Who determines what is "official"?

[shouit]

I have been reading a lot lately about the ToH verus the FF. Most people who argue for the FF say that it is "official" where as ToH is not. Who determines what is official? Is that just a fancy way of saying WotC puts it out. Who made that up? I thought the OGL and stuff made it so there is nothing official save what a DM puts into his game.

 

[Tsyr]

I have been reading a lot lately about the ToH verus the FF. Most people who argue for the FF say that it is "official" where as ToH is not. Who determines what is official? Is that just a fancy way of saying WotC puts it out. Who made that up? I thought the OGL and stuff made it so there is nothing official save what a DM puts into his game.

Yeah, to an extent, that's it. I have a friend who is a total WotC love-slave... If it doesn't have "Wizards of the Coast" on it, it's not kosher in his world. I'm only *slowly* starting to ween him away from that, with such things as the Tome of Horrors and some of Mongoose Publishing's stuff. Slowly.

 

[diaglo]

anything by T$R is official.

 

[Enkhidu]

Who determines what's official?

Why the DM does, silly!

 

[Henry]

Is that just a fancy way of saying WotC puts it out?

A-hyup.

Who made that up?

Gary Gygax did, about 1984 or so, in a Dragon Article. (It really wasn't groundbreaking or anything, he just wanted to clear things up.) Nothing wrong with the concept itself, just that many people are missing out on some great material, in my opinion, because they assume that all WotC material has been playtested more extensively than other material, and is more inherently balanced for play. The fact is that some companies put more playtesting energies into their limited range of product than Wizards puts into some of theirs.

I'm not saying that WotC doesn't have a large number of playtesters, especially for their bigger releases (see the Forgotten Realms Setting Book, or the Revised Core books). But some people seem to have the impression that WotC has hundreds of playtesters in each release - the number is closer to 20 or 30 on some releases, and many larger d20 companies (Malhavoc, Green Ronin, Fiery Dragon, Necromancer, etc.) have that number or greater. Also, considering the high-powered talent producing d20 books who USED to work for WotC full time, there's a lotta material out there that people miss out on, because it does not have the WotC trademark on it.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Actually, I'm the one who decides. If you're unhappy with my decision on the FF and ToH, feel free to submit a grievance letter.

By the way...this thread? Unofficial.

 

[shouit]

So does WotC then says their stuff is "official" version. Ie. in ToH they have a super Orcus compared to the BoVD. So, BoVD is the official Demon of Undead and the ToH is the unofficial.

 

[Mongoose_Matt]

Re: Re: Who determines what is "official"?

many larger d20 companies have that number or greater.

Indeed. We have over 150 on our books now. . .

 

[MEG Hal]

So does WotC then says their stuff is "official" version. Ie. in ToH they have a super Orcus compared to the BoVD. So, BoVD is the official Demon of Undead and the ToH is the unofficial.

No they do not and many of the WotC guys love the d20 stuff--handed a bunch out at GTS and had a few say, nope already bought it etc...so official means WotC and is a fan/player term. I am of the above opinion what my GM lets in is official--- . I am playing a Monte bard as we speak, so it is official in our campaign.

WotC also mentioned that they do look at d20 books for possible use in future books, so if that is the case, is it backwards "official"? I look at a lot of d20 books and those that close their minds to companies like Green Ronin, Malhavoc, Mongoose, FFG, Bastion and MEG (had to be done) are losing out on some great stuff.

 

[Desdichado]

What is official? It's meaningless except in terms of a tournament style game (ugh!) or your own home game. So the answer, nobody determines what is official. Except your DM.