
Takamori |

Paizo doesn't have to sell.
Agree. But the amount of money a buyout brings, along with the added promises of job security and creative autonomy, has been enough to put many wonderfully creative small companies, just as good as Paizo, in the hands of corporations who view them as little more than a dollar sign. And once you've sold, you may think for a while that you're still in charge, and they may let you think that, but when it comes down to it, eventually they'll start cracking the whip...

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Andrew Turner wrote:Paizo doesn't have to sell.Agree. But the amount of money a buyout brings, along with the added promises of job security and creative autonomy, has been enough to put many wonderfully creative small companies, just as good as Paizo, in the hands of corporations who view them as little more than a dollar sign. And once you've sold, you may think for a while that you're still in charge, and they may let you think that, but when it comes down to it, eventually they'll start cracking the whip...
Ahh...Roman Governance.

Takamori |

Takamori wrote:Ahh...Roman Governance.Andrew Turner wrote:Paizo doesn't have to sell.Agree. But the amount of money a buyout brings, along with the added promises of job security and creative autonomy, has been enough to put many wonderfully creative small companies, just as good as Paizo, in the hands of corporations who view them as little more than a dollar sign. And once you've sold, you may think for a while that you're still in charge, and they may let you think that, but when it comes down to it, eventually they'll start cracking the whip...
Caractacus for the win!
...err...

Freehold DM |

I'd almost be willing to be that if 4th edition tanks, regardless of what Paizo does, Hasbro is going to get as far away from RPGs as possible, as the whole frustrating thing is that there isn't enough of a profit margin in the industry for them.
Full disclosure: I'm not crazy about 4.0 in the slightest. I may use some of the rules from it, but I doubt I'll go out and buy everything all over again, and I know many people feel the same. I don't think that 4.0 will fail utterly, but I do think that it will be a phyrric victory. Wizards/Hasbro will take some sort of hit due to their shoddy marketing/customer relations/whatever you want to call it- these things have a way of coming back to bite companies in the end.

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Really? I heard the same angry cries of 'never again' at 3.5. Anyone want to take a wager on the number of unhappy posts we will see when 4.5 comes out?
Yeah, I remember that, I was amused.
I just hope WotC sticks to their guns and don't release a 4.5. When I was talking to them, one of them slipped and said 4.0, and the other guy said, "No, we're never going down that road again."

Chris Shadowens |

I'd almost be willing to be that if 4th edition tanks, regardless of what Paizo does, Hasbro is going to get as far away from RPGs as possible, as the whole frustrating thing is that there isn't enough of a profit margin in the industry for them.
Or they'll release D&D 5.0 as a CCG with all the monsters cutified and trade out the vast array of weaponry for red & white creature-containment spheres. That cash cow doesn't seem like it'll ever die.
- Chris Shadowens

CharlieRock |

There is just way too many other RPGs for me to try and collect D&D4. As expensive as that one is I can get the complete lines of C&C or WEG d6 for the price of the core and preview books. Six months of (estimated cost) DDI would get me the basic set of GURPS4 which at the end of the year I would prefer hardbacks over memories of a computer screen.

EileenProphetofIstus |

4th edition is what prompted me to move to other games. Its hard to explain, but the whole 4th edition event has totally killed my desire to play even 3.5. Really it is a shame, I love Greyhawk so much. Like many of you, I have tons of D&D material, enough to last a life time. How is it that one lets something like 4th edition suck the life out of something I use to enjoy so much. I'd go back and play Top Secret/S.I. but it has been quite awhile since I played and the group I play with have mixed feelings about what games to play or not play. Hopefully down the road that will change for both Top Secret/S.I. and D&D. For now, I will continue to direct my energies into the Legion game I'm working on. As of late, it is the only thing that has gotten me excited!
So tell me, how does WOTC and 4th edition suck the life out of my enjoyment when I would stick with 3.5 anyway? Anyone else feeling this way?

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...How is it that one lets something like 4th edition suck the life out of something I use to enjoy so much...So tell me, how does WOTC and 4th edition suck the life out of my enjoyment when I would stick with 3.5 anyway? Anyone else feeling this way?
Because every time you visit these messageboards, there's someone wittering "You will convert to 4th Edition, you know you will, I know better than you what you will do.....Join me...join me....I am your father...look inside...you know it to be true....".
Could that be the reason?
<fans Eileen with a copy of Village of Hommlet>

CharlieRock |

So tell me, how does WOTC and 4th edition suck the life out of my enjoyment when I would stick with 3.5 anyway? Anyone else feeling this way?
Not really , Eileen. My D&D3.x team is all hard core over their d20 and are not budging. Even for D&D4.
Now, on my 'other' Game Night we play Castles & Crusades. Mostly. This is basically the same group minus three players. So I guess it's really those three guys who are hard-core for d20.
Kirwyn |

I have high hopes for 4E. And when they hear back about all the typos, gaffs and snags they do a 4.01 and so on. By not evolving the 3.0 or 3.5 in this fashion is why they ran into this mess in the first place. Now have to redesign/reimagin 4Eand have a huge debate about it.
My gripe with WoTC is their marketing department. There has very little communication from them up until recently and that stinks, but Dungeons and Dragons is theirs to lose.

CharlieRock |

EileenProphetofIstus wrote:...How is it that one lets something like 4th edition suck the life out of something I use to enjoy so much...So tell me, how does WOTC and 4th edition suck the life out of my enjoyment when I would stick with 3.5 anyway? Anyone else feeling this way?Because every time you visit these messageboards, there's someone wittering "You will convert to 4th Edition, you know you will, I know better than you what you will do.....Join me...join me....I am your father...look inside...you know it to be true....".
Could that be the reason?
<fans Eileen with a copy of Village of Hommlet>
It gets a lot worse at RPG.Net. Over there it's like "You must be stupid if you don't like 4e. How can you not like a game that's not out yet."
How indeed?
Bluenose |
Has anyone seen the new edition of Traveler? I am considering a switch to Sci-fi for a while and all my old Traveler stuff is nowhere to be found.
Do you mean the Mongoose version? There's a playtest document available on their website, but the main game is being released in March. It's created a lot of interest on the Traveller Mailing List, though not everyone seems to like it. I haven't had time to play it myself but it looks like quite a traditional approach to character generation. The Task Resolution system is quite a change on the MT and later versions though. Rather than different target numbers, all tasks succeed on 8+ but there are modifiers based on the task difficulty (Difficult is at -2, for example).
One other thing: It's going to be OGL in a similar way to their version of RQ and reputedly there's a company interested in doing a campaign setting based on Poul Anderson's books, which would persuade me to buy it sight unseen.

Ross Byers RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32 |

Andrew Turner wrote:Paizo doesn't have to sell.Agree. But the amount of money a buyout brings, along with the added promises of job security and creative autonomy, has been enough to put many wonderfully creative small companies, just as good as Paizo, in the hands of corporations who view them as little more than a dollar sign. And once you've sold, you may think for a while that you're still in charge, and they may let you think that, but when it comes down to it, eventually they'll start cracking the whip...
That's exactly what's happening now at WotC. I kind of feel bad for them.

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But the amount of money a buyout brings, along with the added promises of job security and creative autonomy, has been enough to put many wonderfully creative small companies, just as good as Paizo, in the hands of corporations who view them as little more than a dollar sign.
Tell that to Peter Adkison...
4th edition is what prompted me to move to other games. Its hard to explain, but the whole 4th edition event has totally killed my desire to play even 3.5. So tell me, how does WOTC and 4th edition suck the life out of my enjoyment when I would stick with 3.5 anyway? Anyone else feeling this way?
Eileen, I did feel the same way for just a few minutes back toward the end fo 2007. It didn't last long. Look longingly at your library and the good memories generated therefrom and the great games and stories yet to tell with it. It's all still there...waiting.
-DM Jeff

Szombulis |

Since the announcement of 4E, I have stopped buying WoTC products, including M:tG and D&D. Sine then, I bought several new items that have filled my gaming sessions and players with more enjoyment. I bought the 1E PHB, DMG and MM on .pdf here at Paizo.com. Old favorites were re-enjoyed as players strolled down memory lane. I also purchased a delightful game from Firefly Games, "Faery's Tale," that my daughter and her friends (and wife) adore. That game helps me remember what roleplaying was all about when I was wide-eyed at the first magic sword my character found!
...oh, and all of these purchases cost less than $30 combined, or about the MSRP of a typical WOTC D&D resource book!

jayouzts |
4th edition is what prompted me to move to other games. Its hard to explain, but the whole 4th edition event has totally killed my desire to play even 3.5. ...
So tell me, how does WOTC and 4th edition suck the life out of my enjoyment when I would stick with 3.5 anyway? Anyone else feeling this way?
I would not say they have sucked the life out of my 3.5 enjoyment. But I was becoming frustrated with the ever increasing power-gamey lines of the Complete ______ books. When it became clear that 4E was just more of the same, I decided to explore other systems. I checked out Castles and Crusades, GURPS, and Savage Worlds before settling on True 20 as my system of choice.
I still play 3.5 because that is the game everyone in my group knows.

Dale McCoy Jr Jon Brazer Enterprises |

Since the announcement of 4E, I have stopped buying WoTC products, including M:tG and D&D.
I bought a grand total of 1 WotC book from my FLGS, all the rest have been ebayed. Minis, books, etc, you name it. Thanks 4E converters. Getting me all the 3.5 books I ever wanted at about 25 cents on the dollar (if not less and that includes shipping).
Of course I still buy all my other stuff from Paizo.

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Andrew Turner wrote:Paizo doesn't have to sell.Agree. But the amount of money a buyout brings, along with the added promises of job security and creative autonomy, has been enough to put many wonderfully creative small companies, just as good as Paizo, in the hands of corporations who view them as little more than a dollar sign. And once you've sold, you may think for a while that you're still in charge, and they may let you think that, but when it comes down to it, eventually they'll start cracking the whip...
lol, ask Gary Gigax how that went.