Malhavoc is the shit, man.  Iron Heroes is *so* cool, just for the skills.

Green Ronin has been hit and miss for me -- if the Advanced Players Manual hadn't reprinted the Psychic's Handbook, I would have really been pissed at buying it.

I've got half a shelf of Fantasy Flight Games, so I have to give props to them.

I love the setting of Exalted, but they seriously need to get some editors on their rules design.  I had to totally redo Sidereal astrology to make it workable.  And Mad Hatter has talked to the designer of the rules, and the designer doesn't understand them!  He thinks they can create powerful curses, when they really just produce minor (but useful) effects.

Hmm.  Nobody that I really hate -- I've just avoided most bad products 'cause of their reviews.  I'm not a fan of the Scarred Lands stuff -- it's just not a setting that interests me.  But I don't really hold it against them; it's not so much that it's bad, it's just not for me.

Who do I love?  Well, I'm a RPGObjects and The Game Mechanics fanboy, er, so....I guess them.  I also like a lot of things - d20 Modern - that the freelance writer Rodney Thompson does.  There are other, individual authors that I like, that haven't hit the "big time" like Rodney, but that might be too long of a list and it could be seen as bias (cause it is).

Hate?  Hmm.  No one, really.  While there are those that I dislike, its for purely professional reasons, and normally nothing due to their work - some of which that is completely top-notch.

Peterson

Mongoose's business practices are abominable. Know how they keep hiring to "expand?" Guess how many of those positions were once filled by people I've spoken to. Mongoose has offered penny a word contracts and jobs whose expected pay per word works out to about the same. So fuck them. And avoid Silven and Dark Quest, too, for cheap treatment of creatives.

Green Ronin seems to run itself nicely and I like WFRP and Blue Rose. Malhavoc has pretty books, but I don't like Ptolus. It's kind of like selling tickets to the freakshow. "Look how big the book is!" AU and Iron Heroes are both worth owning, though.

FanPro is a bit, er, "fannish," for me in some of its properties, but at the same time SR4 is a step forward and they do experiment.

White Wolf gets most of myfreelancing and have usually treated me well. I haven't read a real home run from them in a while, but then again, it's been a while for any company.

WotC needs a new edition of D&D to egain my interest. I have everything I need from them now.

FanPro puts out good products and, from personal experience, treats its writers quite well. The current Shadowrun team is a good mix of veterans and new blood.

Malhavoc has Iron Heroes and several weird books that I like (Chaositech being one).

I don't play any of White Wolf's WoD games or Exalted, they just don't look interesting enough to me. I also wish they had never published the Shoah sourcebook. Ravenloft 3E was very neat, though.

Fantasy Flight has Midnight and several good sourcebooks, and their Horizon minigames line is cool.

Malhavoc gets a good rep from me, despite the Roguish Luck thing.

I don't care for Wizards, at all; their stuff is high-quality, but not to my liking.

All the other publishers get judged on a product-by-product base.

Quote from: shooting_diceAnd avoid Silven and Dark Quest, too, for cheap treatment of creatives.

I haven't had any problems with Neal at Dark Quest, quite the contrary.

I'm a fan of RPGObjects (worked with them a bit, doing data entry for their Modern Character Generator), the Brood, UKG Publishing, Clockwork Golem Workshop, and Sleep Dep Creations (where's SFX Skills: Enochian Theurgy already?)  I've worked with most of these folks, know they're good people, and like what they put out.

Most people who keep up with ENWorld know Gareth-Michael Skarka and I don't like each other.  It's tainted my view of Adamant Entertainment.  I know it's actually a good publisher to work for, but I'll never work for that man or give him any of my money.

Also, never work for those Gallantry Productions jokers.  I hear the whole thing is run by just one guy who hasn't a clue what he is doing.

Quote from: RoudiAlso, never work for those Gallantry Productions jokers.  I hear the whole thing is run by just one guy who hasn't a clue what he is doing.

Yeah, I've heard that about that company.  That's what you get, I guess, for using Maple Leafs instead of Bald Eagles....

If there's one thing I can't stand from a publisher, its gotta be "Thou shall do my bidding for thou are not a publisher" stance I've noticed from a few companies.  Thankfully, I get to ignore them.  I do like the publishers/authors that take the time to visit any forum in a constructive manner, answer questions, and in general - just hang out.  Those guys will get my impulse buys more than the ones that don't.

BTW, Roudi, I've heard a rumor about the next  SFX Skills...

Peterson

Quote from: Technicolor DreamcoatMalhavoc gets a good rep from me, despite the Roguish Luck thing.

Roguish Luck? What is that? :confused:

Quote from: JongWKRoguish Luck? What is that? :confused:

Book of Roguish Luck, published by Malhavoc Press.

It's generally considered one of their lesser products - and i'm rather inclined to agree - it's just not as good as the Eldrich Might books, or Arcana Evolved.

That being said, I think it's still a satisfactory piece of material overall.

Yeah, Book of Roguish Luck. I've yet to use anything from it, when I plunder all other books I have (even Complete Divine and such klunkers).

And I would have put Guardians of Order up there as a publisher I liked, if they actually published something.

Well, I like a lot more companies than I dislike, but a shorter list of likes (aside from the usual suspects like Mongoose and Malhavoc) would include Politically Incorrect Games, Privateer Press, Dark Matter Studios, Atomic Sock Monkey, Cumberland Games, HinterWelt, Flying Mice, and AEG for their d20 products. I'm usually pretty solid with Green Ronin, but I haven't enjoyed much of their more recent releases of the past year or so (with the exception of the newly-released d20). I've also been really happy with the source material Wizards has been providing for D&D as of late.
 
Dislikes might include Adept Press, Mayfair Games, White Wolf (though I did find Werewolf to be fairly well-done), Decipher (even before everything crapped out), and R. Talsorian. EOS Press seems eager to please and to rectify any book errors, but I don't like what they've produced thus far. I also dislike Games Workshop, but that not quite squarely in the publisher category.

Quote from: ThjalfiBook of Roguish Luck, published by Malhavoc Press.

It's generally considered one of their lesser products - and i'm rather inclined to agree - it's just not as good as the Eldrich Might books, or Arcana Evolved.

Notably, the Book of Roguish Luck was not written by Monte Cook or Michael Mearls (who wrote the Eldritch/Hallowed/Iron Might books), but instead by Wolfgang Baur - probably because Monte was too busy with Ptolus and Arcana Evolved. I'm not sure how much other d20 stuff he's written.

Quote from: BagpussEden Studios - What the hell happened to "Welcome to Sunnydale"?

Or Tea and Crossbows?  Or The Initiative Handbook?  Or Beyond Human?  

I love Eden, big suprise I'm sure.  But damn will you do some waiting for books.  And it's not like they were lying, Welcome to Sunnydale will be the next Buffy book.  That there hasn't been a new Buffy book since 2003 (unless you count the corebook revision) is beside the point

But yeah - good production values, good system, great games, but you'll pass a couple of birthdays waiting for the next suppliment for you favorite game to come out.

Also a big fan of White Wolf these days.  The revisions to their system are top notch, and I've been meaning to look into more of them.

Good god, I'd best not even bother.

However, I will give a big thumbs up to Necromancer. Wilderlands is one of the best products I've seen in ages.

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