D20 saturation at an end?

[Crothian]

But we won't have the books. In the "Great RPG Purge of '06," brought on after the announcement of D&D 5th Edition at GenCon creates one of the largest riots the U.S. has ever seen, pen -n- paper RPGs were banned and the books rounded up and destroyed. By then, gaming will have gone underground and all that will remain are the various PDF files stored on system NOT connected to the net. The P2P systems carrying illegal RPG PDFs were some of the first targeted by the government's secret "NerdBusterv7.23" virus.

It's a sad time but the hardcore, still playing gamer punks are really sticking it to the man.

But of few of us gamers were prepared. We have friends in other countries and in the rural areas of the US. Books were secretly shipped in hidden compartment in cars and trucks. We used coffee beans to throw of the dogs. We all enrolled in school to expalin our need for so many pencils, papers, and other mundane material that aids gaming.

 

[Nisarg]

There is no D20 crisis, what we're seeing now is totally expected in any boom situation in a capitalist market. Its good, healthy, a culling of the herd.

The only end result of this sort of thing will be that we will end up with a higher percentage of good product, and a lower percentage of redundancy.

Nisarg

 

[philreed]

The only end result of this sort of thing will be that we will end up with a higher percentage of good product, and a lower percentage of redundancy.

If only that were true . . .

 

[trancejeremy]

It's funny though, Frost & Fur is one of the more popular reviews at RPG.net. #3 (though it only counts a title once, otherwise the top 10 would be nothing be eberron).

Anyway, the thing about capitalism, is that it's largely based on competition. Now that there is less competition, the larger companies have even less of an incentive to make good books - they can simply rely on marketing.

And that's another thing - quality is generally just one factor. How something is marketted is the big thing. You can sell people rocks, if you market it well enough. Unfortunately, that seems like just about all we're left with - rocks.

(Okay, there are some good small companies left. But darn few. )

The trouble is, that in order to survive in this business, you have to be a very very good businessman. There's little margin for error. Most people aren't up to the task.

 

[Incenjucar]

The main thing is people can't be afraid to step up after a few years of 'dominance' by the larger 3rd parties.

The 3rd parties are competing with WotC, after all.

 

[jester47]

If enough of these smaller companies were to get together (I know, I know, too many egos ruins things) and work on several lines at once (board games, modules, splat books, heck, even video games and possibly movies) then there'd be a lot more income.

This is an interesting point and makes me realise that the d20 groups still standing are essentially the companies that did not compete but rather scractched each others backs. Mainly Troll Lords, Green Ronin, Necromancer Games, Malhavoc Press, Goodman Games, the Game Mechanics, SSS (really White Wolf) and Firey Dragon.

Troll Lords and Necro work together to get product out. FD does stuff that compliments both Necro and Malhavoc products, Green Ronin and the Game mechanics scratch backs, Goodman has a connection to the SSS distro pipe. All the guys bowing out (for the most part) are the guys that tried to stand alone in the d20 field. The noted anomoly being Mongoose.

Aaron.

 

[jester47]

...but the third party people are just better.

Eh, I think this is a matter of personal taste.

Also, I think it might be more effective to make a product that compliments a good product rather than attempts to replace a good product. I don't think Beyond Countless Doorways will replace MotP, but will compliment it, just as the planar handbook is already a compliment to the MotP.

Essentially the best product is the the Compliment/Alternative.

Aaron.

 

[jester47]

And shouldn't this thread technically be in publishing?

Aaron.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

If the glut is over, good, I say.

No ill will to any of the d20 companies out there, but I'd rather see three non-d20 game sourcebooks that were interesting and different than sixteen d20 sourcebooks covering more or less the same subject.

Plus most of the stuff on the market ranges from crap to utter crap. A few companies created some good stuff (most of the Sword and Sorcery Studios stuff and Green Ronin in particular...), but most was just..eh.

 

[Crothian]

Plus most of the stuff on the market ranges from crap to utter crap. A few companies created some good stuff (most of the Sword and Sorcery Studios stuff and Green Ronin in particular...), but most was just..eh.

Okay, then what do you thing is not "crap"? I find it odd that you list those two companies. While they do put out some very good products, they also have what I feel is some pretty bad ones as well.