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Pathfinder 2E Why No Big 3PP Support for PF2?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
I'd guess it mostly comes down to 2 things. As @dave2008 said, the 5e market is huge so that's attractive to 3pp. The other factor? Paizo publishes a lot of material, much more than WotC does. That can be a good or a bad thing, but it's definitely a thing and it might make some 3pp shy away from competing in an already smaller market.
Personally I've only bought 1 3pp for PF2e, the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons book. I enjoyed the book enough that I just backed the current Kickstarter they're running for the Indigo Isles setting. Worth mentioning I'm not sure I'd be interested in their books if they didn't have Mark Seifter as their Director of Game Design.
Personally I've only bought 1 3pp for PF2e, the Battlezoo Ancestries: Dragons book. I enjoyed the book enough that I just backed the current Kickstarter they're running for the Indigo Isles setting. Worth mentioning I'm not sure I'd be interested in their books if they didn't have Mark Seifter as their Director of Game Design.
This was true during the 1E era as well, though. Which i guess is a point in favor of big 3PPs just preferring 5E dollars.
Thomas Shey
Legend
There are absolutely some, but I think the above poster has a lot of it; by the time PF2e arrived, D&D5 was already tying up a lot of the 3PP attention.
That said, I've seen adventures done for both D&D5e and PF2e (and occasionally some OSR game or 13th Age).
That said, I've seen adventures done for both D&D5e and PF2e (and occasionally some OSR game or 13th Age).
Thomas Shey
Legend
Never forget intellectual overhead though; a lot of 3PP producers started producing for PF1e after producing for D&D3e, and they were pretty similar, so there wasn't a lot of need to relearn things.
Also, in the early PF1 era, the competition was 4e, not 5e. 4e, while it outsold PF1 overall, was nowhere near the behemoth 5e is, and in particular was much less friendly to 3PP (which, in fact, was part of the reason Pathfinder even exists). So from 2009 to 2016 (when 5e got OGL:ed), Pathfinder was pretty much the only game in town for 3PP supporting someone else's game. I mean, I guess there may have been some 3PP support for things like 13th Age, and we can't forget the OSR stuff and things like that, and some people were dipping their toes into making off-brand 5e stuff as well. But Pathfinder was the safe bet.
Now, it would be interesting to see if the decline in 3PP support is related specifically to PF2, or if this was a change that was already happening since 2016. My guess would be that with both 5e OGL:ed and DM's Guild open, a lot of folks saw on what side the bread was buttered and moved over to making 5e stuff. There were probably some people sticking with Pathfinder (or in some cases making dual versions) either because they genuinely like it better or because of inertia, but PF2 probably lost most of those as well.
Now, it would be interesting to see if the decline in 3PP support is related specifically to PF2, or if this was a change that was already happening since 2016. My guess would be that with both 5e OGL:ed and DM's Guild open, a lot of folks saw on what side the bread was buttered and moved over to making 5e stuff. There were probably some people sticking with Pathfinder (or in some cases making dual versions) either because they genuinely like it better or because of inertia, but PF2 probably lost most of those as well.
Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
PF2E basically did the same thing that 4E did to 3E, and WotC is working over time that they don't do in 2024: created a disjuncture where older material isn't compatible, and rules expertise isn't relevant.
You can see the evolution of 3rd party in the history of big Kickstarters: 5E became the default for the D&D market, while it is more profitable to make one's own system rather than support a niche one. Most games donate big 3rd party support, Pathfinder was the exception due to the legacy 3E crowd.
You can see the evolution of 3rd party in the history of big Kickstarters: 5E became the default for the D&D market, while it is more profitable to make one's own system rather than support a niche one. Most games donate big 3rd party support, Pathfinder was the exception due to the legacy 3E crowd.
Thomas Shey
Legend
It'll be interested in seeing if there's any ripple effects on this leftover from the OGL fiasco, especially now that ORC is coming out, but even if there is I'd expect there to be a lag.
Pathfinder split it's base while DND grew larger. Smaller groups don't exite publishers. They may benefit from OGL but Most of the PF1e players i know are oldtimers who just quit buying stuff and just play with what they have. I don't think that will ever be a big sales group again.
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