A Whole Year

Well, it's been a year since we've started montecook.com. More than a year since I left Wizards of the Coast, and almost a year since we started Malhavoc Press.

A lot has happened in that year. As you've all heard me say before, it started out as a lark -- a sideline. Now it's my full-time enterprise. We've got four products released in pdf, and three products in print (with a fourth coming soon). We've even recently updated our cover look. You can see that with the new Banewarrens cover. When that comes out, you'll see that we've incorporated a new interior look as well. We've got great artists like Arne Swekel, Alan Pollack, Quinton Hoover, rk post, Kyle Anderson, Kieran Yanner, and more on board.

In that year, we've seen the d20 industry become, well, an industry, at least of a sort. New companies have popped up and a few have gone. There's been much jockeying for position, and a struggle with the glut of products. I still contend, however, that overall each d20 publisher gains more benefit than detriment from a "competitor"'s good product. Good, quality books encourage people to continue playing and keep the interest in the d20 System high. That's good for everyone.

And there have been a lot of good, quality products in the past year. In fact, the level of quality in d20 in general has risen markedly. To be frank, a year ago, comparing Wizards of the Coast products with d20 products was an act of futility. That's no longer the case, although the Wizards products are probably still, on the whole, better than almost anything else out there. Should the trends continue, however, even that distinction eventually will disappear. The future promises to be a very interesting place.

One development over the last year that is exciting to me as a creator is the discerning eye of the audience toward spotting quality. There have been some real clunker products to come out during that time, as well as some great ones. It's great to see people making the distinction between them and embracing quality. Sure, that makes my job harder -- because producing drek is easy -- but I wouldn't have it any other way. They say cream rises to the top, and if it actually proves to be true, well, that's good for all of us.

Of course, the last year has been one filled with great changes in the world as a whole, as well -- particularly in the United States, of course. I'm still proud of the money we -- together -- were able to raise after 9-11 for the Red Cross.

So it's been a pretty cool year. I feel very fortunate for our successes in this past year, and I look eagerly toward the future.

 

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