Will lack of 3rd party support affect your 4E play?

[SteveC]

Yes, definitely. For one campaign I'm running I am going to rely on modules for the basis of the game. I haven't heard of any retractions yet from companies with plans for 4E modules, but we may see them now that the license is in the open.

WotC can do a lot of things very well, but they tend not to be particularly good with modules, so I expect that the net effect will be that I play less 4E, and take a longer look at other options.

Further, I really liked the idea of an "orphans" book with content from the 3E PHB that didn't make it into 4E. If that is delayed or doesn't happen, it will cut into my campaign plans for a serious long-term game.

--Steve

 

[I'm A Banana]

The promise of 3rd party support was part of the reason I could overlook 4e's significant flaws (for my games) in various departments. I like a lot of what the game is doing, but some 3rd party games already do a lot of that stuff better (True 20 is the "Quick, Simple, Easy, Adaptable" game, Pathfinder is becoming the "In-depth, Flavorful, Broad Fantasy" game).

I'll still probably play 4e, I might even DM 4e, but I don't think it will be my System of Choice for the next 10 years. T20 and Pathfinder are probably going to replace those. 4e will get a significantly smaller chunk of my money than 3e did, and instead I'll probably be spending more in Paizo and Green Ronin's pockets (and if Mongoose pops up with an OGL game with a liscence I'm actually INTERESTED in, maybe I'll check them out, too. ). My 4e purchases will likely be focused on Necromancer (and other 3rd parties, to support the lil' guys) and I might pick up a WotC book or two if there's something revolutionary, or if my players will definately want to use it.

Of course, we'll see what the new Modern brings to the table, too.

I bought a bunch of 3rd party products during the 3/3.5E days, but ended up almost never using them.

My experience has generally been the inverse of this.

I used the vast majority of my 3rd party stuff, but I can't say the same for my WotC stuff. I didn't use any monsters out of an MM later than the Fiend Folio. I didn't use any PrC's from a book later than the first Complete series. I used a few base classes out of the Tome of Magic, and the NPC's and villains in the final few books have seen a lot of use...

But I used and abused the Oathbound setting like nobody's business. I milked Denizens of Avadnu for all of it's wonderful worth. From Stone To Steel was a much more worthwhile purchase than The Arms and Equipment Guide. Nyambe, Northern Crown, Airships, Iron Kingdoms....

I'm not about to tell WotC what they should be doing, but I'll let 'em know gladly that this choice means that I'll be probably buying less of their books because 4e will be less the game for me.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I bought a few 3pp, mostly full games. Spycraft, etc. Much of it went completely and totally unused though. The modules were decent, but we never played any because by the time I rewrote them for our campaign, I'd changed so much, and spent so much time on it, I might as well had written from scratch.

Replace Spycraft with "Mutants & Masterminds" and this sums me up completely.

 

[Zaukrie]

It might. If there aren't good 3rd party adventures, then I'm less likely to play/DM. This would probably also make me buy less WotC products, as I've come to realize that if I'm not playing, I don't need to buy so much...

 

[quill18]

I used virtually no 3rd party products in 3.5, so this is a non-issue for me.

 

[Alikar]

Not really. while thinking on this I realized that most of the books I've bought over the years, that are third party, were merely done so at a whim. Frankly no system outside of DnD, that I know of, even supports content sharing. I mean no one is raging against White Wolf for not opening their system.

Do I like the license? Not really, but then again the only thing I might miss, that is third party, is Iron Kingdoms; which in itself is easy enough to convert. Frankly at the end of the day 4th edition is simply a superior product than 3rd edition, in my own opinion, so if third parties don't want to make products for it I'll just spend my money on WotC or other things.

 

[wedgeski]

I have a lot of (practically unused) 3pp material for 3.5. Any lack of 3pp material for 4ed will have no discernible impact on my gaming, although I might miss reading the odd high-quality product.

 

[JeffB]

Please folks- lets not turn this into 3.X vs. 4E...

It's simply a question of whether a lack of 3rd party support for 4E will affect your games.

 

[Gothmog]

I bought a TON of 3rd party stuff duing the 3.x era, and I found a good deal of it to be better quality than the stuff WotC was putting out at that time. Stuff like Midnight, almost any Necromancer Games stuff, Conan, Arcanis, True 20, and Mutants & Masterminds really got me going. I never bought much in the way of adventures (barring Necromancer) because I usually made up my own adventures for my homebrew world.

However, during the 4E era, I think that might change somewhat. While I despised the direction WotC took D&D during the 3.x era, I absolutely love the tone, feel, and flavor of the stuff they are putting out now. If they keep up with the Points of Light model and keep churning out stuff like Fallcrest in the DMG, Keep on the Shadowfell, the recent Dragon and Dungeon articles/adventures, and the new cosmology, I'd buy WotC stuff again for flavor and fluff as well as just new rules. I'd still buy anything Necromancer put out for 4E, and if Midnight or Arcanis goes 4E, I'd be all over it too.

 

[Vanuslux]

I've always been a big fan of 3rd party material, especially e-products, so lack of 3rd party support definitely throws a big pee soaked blanket on my enthusiasm for 4th Edition...which sucks, since I really like 4E. The only thing WotC can do to keep me from going back to 3.x is to wow me with DDI and do it soon.