Pathfinder 2E Will the OGL fiasco increase third party support for Pathfinder?

[MerricB]

When PF1 launched, 3PPs could draw on a large number of designers who were familiar with the basics of the system because of the years of 3E.

Unfortunately, PF2 destroyed that system familiarity. It also made the back catalogue of those publishers (mostly) worthless, which is always a problem when you're a 3PP for a game system that has big system changes. (The same occurred with the D&D transitions).

So, that left PF2 with a smaller number of 3PPs supporting it. To make things worse, 5E was really successful. PF2 isn't a failure, but there isn't the same potential audience as awaits a 3PP for 5E. Of course, the less crowded space might be appealing, but Paizo is happily pushing out a lot of content (which Wizards was not doing with 5E for most of its run), which competes with 3PP products.

And although we talk about the "OGL fiasco", how well known is that? So many people play D&D and PF2 without reference to the internet. It doesn't take much to get rid of the few PF2 core books available, but will that interest sustain? And will it be enough to support another 3PP?

There may be a bump in 3PP support for PF2, but it has a lot of factors working against it.

 

[Alzrius]

There may be a bump in 3PP support for PF2, but it has a lot of factors working against it.

And coming from the eternal optimist, that's saying something!

 

[SteveC]

The two biggest barriers to 3PP Pathfinder 2 support are inclusion in Pathbuilder, and adding as a module for Foundry.

For those not in the know, Pathbuilder is on online character builder and Foundry is the VTT most commonly associated with PF2.

I'll add an honorable mention: support in Pathfinder Society games. I'm not sure how many people play them, but 3PP that isn't officially sanctioned wouldn't be usable, much in the same way it's not for D&D's Adventurers League.

 

[grankless]

The game has a healthy 3pp ecosystem. Plenty of new things appear on Pathfinder Infinite on the weekly. The communities working on and collaborating on stuff are bustling. A lot of the "big creators" for 1e aren't even actively making things very often anymore. Legendary is still pumping out new ones for both games.

2e having less people making things for it than 1e doesn't matter, because it still has tons of stuff being made. To act like it doesn't or that making new things is somehow a hopeless endeavor just shows a lack of familiarity with the scene.

 

[Retreater]

I heard in a Livestream that the CEO of a 3PP that made a lot of PF1 content complain that his business was pretty much blindsided by PF2. They weren't given any final version of the rules or heads-up of a change more than the general public. They couldn't update products in time. They were stuck making products for the "dead" PF1 product line.
To date, they've made nothing for PF2 and are all-in on 5e and OSR.
It seems like Paizo could've improved relations with 3PPs.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I just bought a third-party monster book for PF2e yesterday, in fact.

 

[Velderan]

I just bought a third-party monster book for PF2e yesterday, in fact.

Which one?

 

[Velderan]

The two biggest barriers to 3PP Pathfinder 2 support are inclusion in Pathbuilder, and adding as a module for Foundry.

For those not in the know, Pathbuilder is on online character builder and Foundry is the VTT most commonly associated with PF2.

I'll add an honorable mention: support in Pathfinder Society games. I'm not sure how many people play them, but 3PP that isn't officially sanctioned wouldn't be usable, much in the same way it's not for D&D's Adventurers League.

That's my experience so far. Running my PF2e game in Foundry, I'd be hesitant to add any material to my game that isn't easily added into Foundry. My players also being new to PF2e found it easier to make their characters in Pathbuilder and then copy the finished character over to their Foundry Sheet, so again not having a clean way to do that would make it difficult to add new content into our game.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Which one?

Latin American Monsters by Legendary Games.

 

[grankless]

I heard in a Livestream that the CEO of a 3PP that made a lot of PF1 content complain that his business was pretty much blindsided by PF2. They weren't given any final version of the rules or heads-up of a change more than the general public. They couldn't update products in time. They were stuck making products for the "dead" PF1 product line.
To date, they've made nothing for PF2 and are all-in on 5e and OSR.
It seems like Paizo could've improved relations with 3PPs.

Why would they need a heads up or early access? 1e stuff still was selling well especially when 2e first came out. Why would not having the CRB a month early stop them from making things after it came out?

Also, who determines who gets an early copy? Why would this person get to have it before Gencon or before stores have it or before even Paizo is selling it? This just sounds like this person didn't want to make content for 2e for whatever reason, which is fine, but are using "I didn't have special treatment" as an excuse for it. Even Legendary Games ended up putting out an entire six-adventure book series for 2e not long after it came out, while also making it for 1e and 5e.