So Green Ronin just announced they will not publish any books for the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons in the foreseeable future. You can read the whole thing [url=http://greenronin.com/2008/07/green_ronin_and_4e.php]here[/url]. In particular, Chris Pramas cites the owners of Dungeons & Dragons' ability to alter the Game System License at any time without notification, the potential financial liability if a third party publisher is sued by the owners of D&D and the license's generally restrictive nature.
As always, I am interested in how this will affect the state of RPG publishing, particularly with the exceptionally polarized reception of the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Green Ronin isn't a top tier publisher, but they are certainly a medium sized one. Moreover, they have a reputation for creating quality books. I'm curious to see not only what this will do to the pool of third party publishers for the world's most popular roleplaying game, but also where Green Ronin's excess creative talent and financial capital will go.
I think it's fair to estimate that whatever they publish in the stead of 4E books won't see as well, so revenue may drop and thus their overall output. But there will still be more time for games like Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying and Mutants & Masterminds, so I'm hoping Green Ronin can make the best of their other existing properties.
In the end, Green Ronin has to do what will keep Green Ronin in business. If they think the potential costs of publishing for 4E are greater than what they'd make in sales revenue, then they gotta do what's good for the company.
Tags: Rpgs D&D4e
