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He's also said that the 3.5 market is pretty much dried up right now. I'm not sure how true that is but he is the one selling into that channel.
Yeah but he hasn't been actively doing much in it for some time, I think, because he was preparing for 4E. So I'm not sure how in touch he is with it. Further, I don't know how where Necro was on the list of 3PPs to begin with. In the top tier, but not at the top of that tier. I think 3.5E stuff is still doing ok. At least anecdotally, Paizo, Goodman Games, and Green Ronin stuff seems to be selling around here still.
His thinking that the 3.x market is dead is based upon his near-total acceptance of 4e and all that it entails. When you are only surrounded by 4e all the time, you begin to think that 3.x is dead (despite the fact that those companies Steerpike mentions have obviously different opinions... and if we're going to look and see who has had the better luck with guessing what the future will bring... well Clark isn't faring so well in that department these days). Heck, I haven't read anything about 4e in months - I left that segment of the forum when PRPG was announced, honestly. I have no idea how well it's doing (and it doesn't matter... let's see how it's doing 18 months from now... that's what is important). Clark also seems to be trying to blow out the flames that WotC keeps throwing on the bridges to 3pp (at least the Necromancer bridge), and doesn't want to offend them (as many have noted).
Anyway... I like Necromancer as much as the next gamer, but I think we're getting a little fixated here. Either he publishes or he doesn't. If his buddies at WotC hang him out to dry, maybe he'll actually spend some time with Pathfinder. Either way, I'm sure I will have enough quality stuff with or without Necromancer.
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What would you suggest he do? Spend 3 months making gaming products which will be obsolete in 9 months?
Huh? The goal of Pathfinder RPG is to be backward compatible with all 3.5 material. Pathfinder RPG is an improvement on the system, not a new edition. Any work done on 3.5 will be backed by PFRPG, as it stands today.
If Pathfinder RPG makes 3.5 obsolete, you will have another schism among Paizo customers. Those that want to use their 3.5 with previous Pathfinder 3.5, and those that drop their whole library for Pathfinder RPG.
I believe that Paizo wishes to keep us all in one system, and that is false saying 3.5 is obsolete when Pathfinder RPG arrives (at least by what is stated in the objective of Pathfinder RPG).
So, I really don't let Clark off the hook on the grounds of 3.5 being obsolete.
Cheers,
Zuxius
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If it is published under 3.5 as 'compatible with Pathfinder', he could offer a conversion guide later as well that updates the stat blocks. Adding a couple feats here, changing a skill there... It shouldn't be that much trouble. Heck, he could even let someone on these boards do the actual mechanics. I'm sure there would be a volunteer (for free).
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I seriously doubt Paizo is going to allow him to release a product using their final rule set before they release said rule set to the public. I definitely can see them doing the releases at the same time though. So I don't think there is a chance that a PfRPG version of the ToH is going to be out before Gen Con next year. Now he could release his 3.5 version in print (right now it is available in .pdf I believe), but considering he thinks the 3.5 market is dead, I wouldn't put any hope in that direction.Since the one request I have seen the most is a PF version of Tome of Horrors, I'd wager that he could get that out before the next Gen Con. It might be best if it came out at the same time.
I can easily see Paizo working closely with him to make it work.
NG wouldn't need to have the full rule set before the release, but with some guides I'm pretty sure that he could come up with a monster book. As to when a PF TOH will be coming out, I'm not going to even speculate. I just said it could be done.
I don't know Clark, but I get the sense that he takes the game industry very seriously and has a strong passion for it. He is sitting on some fine products right now that still have some life in them even if he feels like the 3.x market has dried up. Given that the Adventure Paths have featured his products in the past (as well as Green Ronin) I have started to seek them out. So while I understand that he would like to take a hiatus from publishing, I have to imagine that he will find something to fill his time. I am hoping that Paizo will be successful going forward and so far I don't have any reason to believe it will be anything but less than that. So I choose to believe that given time, Clark will find his way back.
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They don't need to 'allow' him to do it. He might not be able to indicate compatibility on the product but he can put out an ogl book anytime he wants that happens to be compatible with the ogl rules in Pathfinder.Except those rules won't be out until Gen Con next year. The only way he could get them earlier is if Paizo gave them to him, and I would image if they did they'd make him sign something that said he couldn't release it until they release the system. He could try to make it compatible with the Beta version but that would be a worse choice than releasing a 3.5 version. Extremely few people are going to be using the Beta rules after next year when the final rule set comes out.
On the other had, he could go the path of PDF publishing for a short run, then offer an upgrade PDF with the rules changes. Grow with the market in otherwords.
If such a product was to occur, I doubt that it would happen in a vacuum. I'm sure that Clark would work closely with Paizo to turn out a good product.
On the other had, he could go the path of PDF publishing for a short run, then offer an upgrade PDF with the rules changes. Grow with the market in otherwords.
If such a product was to occur, I doubt that it would happen in a vacuum. I'm sure that Clark would work closely with Paizo to turn out a good product.
You mean like: Link
It is even on sale.
You are under the mistaken assumption that he needs revenue from the gaming company to pay his rent.
I am? Where did I say or imply that!?
What would you suggest he do? Spend 3 months making gaming products which will be obsolete in 9 months? Develop product for 4e and bypass the GSL? He could do that but it will potentially upset the people he's trying to do business with. Release products for the Pathfinder Beta when Paizo isn't even doing that?
What game will be obsolete in 9 months? D&D 3.5? What are you talking about?
I offer no suggestions save one: market visibility. Sitting on one's laurels for 2 YEARS doesn't bode well for any business- "rent" or not (!?)
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Huh? The goal of Pathfinder RPG is to be backward compatible with all 3.5 material. Pathfinder RPG is an improvement on the system, not a new edition. Any work done on 3.5 will be backed by PFRPG, as it stands today.
If Pathfinder RPG makes 3.5 obsolete, you will have another schism among Paizo customers. Those that want to use their 3.5 with previous Pathfinder 3.5, and those that drop their whole library for Pathfinder RPG.
I believe that Paizo wishes to keep us all in one system, and that is false saying 3.5 is obsolete when Pathfinder RPG arrives (at least by what is stated in the objective of Pathfinder RPG).
So, I really don't let Clark off the hook on the grounds of 3.5 being obsolete.
Cheers,
Zuxius
Zuxius is absolutely right. PRPG is where 3.5 continues. There is even a beautiful example of this in the new Pathfinder Campaign Setting guide. I saw Mike McArtors post explaining how great pains were taken to carefully make sure it was usable with 3.5 AND PRPG. The two need not be described as completely seperate entities. Again, we have PAIZO stepping in where wotc cut off support. 3.5 is an elegant system. The OGL provides us use of the SRD as a foundation for PRPG. Enhancements have been made under the wise auspices of Bulman and Cook et. al. to achive a crowning victory for user-centered design of "our" roleplaying game.
Hats off to PAIZO!!! its possible that Clark may not fully get this yet...
What game will be obsolete in 9 months? D&D 3.5? What are you talking about?
Yes, 3.5 is obsolete in 9 months. People actively buying gaming products will either be buying Pathfinder by then or they will be buying 4e. There will be some long tail sales of 3.5 but not enough to really support a company.
I offer no suggestions save one: market visibility. Sitting on one's laurels for 2 YEARS doesn't bode well for any business- "rent" or not (!?)
Clark has a hobby he makes some money on. He wants his hobby to run in the black and he would rather close the doors for a while than risk taking a loss. How does this not 'bode well' for him?
From what I can tell he is able to maintain his business relationship with Paizo and the other industry entities he works with. His reputation in the industry is not going to fade away to nothing. Sure there will be some ramp up time but as long as he produces a good quality product he is going to do just fine... when he has a market he's comfortable selling into. Whether that is 4e or PFRPG or both depends on what Wizards does.
To Clark it's a passtime, a hobby. Clearly he is not concerned about losing revenue for 2 years. What damage is it going to cause him sitting out a round of uncertainty? Nothing.
In any case I don't expect he will be sitting out for 2 years. Most likely he is sitting on some 4e product trying to figure out what the hell to do with it. He is almost certainly going to be working on something for Pathfinder to be released at Gencon 09.
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On the other had, he could go the path of PDF publishing for a short run, then offer an upgrade PDF with the rules changes. Grow with the market in otherwords.
If such a product was to occur, I doubt that it would happen in a vacuum. I'm sure that Clark would work closely with Paizo to turn out a good product.
You mean like: Link
It is even on sale.
Yep. Pretty much exactly that.
He's also said that the 3.5 market is pretty much dried up right now. I'm not sure how true that is but he is the one selling into that channel.
Don't forget that's also from Necromancer's perspective. And I think it's pretty common knowledge that Necromancer Game's distribution has pretty much been utter crap for years.
His deciding to wait is probably the best thing for NG. He certainly needs to improve a few things before deciding how to face this particular market, AFAIC.
Don't forget that's also from Necromancer's perspective. And I think it's pretty common knowledge that Necromancer Game's distribution has pretty much been utter crap for years.
To be honest I've never purchased anything from Necromancer. I have used a couple of their freebies but was not super impressed.. some of that was because it was quite old though.
This is the first really negative thing I've heard about Necromancer Games though. In general the impression I've gotten is that Necromancer and Clark have a good reputation in the industry. Regardless... whatever reputation he had will persist for another year one way or the other.
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Well to say that the distribution of the product isn't good doesn't say anything about the actual product - just the availability.
I've had a pretty decent game store, but only a handful of the modules went through there. I also picked up some big items, like the City of Brass boxed set. But when I became a Necromancer Lover[Necrophiliac?] I hit an online site in a big way.
Paizo carries a few of their products, but not many. I don't want to steer business to another online site, but the company I found that had just about everything was advertised in Kobold Quarterly, which you can subscribe to through Paizo....
Maybe Clark has more influence than some suspected.