3rd party content thoughts

[Amdy_vill]

So what are your options on 3rd party content and 5e big push for 3rd party content at tables? do you like that WotC is pushing for 3rd party content to be the primary way of expanding the game? do you think 3.5e and 4 were better because they focused on 1st party content? do you use 3rd party content at your table, why or why not? if you do what are some examples. do you think 3rd party is generally balanced or just as bad as netbrews.

What is 3rd party

DMS guilde

kobold press

matt mercers(excluding guide to wildmount)

grim hollows

crit cards

what is not 3rd party

explores guild to wild mount

rick and morty dnd

strangers things dnd

acquisitions incorporated

plain shift books

personal

kinda, I think WotC Pushes 3rd party to mush and should print 1 or 2 more books a year. nothing xanathars level but more Scag and adventures.

yes, I love 3rd party content mostly because it tackles rules and settings wotc avoids like magitech.

no, mostly as they failed at balance.

yes, but I stay away from 3rd party things like crit cards. I focus on new player options and monsters as I find players don't like you changing fundamental systems but do like new options.

I use kobold presses deep magic books and beyond damage dice as well as grim hollow.

In my experience, some 3rd parties just make high quality but bad netbrews and some make content better then WotC

[Luccan]

What do you mean by 3rd party? Because I don't think 5e pushes it any harder than 3.5, except in the few cases it's done crossover with stuff like Stranger Things.

[JNAProductions]

In my experience, some 3rd parties just make high quality but bad netbrews and some make content better then WotC

Yeah. That's how it goes-sometimes, you get gems. Sometimes, you get crap.

I have no real issue with third party stuff being used, provided it's balanced. I've only bought two-Kobold Press' Tome Of Beasts (monsters in there are a little powerful for their CR, but there's some cool ideas!) and Renegade Game Studios' Wardlings Campaign Guide (which was... Meh.)

[Amdy_vill]

What do you mean by 3rd party? Because I don't think 5e pushes it any harder than 3.5, except in the few cases it's done crossover with stuff like Stranger Things.

3rd party things like kobold press. most of Wotcs money from dnd comes from 3rd party book deals. its one of the reasons they aren't making many books but instead pushing big 3rd party creators and the dmguild. they have talked about it a lot but not recently. it was a bigger talking point back when 5e started and dmsguild got pushed. I personally would exclude DMs guild as while that is 3rd party content most of it is not professionally made.

[Amdy_vill]

Yeah. That's how it goes-sometimes, you get gems. Sometimes, you get crap.

I have no real issue with third party stuff being used, provided it's balanced. I've only bought two-Kobold Press' Tome Of Beasts (monsters in there are a little powerful for their CR, but there's some cool ideas!) and Renegade Game Studios' Wardlings Campaign Guide (which was... Meh.)

I think that kobold press is probably the best 3rd party content producer right now. mostly because of their balance and their large catalog but some of the new upstarts look promising like ghost fire games and heckna

[SiCK_Boy]

There will always be a kinda of stigma associated with 3rd party material, especially rules expansions, in part because most company don't have the ability to playtest to the extent that WotC does (for example, no one else can tap as large a pool of potential playtesters as WotC does with its Unearthed Arcana series).

However, for adventure modules, 3rd party products are just as good (or just as bad, depending on the product and/or your perspective) as WotC in terms of creativity, ease of use, and fun adventuring scenario. Most of them still trail behind as far as production value is concerned (especially in regards to art), but that is rarely what makes the difference between a good module or a bad one.

I do not feel WotC is "pushing" 3rd party stuff. They do promote DM's guild because they get a cut out of it, but except when they have a direct financial incentive (such as when they are set to receive royalties or have signed contracts with other companies like D&D Beyond), we don't see WotC pushing anything else than their own material. WotC deliberatly chose to let smaller profit margin products up for 3rd party to develop, hence their cautious release schedule of 3-4 books per year. I think they should stick to this plan.

Except for Critical Role, which one can say really changed or impacted the way this industry works, I don't think any of the 3rd party offerings are special or anything to worry about from WotC's perspective. These smaller companies exist in the margins, support the big fish in the pond, and it's good for everyone when they produce something big, but it'll probably always remain marginal.

[Kemev]

Honestly, a lot of the 3rd and 4th ed. content WotC published was low quality. The adventure and campaign setting books had a lot of recycled content (writing and art both), and a lot of the character-option books were 20 pages of interesting and playable options in a 150 page books.

most of Wotcs money from dnd comes from 3rd party book deals.

I don't think that's accurate. WotC's press releases for 2019 said most of their sales growth has been from starter sets and new campaign settings. Maybe something's changed this year, but I'd need some convincing.

[Amdy_vill]

I don't think that's accurate. WotC's press releases for 2019 said most of their sales growth has been from starter sets and new campaign settings. Maybe something's changed this year, but I'd need some convincing.

This actually comes from one of their old interviews where they talk about how most of their profit is from the Open gaming license. think of it like this, they get a 25% cut for every pathfinder, d20, DMs guild, Ect. Pathfinder is a major competitor to DND and makes bank, and Wtoc gets 1/4 of all pizos money. the OGL does include a lot outside of 3rd party books.

Edit: 2019 Entertainment, Licensing and Digital operating profit was 25 million about 1/8 of WotC's total operating profit. normal dnd book sales would be subcategory inside of USA/bandana and international brackets and would be a rather small portion of them.

[Verble]

I've been happy with the Midgard Setting from Kobold Press. Looking forward to their Southlands kickstarter.

[MoiMagnus]

We play with the 3rd party "Héro & Dragons", which is a french alternative to the PHB.
(It contains the SRD, completed with new feats/subclasses/etc to obtain the same amount of content as the PHB. It's a project that started at the time where there was no official French translation of the PHB, and it was not clear that there would ever be one).

It's great. Balance is similar to official books (though I have some doubt for some high level abilities). There are probably some exploits if you combine feats from the PHB and from H&D, and while both are allowed at our table, we're kindly asked not to find and use those exploits.

[SiCK_Boy]

This actually comes from one of their old interviews where they talk about how most of their profit is from the Open gaming license. think of it like this, they get a 25% cut for every pathfinder, d20, DMs guild, Ect. Pathfinder is a major competitor to DND and makes bank, and Wtoc gets 1/4 of all pizos money. the OGL does include a lot outside of 3rd party books.

Edit: 2019 Entertainment, Licensing and Digital operating profit was 25 million about 1/8 of WotC's total operating profit. normal dnd book sales would be subcategory inside of USA/bandana and international brackets and would be a rather small portion of them.

WotC makes no direct money out of 3rd party products using the Open License; it was no different in previous versions of the OGL. They were making money by selling more PHB to players who wanted to use those 3rd party products, and by getting free
publicity from each of those products advertising on their cover that the PHB or other core books were required.

Licensing and Digital is a different things. Most of it relates to computer games based on the D&D brand (think Baldur’s Gate and such). It also includes specific deals they have with companies allowing them to use official D&D logos and look & feel, like the various minis from WizKids or Gf9 (although the deal with Gf9 is currently falling apart - see the news about the suing between the two companies). But for a product like Tome of Beasts from Kobold Press, for example, WotC does not receive any royalty nor any direct payment.