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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2011 - 2:40PM
#41
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2005
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It's probably doing as well as White Wolf did at the height of the World of Darkness craze, and it's possible Paizo will be able to sustain that success better than White Wolf did. (At its height in the early 2000's, White Wolf claimed to have captured more than 25% of the RPG market, which, at the time, was unprecedented.)
I still like the new World of Darkness, and loved the first edition of Exalted. However, the second edition's system for combat turns pisses me the hell off and is so intigrated into the system I can't just scrap it in favor of a standard one, so it sits on my shelf, unused. I regret selling off the 1st edition stuff to buy it.
But White Wolf seems to be going to a very reduced publishing shcedule, and I half expect they will be purely a print-on-demand company for RPGs soon, favoring the WoD MMO that their new Nordic overlords seem to be pushing. Which is sad. The core WoD game is pretty good.
It's actually my preferred system, mechanically. You only ever really need to know one core mechanic.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2011 - 2:54PM
#42
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Date Joined:
Sep 26, 2001
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2011, let's see...Heroes of shadow (player), Shadowfell (DM), Monster Vault 2 (DM), Heroes of Feywild (player), Book of vile Darkness (DM).
Clearly falls between 4-6 books/products (and yep, each of those has a "book" in them). Also there is a rumored return of the Magic Emporium in 2011, bringing the total to 6.
That's a good pace, better than 1/mo, IMHO, which is just too fast to sustain (either quality of production, or the interest of fans), frankly 3-4 serious books/year wouldn't be too slow.
But, more important than pace is quality. HoS was aweful, and the Shadowfell set saved from the same fate by the expedient of being virtually crunchless. Monster Vault 2 will probably be solid, they haven't badly screwed up a monster product, yet.
I don't know how they thought they'd get away with the rarity system without promptly publishing a wealth of common and rare items... I still expect cards. Fortune Cards didn't result in angry mobs burning down their headquarters, and for WotC, that's a sign of enthusiastic acceptance.
I'd love some GW material, but.
I've been a huge Gamma World fan since the eariliest ed. But, the current incarnation probably isn't amenable to much more expansion. It's designed as a beer and pretzels game, not really suitable for long campaigns.
WotC is pretty committed to not blowing up with campaign material, because it is not a seller like generic material
I wonder when that changed. In the late 80s and 90s, setting was king. Battletech, Storyteller, Shadowrun, and AD&D 2nd (among others), sold hordes of setting books. The WoD was a monster (not just about monsters, but there were as many as 5 lines, each getting a book a month!). The Battletech universe filled bookshelves without ever much expanding the actual, fairly simple tactical game it was all for. AD&D 2 had multiple settings that it developed in detail - TSRs foray into novels and cards was disasterous, but all those settings for D&D were presumably selling.
Enter the 21st century, Battletech is mostly remembered as a video game, the WoD was taken out back and shot, and D&D (3e) stopped selling to DMs and started selling to powergamers. 4e has really stepped away from settings, and, while it's made the DMs job easier (you could argue, perhaps, even less significant), it still seems to try to peddle power options to players (it just erratas them a few months later).
Love 4e? Concerned about its future? Join the Old Guard of 4e"You want The Tooth? You can't handle The Tooth!" - Dahlver-Nar. "If magic is unrestrained in the campaign, D&D quickly degenerates into a weird wizard show where players get bored quickly" - E. Gary Gygax
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2011 - 5:21PM
#43
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Date Joined:
Aug 30, 2007
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Anyone know of a good 4E clone that has great customer service and doesn't issue C&D every time someone turns around?
No, but you could do like I've been doing and support 4e 3pps instead of WotC. Goodman Games has pretty good stuff. Dias Ex Machina is really awesome if you like modern games or mixing modern and fantasy together.
Owner and Proprietor of the House of Trolls.
God of ownership and possession.
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2 years ago ::
Jun 03, 2011 - 8:49PM
#44
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Anyone know of a good 4E clone that has great customer service and doesn't issue C&D every time someone turns around?
No, but you could do like I've been doing and support 4e 3pps instead of WotC. Goodman Games has pretty good stuff. Dias Ex Machina is really awesome if you like modern games or mixing modern and fantasy together.
That's funny because I am a 3pp (kinda, haven't put anything out in a while)...
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