Why so little D20 Modern Support?

jaerdaph · May 12, 2004

All I'm going to say is I'm starting to have second thoughts about the professionalism of not one but TWO publishers in this discussion - one I've been a customer of for some time, another I've only become a customer of this week...

BrooklynKnight · May 12, 2004

The Overlord said:
Well I wont be recommending Dana's work to anyone. That you can be sure of. That will cost him a couple sales at least.

Overlord, I think there is a misunderstanding.

None of the products that were listed above are in any way associated with Dana.

www.greenronin.com
Green Ronin has put out 4 d20modern products in print.
Ultra Modern Firearms by Charles Ryce
Modern Players Companion by Stan!
Martial Arts Mayhem by Rich Redman
Come for the Reaping by Rich Redman. (A Resident Evilesque Adventure that uses undead.)

In the next few months they'll also be printing Modern Magic, which is currenlty PDF Only.

www.rpgobjects.com
RPGO has a diffrent modern product line comprised mostly of books by Charles Rice.
Blood and Guts, Blood and Military, etc etc etc. I know less about these books, but I can attest to the quality of Blood and Military.

If you're looking for print support, thats where its at my friend. Almost all d20modern pdf products printed by The Game Mechanics go into print by Green Ronin, and RPGO prints d20modern stuff just for pen and paper.

Before you hang up your d20modern hat, I strongly urge you to flip through the Modern Players Companion or one of Charles' books. There is free content online already thats been taken from these books online, and if you're geniunly curious about the contents and dont have the opportinity to flip through the pages yourself, then please, hit up a review here at Enworld. Or email the publisher and ask for a diffrent sample.

I'm sorry at how this thread has progressed for you. You came here looking for help and info and got attacked. For that I, and C.Baize, and Vigilance all apologize (and i hope i'm not overstepping myself speaking for them on this matter). I hope you give d20modern and those products another try.

As a d20modern fan and writer myself, I'd hate to see another one bite the dust.

(P.S. If ya want another d20modern wotc book, i'm selling my used near mint Urban Arcana for 50% retail ;-p).

BrooklynKnight · May 12, 2004

jaerdaph said:
All I'm going to say is I'm starting to have second thoughts about the professionalism of not one but TWO publishers in this discussion - one I've been a customer of for some time, another I've only become a customer of this week...

hey Joe, I'd like to say that i know C. Baize and Vigilance for quite a while. I'd look at their overall track record before changing any opinions. We're all human, and sometimes get aggrivated. Sometimes certain individuals rub us the wrong way and we lose ourselves.

I know I certainly have.

PosterBoy · May 12, 2004

Ranger REG said:
More importantly, d20 Future will be much friendlier toward third-party support.

[rant on]

I totally disagree with this. d20 future is a horrible planed for third party support, mainly because it requires d20 modern.

RPGObjects focuses mostly on sci-fi and modern. So initially I was excited for d20 future. We had several planned products slated to support it. But as soon as they made it require d20 modern, they moved it from a new core book in which we would have heavily supported to a competing book that only hurts us.

As a publisher it’s pretty unrealistic to expect someone to buy 2 books at $40 each before they can use my product. It’s tough enough to get people to buy just d20 modern so they will try Darwin’s World.

So what’s the point of supporting it? It makes more sense to steal OGC from it rather than support it. And in the end, I think both fans and publishers lose out.

It’s unfortunate because I feel RPGObjects has been a leader in supporting d20 modern and now d20 future sort of undermines that support by competing directly with many of our products (exsiting and future).

[rant off]

C. Baize · May 12, 2004

That's an interesting point, Jaerdaph.

All comments made by me are strictly my OWN opinion, and have nothing to do with anyone I edit for (being a freelancer, and all).

Carry on.

teitan · May 12, 2004

PosterBoy said:
[rant on]

I totally disagree with this. d20 future is a horrible planed for third party support, mainly because it requires d20 modern.

[rant off]

Urmmm, when the book was announced I knew D20 Future would require D20 Modern... WOTC said so much in the press release. Not to be snarky, serious comment.

HeapThaumaturgist · May 12, 2004

By not supporting D20 Future, though, that'll definately make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm not saying that D20 Future being an add-on product isn't a bad idea, mind you. I think I'd have paid the +5 dollars for them to include some stuff to make it stand-alone, just so it would support other publishers supporting it.

I'd really like to see a good, well-developed setting book for D20 Future. I'm not sure if any publishers are going to take the plunge, though. A good, well-designed Campaign Setting for Future would be nice.

Hrm. If I had the time, expertise, artists, and a million dollars so I could quit my job, I'd write one just to see.

--fje

RodneyThompson · May 12, 2004

PosterBoy said:
RPGObjects focuses mostly on sci-fi and modern. So initially I was excited for d20 future. We had several planned products slated to support it. But as soon as they made it require d20 modern, they moved it from a new core book in which we would have heavily supported to a competing book that only hurts us.

Well, to be truthful, I'm glad we got to write it as a sourcbook. I'm pretty sure most people looking to buy d20 Future supplements will already have d20 Modern. Also, you can publish a d20 Future supplement and have it be useful to Modern players as well. The reverse of your rant is also true: if d20 Future had been standalone, then Modern players would have had to buy 2 books to use your sourcebooks.

Just my way of looking at it, I guess. I'm working on a 3rd party d20 Future campaign setting right now and this is an issue we're having to address. I've thought about it, but it's nowhere near the brand-ruining decision you make it out to be.