3rd party content is it just popular in the USA or?

[Ginnel]

I've heard a lot of talk about the GSL and the OGL about one being limiting for third party publishers and one being entirely open.

My question is (And I'm trying to put this tactfully) though is 3rd party support for RPGs bought a lot? I've been in at least 10 roleplaying groups and I have checked out peoples RPG books but I don't see any 3rd party content really, only one person has had any that was the current pathfinder adventures and also dragon.

I see official books galore I see a number of different roleplaying systems but all additional content (apart from above example) I can remember or currently see is official.

So thats it basically is this a thing which mainly happens in the US or have I just been a statistical anomoly where roleplayers I know don't own 3rd party content.

I'm not knocking 3rd party content at all I just haven't seen any, and would be very interested in picking up a 3rd party MM for 4th ed

 

[DeusExMachina]

Here in the Netherlands the only 3rd party products I have ever seen are the Pathfinder books and a few D20 books from White Wolf Publishing...
So over here at least 3rd party interest is not very big.
Of course roleplaying in general is small here, since the books never get translated. Speaking English fairly well is pretty important to play an RPG, reducing the market a lot...

 

[Psion]

I imagine that distribution might be an issue if most publishers are in the US. But then, one of the bigger 3rd party publishers is in the UK; I'd hope you'd see some Mongoose stuff.

I also know that there were some Brazilian 3rd party publishers, and I even picked up an early 3e translation of a kickass little Brazilian "Asian fantasy" game called Mitica. But it wouldn't surprise me if other countries failed to get quite the critical mass that they got in the US. Even in the US, third party products are a bit "fringe" these days.

 

[Pinotage]

Also remember that a large portion of 3rd party support was and still is pdf. You don't spot that so easily. In most good gamestores around the UK I've seen loads of 3rd party material, in some instances much more than WotC material.

Pinotage

 

[Mark Hope]

I live in the UK and used to live in the Netherlands. In both places, 3rd party material was widely represented (I have more 3rd party stuff for 3e than I do WotC product.) I personally have stuff from Green Ronin, Necromancer, Malhavoc, Paizo, Mongoose, White Wolf, AEG plus one or two products from other companies. Great stuff all round for the most part.

When I lived in The Hague, the local gaming stores stocked loads of 3rd party material: White Wolf/Swords & Sorcery, Malhavoc, Necromancer, Kingdoms of Kalamar, AEG, FFG, Paizo, Green Ronin and a bunch of other stuff I can't really recall off-hand. It's the same over here in the UK - plenty of 3rd party material and support. Of course, things have tailed off since the demise of 3e, so it will be interesting to see how things develop in the 4e era.

 

[WhatGravitas]

In the UK, I've seen Mongoose, Blue Devil Games, Paizo, Malhavoc (now not so much any more, of course), and Fiery Dragon stuff on the shelves. Usually even pretty fast, especially Paizo is a big hit right now.

Cheers, LT.

 

[wedgeski]

By posting on ENW you're already in this weird demographic twilight zone where, to many people, third party products are much more important than Wizards' 'official' output. The reality is that, although a lot of these products are exceptional, they're a niche part of a niche section of a niche hobby and probably barely a blip on Wizards/Hasbro's radar.

In my core, school-buddy group, I'm the only one who's ever bought anything other than Wizards product. In the three or four groups I've been in around where I live now, only two other people have ever known what I've been talking about if I mention anyone other than Wizards, and one of those people owns a gaming shop.

Around here (Worcester UK), the chances of seeing anythng except the D&D core books on the shelves are basically zero, although in the d20 heyday, my now-closed FLGS had masses of Mongoose and other 3PP.

 

[Ginnel]

By posting on ENW you're already in this weird demographic twilight zone

Heh I was going to put in a line mentioning that in my first post, but it just vanished from my mind

 

[Aus_Snow]

Well, here in Australia (at least, where I am) it seems to be pretty well represented, and it does sell. Not as quickly as WotC stuff in general, perhaps, but that's to be expected.

There's a fair bit of Conan, M&M, and other popular OGL games at the FLGS, plus some others I can't recall (don't go in there that often, and hardly ever buy things there.)

One major mail order retailer for RPGs, nation-wide, stocks just about everything you could think of, OGL or otherwise. Not sure how it all sells.

 

[Mark]

By posting on ENW you're already in this weird demographic twilight zone where, to many people, third party products are much more important than Wizards' 'official' output. The reality is that, although a lot of these products are exceptional, they're a niche part of a niche section of a niche hobby and probably barely a blip on Wizards/Hasbro's radar.

That might be one perception but even my little company has thousands of people who use my products (over a thousand outside the USA, FWIW). It would be my guess that what started as a Third Party Publishing sliver of the industry has become a vibrant sector of the game publishing world that is helping to grow the industry. I'd bet the footprint left in the today's market, online and off, by current and former Third Party Publishers is quite significant and that WotC has recognized this. Their reaction through release of the GSL shows that they have chosen to limit their ties to this growing sector. I highly doubt anyone of us who is serious about publishing is going to have any real trouble either adapting to its terms or showing our adaptability in other ways. The nice part about being smaller is the increased faculty to zig, zag, and roll (or is it "role?" ) with the punches.