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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenmarable" data-source="post: 3287934" data-attributes="member: 40359">That may be true of some, but personally I think sight-unseen, I trust WotC designers more than 3rd party. However, certain names do crop up over time to buck that trend, but until I am familiar with someone's work that is my assumption. For me, it isn't so much that they are personally better, but it's the environment of doing it as a full time job for years on end, surrounded by a dozen or more others who have been doing it as a full time job for years on end. Contrast that to the majority of 3rd party publishers who are often part-timing it and/or working solo. I'm not saying good design can't happen in that sort of environment, but it can be more challenging. A couple notable exceptions are Green Ronin and Paizo, but considering that they are staffed with people who have been in the industry for years, and are doing it as a full time job in a collaborative environment, I include them on par with WotC for my personal level of trust.So I'm certainly not one of those who thinks 3rd party = 3rd rate, but I do have more trust in  WotC and Green Ronin and Paizo for producing good design work than I do 3rd party companies - again, at least until I actually dig into the product and judge it on more than the company's rep. However, on the flip side, I except more innovation and pushing the envelope from the smaller 3rd party companies than the bigger ones (especially WotC), since typically, the bigger they are, they more "safe" the tend to run things.Oh, as a little philosophical jab - like it or not, all knowledge is based upon assumptions. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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