Yuku free message boards

3PP activity had already declined dramatically due to the d20 Glut that wiped out a great majority of 3PP print publishers. The smaller survivors moved to PDF-only, while the larger survivors moved to focus on their own OGL-based brands.

Then the announcement of 4E at Gen Con 2007 was the final nail in the coffin for most. 3PP generic OGL publishing (i.e., "D&D product") vanished, though the remnants are still on many retailer's shelves today (again, still there from the d20 Glut of 2004ish). Even those who continued to publish D&D-oriented generic OGL products cut way back on their production, such as Goodman Games. White Wolf gave up all pretense of publishing OGL products. Necromancer went into hibernation. Mongoose finished up with a few compilations of earlier materials. TLG, Green Ronin, Mongoose, and a few others continued with their own OGL brands. Only Paizo forged forward with their "OGL 3.75" effort, regardless of what 4E and the 4E OGL would look like. Only in PDF could you find anything still percolating through, and that was mostly in the form of vanity press product.

When 4E was released, there was no OGL, nor even a real hint of one; and when the GSL was finally released months later, it was poison. So all those holding back for 4E releases did a double-take, and only Goodman really slogged forward. Many who were prepared to go forward with the GSL said screw it all and either released under standard copyright law (such as Kenzer) or just gave up. No one was willing, understandably, to develop a whole new brand identity, a whole new campaign setting, and worry about the entanglements with the original GSL. By the time the new GSL was released earlier this month, it was too late. With the economy in the tank, and new 4E sales already down to the level of late 3.5 sales, what was the point?

I say with the new GSL we will see some more PDF activity, and likely as well attendant products on Lulu, but very, very limited increase in regular Print products. Wizards still claims 4E is selling gangbusters, yet every retailer I speak with says it is already back down to late 3.5 sales levels. Perhaps it is selling well through Amazon and Barnes & Noble and such, but that doesn't do the 3PP market any good, as most of the customers who buy through those venues do not come back to the game store, and do not buy 3PP products.

Here's a snapshot of the Hottest Small Press on DriveThruRPG at the moment. 3E products are in BOLD.

01. Book of Experimental Might
02. Shooter's Guide: Alternate Arms
03. Twilight: 2013 Core Rules
04. Dark Tidings
05. Book of Experimental Might II: Bloody, Bold, and Resolute
06. Dawn of Legends
07. Agent X: Firebrand
08. Shooter's Guide: Pistol Caliber Carbines
09. Wild Talents: Essential Edition
10. Agent X: The Runner
11. The Barbarians of Lemuria
12. Bag Full of Guns: Dragon's Fury
13. Agent X: One-Man Army
14. Secrets of the Delver's Guild
15. Career Book 1

Eight of the 15 products are OGL products... but all are either Monte Cook products or Spycraft products (equally divided four of each)! Such glory as there is today in OGL PDF sales is all olden glory, so to speak, with the good old stuff still selling. As for the overall Hottest Items, of course, Wizards is king, followed by White Wolf, then divvy up the space between Shadowrun and whatever Mongoose and/or Green Ronin published this week. But of those, none are d20 OGL (and even Mongooses' Traveller sup, though using 2d6 OGL, isn't OGL, just as Wizards' 4E books are mostly not open in the GSL).

Let's look at the list of New Product. Again, OGL products are in BOLD, and GSL products are in ITALIC.

1. Space Hunter Sen So
2. Fighting Fantasy - Trial of Champions
3. SRM-00 Everyone's your Friend
4. Shadowrun: The Rotten Apple: Manhattan
5. e-Adventure Tiles Weekly No. 3
6. Song of Arthur and Merlin: Knights of the Round Table
7. Alien Files #1: The Greys
8. Critter Cache 4: Fey Folk
9. E-Z DUNGEONS: Deluxe Edition
10. The Sorcerer's Scrolls Issue 43
11. Adventure Zone: Sanxesta
12. 11th Level Witch Doctor: Ratha Twice-Slain
13. Tavern Denizens-Book I: The Dives
14. Little Girl Lost
15. Monsters of Aihrde IV
16. Duty & Honour Almanac #4
17. Dark Elven Songs
18. Fire Truck 3D paper scenery
19. Mega Miniatures 2009 CATALOG
20. Semi-Truck 3D paper scenery

Two... count them, two products each for OGL and GSL, and the Sorcerer's Scrolls magazine only squeaks by that definition, as only part of its content is d20 OGL.

Most other products are images for paper miniatures, maps, or even gamer porn ("Dark Elven Songs").

So who represents at the moment on the list for 3PP OGL publishers? Troll Lord Games with a small Castles & Crusades supplement costing $1.00. Like Green Ronin and Paizo, TLG continues on with its own thing, in its own niche market. And I should note, of course, that Paizo is not represented on DTRPG/RPGNow, so this sample is skewed... but again, that just shows that Paizo is also selling within its own niche market for PDFs.

For Gen Con, I know of only one major 3PP OGL release, and that is the Paizo Pathfinder RPG. Troll Lords probably has several releases planned, but we won't know about those for a while yet. Whether Green Ronin will continue to support True20 in a big way, I do not now; I suppose it depends on the success of the Ice & Fire RPG. Mongoose has given up on Conan, AFAIK, and has no major 4E releases planned. Goodman will continue to publish 4E, and with the announcement of Level Up are in for the long haul; I saw their monster book at Barnes & Noble the other day, but have yet to see it in a game store! And of course, now with the new GSL, Necro has new plans...

But... in the broad, 3PP publishing for the OGL is dead. A half-dozen home-office companies publishing in print do not an industry make. Whether 4E killed it or was simply the final nail in the coffin is up for debate. The 4E GSL is definitely the slayer of its own brood of 3PP, poisoning them in the womb. And the terrible economy dances on all our graves...