Wizards in a rough patch?

[Ranger REG]

Publish one core book each for Dark Sun, Birthright, Planescape, and Spelljammer. Not too big a problem.

It is a problem. Many fans of a particular setting expect more than just one book. They expect a continuing line. That's why I avoided any setting that is simply "testing the water" with just one book. I'd rather have a continuing line.

Nah. WotC should just stick to generic, Eberron, or FR products until I find something I like, even if it takes years.

:\

 

[tetsujin28]

It is a problem. Many fans of a particular setting expect more than just one book.

Then if it's successful, they get a line. Otherwise, they're just wasting their breath complaining about the lack of things on internet message boards

They expect a continuing line. That's why I avoided any setting that is simply "testing the water" with just one book. I'd rather have a continuing line.

I'm completely the opposite: I want it in one book. That's what's great about Eberron: none of the other books really add anything I can't easily have come up with myself.

 

[MerricB]

WotC operates on a different business model than TSR. And they're already venturing into what was 3rd-party territory. They really don't have much to offer, anymore, other than those great settings that people remember from 2e.

Er... what's 3rd party territory? That really should be *adventures*...

The great thing about Wizards not producing campaign settings is that they don't force people to abandon their current games to use their books. I can use Weapons of Legacy in my game, or integrate in Magic of Incarnum, or whatever, without needing to destroy all the work done beforehand in the years I've been playing in Greyhawk.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm completely the opposite: I want it in one book.

Not everyone is like you.

 

[Turjan]

Er... what's 3rd party territory? That really should be *adventures*...

The stuff they release nowadays, which has been covered by numerous 3rd party products before .

 

[Turjan]

Not everyone is like you.

But many people are . Many people don't like it to have their settings diluted in concept by a constant flood of supplements. The original Forgotten Realms were a very nice setting. If you look at today's polls, it's still the North or the Silver Marches that get the most votes, except that you will hear remarks that those regions got unnecessarily cluttered with detail.

Dark Sun also suffered from that fate. The original boxed set is a wonderful setting. Just look at that evocative map sheet with details from the city of Tyr. Later on, metaplot and clutter struck, and it wasn't such a strong idea anymore. If you just have one book and, perhaps, a single adventure, that's most of the time enough support for a setting. Long going series of supplements should be confined to the generic stuff, like Greyhawk and Eberron.

 

[MerricB]

The stuff they release nowadays, which has been covered by numerous 3rd party products before .

Yeah, well, turnabout is fair play. I can think of a number of products which 3rd party publishers made even though Wizards were releasing similiar books.

Cheers!

 

[Turjan]

Yeah, well, turnabout is fair play. I can think of a number of products which 3rd party publishers made even though Wizards were releasing similiar books.

Just to make that clear: I'm not criticizing that WotC publishes more and more books that resemble prior 3rd party offerings. It's just the case that those WotC books are often not very interesting for owners of those 3rd party harbringers. I suppose that's what tetsuijn meant in the first place .

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I'm not sure Wizards has run out of steam -- I've bought some very good books this year from them: Lords of Madness, Races of Eberron, Five Nations, Explorer's Handbook and DMG II. I also liked Waterdeep: City of Splendours (although it could have been longer), and think Stormwrack is pretty good. I've got Weapons of Legacy but not had a chance to read it yet but it looks interesting. Champions of Ruin was probably the most disappointing book I bought but even that is OK. That's nine books I've bought in nine months.

Of the stuff coming up, I'll buy the Eberron and FR stuff because both of these lines have been of a consistently hgh standard, and will check out Magic of Incarnum and Heroes of Horror, as well as the spell compendium.

I would most like to see an Arabian Adventures/Al-Qadim book, as well as a Xendrik book for Eberron and a Damara/Vaasa sourcebook for FR.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Vocenoctum]

The stuff they release nowadays, which has been covered by numerous 3rd party products before .

I think it's a part of why WotC is doing these books though. Plenty of the stuff was done in early 3e days by other publishers, then they just kind of abandoned the type of book. One of the effects of the OGL was so that publishers could take on some of the minor books, and I think that now... they're not doing it so much. Adventures are one of the biggest examples (though, as Pramas pointed out before, you're competing with Dungeon), but the last Race book was a while ago I think. WotC is venturing into the territory because they think there's a demand for it, and at the present time no one is really meeting that demand.

The only thing I don't really care for, is them releasing 2-3 books a month. I'd prefer 1 major & 1 minor, stretch out the release schedule and help my wallet. I think with the smaller run/ more niche products though, they want to try to get a wider selection, to try to capture some of your money. That seems to have been a problem with TSR also though, except it was a lot more than 2-3 books a month.