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And frankly I'm amazed by the relatively light support for 4e in the votes.
I'm not. I have noticed a trend at my FLGS. The folks that read KQ or buy Paizo products are looking to keep the flow of 3.5 material open. They are the hardcore D&D players.
Then there are the vast majority of folks at the shop that now play 4e. They do not follow the forums or dig deep into the 3rd party publisher scene. They buy from WotC and may pick up a few third party products but not with any regularity. The third party 4e products are not a big attraction for them. Just like when 3.5 was the current edition - they were not buying third party products back then.
It seems that third party publishing is its own market with a distinct sub-set of the overall D&D player base. That subset is more likely to stick with 3.5 than move to 4e because of the OGL. That is the part they like most - open gaming products.
I have no doubt that third party products for 4e will do well because of the size of the player base and the gaps in WotCs product line. But the vocal supporters of the third party publishing scene are those that have no desire to play 4e. So either way I think a third party publisher can stay in business by supporting either edition.
The big question is this - will OGL gaming still be big enough to support a third party publisher three, five, and ten years down the road?
If past experience is a decent predictor of future trends the OGL audience will shrink over time.
BTW - I would have voted for 4e but I can't login, and when I do login the forums do not recognize that I am logged in.
If past experience is a decent predictor of future trends the OGL audience will shrink over time.
BTW - I would have voted for 4e but I can't login, and when I do login the forums do not recognize that I am logged in.
Entirely possible that the OGL/3E audience will shrink. At the moment, though, it is larger than the 4E audience, at least for patron adventures.
Oh, and I think the login issue has now been fixed. Go vote!
If past experience is a decent predictor of future trends the OGL audience will shrink over time.
BTW - I would have voted for 4e but I can't login, and when I do login the forums do not recognize that I am logged in.
Entirely possible that the OGL/3E audience will shrink. At the moment, though, it is larger than the 4E audience, at least for patron adventures.
Oh, and I think the login issue has now been fixed. Go vote!
ACK! Still cannot login.
Yep - the 3e audience will gravitate towards the small scale, high quality third party publishers. I believe it will stay strong for a while but only time will tell if it is truly sustainable.
I've been watching the voting and I noticed that X edition is going up in streaks, back and forth, are people able to vote multiple times because this seems really inconsistent.
Nope, people can vote just once.
I suspect the reason it is inconsistent is that the posts here or at ENWorld or whereever bring groups of voters in on one side or the other.