the real problem is that WoTC needs to stop focusing on crunch material and start focusing on settings and modules. Less crunch = less reliance on the DDI and more people.... playing and talking about the World of Dungeons and Dragons as opposed to the latest build.

I would love to see more settings and better modules by WotC.

But will this ever happen again?

After the experiences of TSR during the 2E AD&D era with many different settings, it wouldn't be surprising to see WotC being reluctant about going down that direction again.

Nevertheless. Today if I was looking for better setting and modules stuff, I would probably be more interested in Pathfinder titles.

 

[vonmolkew]

RE: The New Edition video:

This is why I read the forums....hilarious!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I'm guessing they are much more concerned about another unintended side effect of DDI: the strangling of their own book sales. This has become a real problem for WotC.

Never bought more than one book for our group... this time i won´t buy books until they change their stance on including errata in them. I won´t buy outdated material.

I believe this is a great part of what hurts the book sales. Why buy a book if you can´t reliably reference it...

 

[ggroy]

Never bought more than one book for our group... this time i won´t buy books until they change their stance on including errata in them. I won´t buy outdated material.

I believe this is a great part of what hurts the book sales. Why buy a book if you can´t reliably reference it...

Does WotC have an official (or unofficial) stance on not adding corrections to subsequent printings of 4E titles?

 

[BryonD]

No, the real problem is that WoTC needs to stop focusing on crunch material and start focusing on settings and modules. Less crunch = less reliance on the DDI and more people.... playing and talking about the World of Dungeons and Dragons as opposed to the latest build.

Maybe this is different now in 4E, but back in the OGL days there were a lot of calls for less crunch. And time after time the market did not show up.

There were exceptions. But there was generally some specific appeal for the exceptions. All things being equal crunch sold solidly better than fluff.

 

[Holy Bovine]

I didn't see the DDI coming either.

Who would have guessed that WoTC would come up with a piece of _software_ that was so awesome? It's the one thing I wish we had over in Paizo-Land.

And yeah, if I were running 4E, I'd have a very hard time justifying using stuff that wasn't in the DDI. That's a big reason there isn't more 3rd party 4E support, surely.

Ken

That is nearly 100% true in my case anyways. I do have Goodman's Book of Rituals and a handful of DCCs but things like the Advanced Player's Guide from about a year ago? It can't be used with the CB so I'll never use it. Rituals and adventures are about the only things I would look at a 3pp for nowadays.

 

[Mistwell]

Mistwell, I've seen the same stuff Wicht has seen in your posts. It's not just his imagination.

I'm glad to hear that you're not accusing Clark of lying. But I think you should take a hard look at your writing style, because it often seems as if you are.

Ken

It OFTEN seems as if I am? You think this is more than one topic now? Do tell, please link to them.

No. Which part of "keep the thread on track" is unclear? No more digression on how Mistwell phrased things, please, on anyone's part; he was clear afterward about what he meant to say, and that should close the issue. Thanks. ~ PCat