has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (evenest) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:57:31 GMT

Thanks for the welcome. No need to apologize. I saw that it was an old discussion thread when I saw it. . .I thought I'd take a chance to see if anyone was watching.

Maybe this'll bump the thread and Clark/Orcus will see it.

By the bye, I saw over at KenzerCo's webpages a similar comment about the way TSR undermined its fanbase because of the multiple settings.

Thanks again for the welcome.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (Dark Mistress) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:05:12 GMT

Well with recent news about what Clark has said about 4e products it might be a moot point now.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (Sen the Collector) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:35:13 GMT

Damn, I've kept meaning to post a response, but just kept forgetting.

A much belated welcome to the Necroboards, evenest!

Unfortunately, I don't really have a response for you. I think, like the other folks here, I don't have anything to say because the person you're quoting is Clark/Orcus, co-owner of Necromancer Games, and he's really the only one who could give you an informed response. I certainly wouldn't presume to speak for him.

...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (evenest) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:10:26 GMT

Orcus wrote:
Here is what I would do if I owned D&D:

I would do core books: PHB, MM DMG. They would contain all core info needed to play the traditional game.

I would then support the game with periodic support materials, but few core rules changes or updates.

Then open source the game and let people support it. But keep the official content core. I wouldnt make a new monster book...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (davrion24) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:03:04 GMT

We rotate campaigns, and each DM has their own campaign and rules guide. I don't have a simple checklist of allowed classes, feats, p-classes, etc. I also have different rules and different flavor which differentiates what I'm running from the other campaigns. I allow every class in the PHB except the druid (replaced by a variant with different magic system), and all but three of them are modified in varying degrees from what's in the book. Core mechanics are also modified, so...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (JoeGKushner) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:05:28 GMT

But davrion, you're not really making a bible for each game if you've been running the same campaing since 2004. That's one campaign in five years.

In that time I probably was in at least four different campaigns. One guy running Savage Tide, another doing a take on an old Cthulhu module in D&D (solid game mastering from a dude called Scott), one of the old Worm that walks and some Scarred Lands stuff. This doesn't count the several Forgotten Realms games I...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (davrion24) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:49:51 GMT

I'm running the same campaign since 2004, so I guess I'm not seeing the time crunch here. It seems you are saying that because the underlying engine is the same the game will be the same. YMMV, but it does not hold true for me. There's a definite difference to me when you look at things like M&M or Midnight, but maybe that's because I put a premium on rules that make sense in-character for the campaign and and the player focus is not "above the game" by...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (JoeGKushner) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:06:17 GMT

davrion24 wrote:
You miss my point - I don't want all these options in one book unless the only options in it are explicitly approved by me. The only "one book" I want is the one I put together. When I come across a new rulebook, I will go through it and may opt to add some material to my rulebook. But the default is that nothing in the new rulebook is allowed.

Like it or not, when you use a core...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (Dark Mistress) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:34:45 GMT

Thats pretty much the same thing i was saying earlier what davrion is saying, which is why I actually liked the tons of splat books for 3e.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (davrion24) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:47:44 GMT

You miss my point - I don't want all these options in one book unless the only options in it are explicitly approved by me. The only "one book" I want is the one I put together. When I come across a new rulebook, I will go through it and may opt to add some material to my rulebook. But the default is that nothing in the new rulebook is allowed.

Like it or not, when you use a core book the player expectation always tends to be that everything in said book is allowed...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (JoeGKushner) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:24:29 GMT

davrion24 wrote:

JoeGKushner wrote:
But at what point isn't it easier to go... you know ,with substitution levels, racial substitution abilities, 10K feats, 1K PrCs, etc..., we're going Hero. All the options, one book.

For me, at no point. I think the analogy that works for me is that my ruleset is to my campaign as a...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (aberzanzorax) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:17:28 GMT

For me, I like having 100s of books (for 3rd ed).

But then I only use/allow a subset of those depending upon the campaign.

I may want to do an all dwarf campaign (or run halls of the mountain king with my own changes). Having 5 dwarf books is good for this. In most cases, it is not worthwhile.

So, while I'm a bit of a collector, it's also because I want to pick and choose (and make different choices at different times). That's quite a bit...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (davrion24) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:59:51 GMT

Plus at a certain point, too many rules and options can have a paralyzing impact on the players during character creation and levelling up. I'd rather more time be spent playing the game than planning your character's career path.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (leadjunkie) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:36:36 GMT

Exactly how I see it davrion24.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (davrion24) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:28:03 GMT

JoeGKushner wrote:
But at what point isn't it easier to go... you know ,with substitution levels, racial substitution abilities, 10K feats, 1K PrCs, etc..., we're going Hero. All the options, one book.

For me, at no point. I think the analogy that works for me is that my ruleset is to my campaign as a router is to your home PC. Running both wide-open may remove any burden of oversite, but you are...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (TheRavyn) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:47:09 GMT

Pale Writer wrote:
Where did 1E TSR make their money then? Modules, right?

They sold a huge number of basic box sets and copies of the three AD&D 1E core books. So much so that you can reliably still buy them on the secondary market today for cheap. These older rulesets were both less intimidating rulewise and more alluringly mysterious in presentation to newcomers than the...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (Dark Mistress) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:03:35 GMT

Well the advantage of the option books is people could buy the ones they want and use those. I mean no one said you had to use them all but with so many out their it let just about anyone find something that appealed to them and fit their game. That was the big thing I liked about 3e edition, I could buy a few books. Find optional rules or stuff I want to use, then make a list of what is and is not allowed. You end up with a campaign that is fairly distinictive. But yeah if you allow any and...

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (leadjunkie) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:27:10 GMT

TSR had both AD&D and BECMI, so two sets of rules, adventures for both, settings and miscellaneous stuff.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (DaveMage) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:26:25 GMT

Modules, a few box sets, and of course BECMI was also going during that time.

Re: has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (Pale Writer) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:20:34 GMT

Where did 1E TSR make their money then? Modules, right?

has 4E killed 3rd party Dnd?

feeds@yuku.com (Sen the Collector) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:11:28 GMT

Okay, the thread title overstates the case, but still. It's been about a year now since the release of 4E and 3rd party DnD publishing seems to be all but dead nowadays.

There are two notable exceptions.

Paizo is alive and quite well, and is the main producer of 3.x material.

Goodman Games is publishing 4E material, and most significantly will be doing their own 4E magazine.

And to a lesser extent, Wolfgang Baur has his most excellent Kobold...