The end of printed Dungeon & Dragon Magazines?

[Joël of the FoS]

Well, I might be wrong

I read on other forums that some people do think the RPG market is shrinking. Mmm...

We'll see when my in the know sources will answer.

Joël

[Catman Jim]

I was of the belief that the RPG market was shrinking, being replaced in part by manga-philes.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Here's a quote from MW herself:

[QUOTE=Queen of Darkness]Wizards chose not to renew our license.

Margaret[/QUOTE]

Here's the corresponding thread:

http://www.dragonlanceforums.com/forums ... e=16&pp=10

[alhoon]

I still don't believe that WotC is an evil company bend on tormenting fans.

Some people disagree with the WotC decision to stop the magazines and not renew the licenses and some people agree.
I would have prefered that the magazines would both been printed and sold over the net as PDFs... but they didn't asked me. Now, I can't blame them for that, because I'm not a decision-maker working for WotC.

I don't believe the WotC cares only for profits, they also care about the fans but some times they have to take harsh decision that disappoint us. They are not a charity institution, they are a company. They make money and when they can they appease the funs even when it is not very profit-effective.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Honestly, I am also a bit baffled when I hear people complaining.
DL did get an extensive coverage already, and a movie is in the making.

So, it's not like the license was dropped into the bottomless pit or something, especially sine the novels are still going on.

I guess instead that the cow is finally making it profitable for WotC to milk it themselves...

Now, in what way RL will continue, I am very sceptical. IF WotC is to revive some older settings sooner or later, I guess the next step will be Dark Sun or Planescape...

[Coan]

The return of Planescape would be cool (and there is already a bare basics mention in a few sources so it's not as if it is erased from Wizard's memory).

We'll see what happens.

[Jonathan Winters]

About 4E...

I really don't see how that would be profitable at this point (and please correct me if I'm wrong!), but the whole point of the OGL / D20 system is that it's free. Any company can use it. WotC cannot take it back. Period. It's out there. That's how it was designed.

So, if WotC decides to come up with a 4E, it better be a kick-@$$ system. Rogues will still be rogues, Clerics, etc.

What could they offer that would so good as to buy WHOLE NEW CORE BOOKS?

AND, for their main settings (FR & Eberron), once you have all the books that came out in 3E, as a customer, wouldn't you be pretty miffed at them for having to buy everything back? I just don't think anybody would feel it was worth it (and this is just from a money point of view).

PLUS, let's think about all those other 3E products out there being done by the (smaller) competition... Would I buy new core books or start looking at the indie press? (Which I already do.)

Just my two cents about 4E.

Patrick

[Scipio]

I agree that for the most part that 4E wouldnt be smart at this time. There are too many games out that are essentially DnD clones using the OGL. I counted 2-3 of them the other day while at my FLGS. The only way 4E could sell at all is if they get enough players like my friend JJ who thinks that any new ruleset has to be better just because its new.