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

[I'm A Banana]

Remind me why I need third-party support again?

Well, even if you don't use any of it yourself, it's useful so that someone can be found who is the next Mearls and who will make 5e even more tremendous in 10 years.

 

[Darrin Drader]

There is an upside. Maybe, that will free you up to do more True20 compatible material ;P

Yes and no. True20 is the right system for a number of games, and I'm proud to be able to do Reign of Discordia for it. On the other hand, I love D&D. I always have and I always will. I'm not talking about the D&D brand, but the heroic fantasy genre with a nice robust intuitive set of rules backing it up. In my opinion True20 isn't the best game for the fantasy genre. I like hit points in my heroic fantasy. True20 does seem a better fit for modern and future games.

Consider this: much of 4th edition is about movement. The rogue functions best when on the move, some class powers force opponents to move, or knock them down, or allow you to do short range teleports. The reason that this works for fantasy is because most characters are using melee weapons. In modern and future games, unless you're the kind of fool who brings a knife to a gun fight, chances are that you're using the biggest baddest firearm you can lay your hands on. How does forced movement work with that? I don't see how it could. What's more, when we're talking bullets and personal plasma canons, there's a pretty good chance of wiping someone out with one shot, and that's not how hit points usually work.

So I don't really see True20 as a suitable replacement for D&D. It's more of a replacement for D20 Modern.

 

[Bugleyman]

deal killer. 'nuff said.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Consider this: much of 4th edition is about movement. The rogue functions best when on the move, some class powers force opponents to move, or knock them down, or allow you to do short range teleports. The reason that this works for fantasy is because most characters are using melee weapons. In modern and future games, unless you're the kind of fool who brings a knife to a gun fight, chances are that you're using the biggest baddest firearm you can lay your hands on. How does forced movement work with that? I don't see how it could. What's more, when we're talking bullets and personal plasma canons, there's a pretty good chance of wiping someone out with one shot, and that's not how hit points usually work.

That's a good observation. Fantasy combat is different from modern combat.

I tried figuring out who the roles of D&D 4E could translate to a "modern" game, and a role like the Defender just doesn't really work. It looks like everyone is more a kind of Striker, and Leader or Controller at best.

---

On the topic at hand.
I don't know yet. I bought very little third-party stuff. Usually only "self-contained" systems like Arcana Unearthed/Evolved or Iron Heroes. I also got Dragonstar (used, played a campaign for 12 levels or so), Testament Roleplaying Game (interesting, but never used) and FarScape (totally imbalanced classes & races, never used).
I never read any of the Quintessentials that were around, or any of the other stuff.

So, I think I am interested in campaign setting and alternative systems based on 4E. Looks like the first is possible, the latter is not. That's sad. I might have to try a little more outside of D&D 4E / d20 mechanics to find something interesting.

The only other reason I am interested in 3rd parties are the adventures. But in practice, we only ever played WotC adventures, Dungeon adventures, and now Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Considering that my DM that first switched his game to Pathfinder is now converting Savage Tides to 4E tells me that we might be able to use the Pathfinder adventure path for a while - but we'll see.

The stuff I was interested so far was only Necromancer Games Advanced Player Guide, because I want a few more classes and don't want to wait another year for PHB 2. On the other hand, I don't know if my group would actually accept the APG. But that won't stop me from buying it. (I bought Exalted 2e despite knowing I'd never get to run it...)

So, I think it will mostly affect my 4E play regarding to adventures. That can be very important.

 

[buzz]

In the seven or so years that I played 3.x, across multiple groups, the only 3rd-party content that I saw used were some monsters, some modules, and the Wilderlands setting, and these dwindled dramatically over time. Other than lifting the death and dying rules from AE, I don't think we ever used any non-WotC rule content.

So, lack of 3rd-party support is pretty much a non-issue for me. Honestly, I'd say that the non-WotC d20 product I bought over the years has largely been a waste of money. Unless I bust it out for a Gameday event, it never gets used.

 

[Cadfan]

That's a good observation. Fantasy combat is different from modern combat.

This is the root of my comment from earlier in the thread. D&D does a great job of emulating a heroic fantasy genre. The underlying assumptions of this emulation do not automatically translate into every other genre. Adaptations can be made, but often the end product isn't as strong as it would be if it were written from the ground up. In a way, I'm looking forwards to seeing what game designers come up with once they're working from scratch instead of adapting an already existing system into something new.

This doesn't apply to 3rd party products like adventures and campaign settings, but I never use those anyways, and the thread asked for my personal habits.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

No. It's not any different from the situation with White Wolf, or SJGames, or whatnot.

 

[Jack99]

Nope, it will only affect my pockets, since I will have less products to spend money on.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Well, when it somes to 3E, I have more rd party books than WotC books (3 shelves full [shelves not bookcases]). I bought them not because I thought I'd use all of, but because I wanted to keep up with what was 'in'. Consider Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Scarred Lands. These are popular settings. What was popular, I suspected would be discussed here on these boards quite often. I wanted to be a part of that.

I didn't need them. However, as I read some of these books ideas came at me, sometimes blazingly fast. These ideas were always for my homebrew (Tale of the Twin Suns).

Now, 4E is making me look more seriously at third party support. I plan on keeping up with 4E releases as best as I can (I'd like to have a complete library). So third party products are going to have to have raving reviews and have enough time to garner poularity status before I consider buying them. This is my stance on 4E 3rd party support.

Also, I want to chime in about the monster stat block quandry. I think Hasbro seriously fouled this one up. Not that I said Hasbro, not WotC. This order had to come from higher up. I think if this one were completely up to WotC, they would have allowed third party products to use the stat blocks.

 

[buzz]

Now, 4E is making me look more seriously at third party support.

QFT. WotC alone was able to produce far more content than I could ever use for 3.x. Buying d20 product on top of that was just crazy. I am not going to repeat that mistake.

Heck, I probably will be more stingy with WotC product, too.