Who is the Leader among D20 companies?

[Psion]

They offer the most bang for the buck. Their modules are really a bargain for the amount of material you can get out of them. The Living Kalamar book was 12.99 or such for 64 pages. HBG from WOC is 14.99 or so with the same page count, worse artwork, and less useful information.

Um, "better that WotC" =/= "Best bang for the buck." Being who I am, I maintain a spreadsheet that compares various products. I find that SS&S and Necro offer about the best bang for the buck, though in reality small game companies with second string art and presentation really blow any of the listed companies out of the water when it comes to pure page count per dollar -- Living Imagination and MEG.

The Kalamar Player guide is a pretty good bargain, though, especially if you have not already purchased the builder books and FRCS. If you have, it's not quite as appealing.

Due to their contractual issues I suspect, they also have the best grasp of the 3E rules

Gonna have to call you on that one. Some of the authors seem to have a good bead on it, but in other places I see stuff like "in Tellene characters don't adventure in the hopes that they can be captured and thrown in an arena", and non-standard save progressions, and feats that allow you to "automatically take 20."

(They are going to roast me on the Kalamar board for this and once again call me biased against Kalamar... ah, well.)

 

[Nightfall]

Heck, I voted for GR now!

That said, I definetely think AEG is getting up there. And SWRCR is very sweet; although I am not impressed with WotC's recent D&D stuff I still rate them pretty highly. I also rate SS&S and Necro pretty highly for keeping quality high and costs low in an age where ever other publisher seems to be clamoring for higher prices, but I really wish SS&S would get more of their yummy sourcebooks out the door.

You're not the only Psion. But I do think people will enjoy Wilderness and Wastelands. Just give another 10 days or so.

Btw, Psion, never saw you as biased towards anything! Except maybe overpricing!

Jeff, hey it's your gaming choice man. Be proud of it!

 

[Erik Mona]

>>>
Though I think that the D20 mini-games in Polyhedron are just fantastic, and for me, are what D20 is all about! I love them all!
>>>

God bless you, Gospog. After the drubbing I've been taking on the WotC RPGA boards this week, it's nice to see someone appreciates what we're doing with the magazine.

--Erik

 

[Setanta]

I voted for Green Ronin. I liked their adventures and the Freeport book, but I really liked the monter books, Secret College of Necromancy, Secret Societies, and the Shaman book. Keep it up, GR.

Regarding Kenzer, JeffB said:
Due to their contractual issues I suspect, they also have the best grasp of the 3E rules

I was shocked at the rules errors in Deathright, given that WotC supposedly goes over Kenzer's books. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good in that module (the only Kenzer module I have; I also have the player's guide). The module includes things like a 50% chance to spot something (what happened to a Spot DC?) and a certain percentage chance to get information from an NPC (what about Intimidate or charisma checks or bluff or spells?). Almost every single NPC in the book has at least one rules error. Again, there's good stuff in there, but it isn't the rules compliance.

 

[Darkness]

That is the force.

Which is based on funky parasites.

 

[MythandLore]

It has to be :

Wizards of the Coast

That's a given, they started the whole d20 thing, without them it wouldn't have happend. Not to mention D&D, SWd20, CoCd20, and Soon d20 Modern.

After them is AEG (Alderac).
Spycraft is not only the most innovative use of the D20 system to date, being a realistic (no Orcs or Elves or magic items in the base game) modern (not futuristic) day d20 game before d20 Modern, and it wasn't just innovative as a setting. They reinvented an got rid of old rules they didn't like. (and I think they did a good job doing it) - it is also one of the best selling products out there right now, even at WotC stores. Rokugan is another major line they have, which may not be as innovative but it is the defalt setting from the OA D&D book.

 

[Lady Dragon]

The industry leader is of course WoTC the sell the most books and they have the highest quality.There is only one other all color hardcover out there thats not wizards that being Rokugan by AEG.

As for innovation they havbe spent the first couple of years just trying to catch up with where they were in the first 2 editions.And yes there are a couple of more books they need to do to catch up but I think when they are done they will get more innovative.

As for the 3rd party D20 companys I would say Green ronin simply because of all the company's who have put out 5 or more products they are the only one who hasn't disappointed me yet.(I don't count companies who haven't put out 5 products yet to be major players no matter how good those products might be.)

As for an adventure company it would have to be necromancer games they also are consistantly great.

 

[Pramas]

Heh
As you can tell from my previous post, yall already have at least one loyal fan right here.
I'm especially interested in seeing more collaborations between Chris P. and Erik Mona. Their work (along with the others involved) on LoH and AotA is top notch.
I can't say I'm a big fan of race handbooks, but GR has earned a high enough repuation with me that I'll check them out anyway as they are released. The cooperative OGC thing is also intriguing.
Keep up the good work, you guys do kick ass.

Thanks, Chatdemon! I can feel the love in this thread.

I hope you do check out Races of Renown. I just finished proofing Hammer & Helm: A Guidebook to Dwarves and I'm really jazzed about it. As a publisher, sometimes you feel uncertain about a book and sometimes you just don't know how it's going to go over, but I've got nothing but good feelings about this one. Jesse Decker did a superb job and I think people are going to dig the hell out of this book.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

Alderac

Oops, sorry for leaving Alderac out of the poll. I just purchased Spycraft and it is truly innovative and cutting edge. Great job guys.

 

[Warchild]

I voted for Green Ronin. They have by far the best combination of writing/creative talent, art, game mechanics, and pricing of the all of the D20 companies. I'll take excellent in all categories over being the best in maybe just one category any day!!

I'd also put Atlas Games on that list. They have something like the 4th most products for D20. I think only AEG, Mongoose, and WOTC beat them out for breadth of products. They have high quality stuff as well.