Patrick,
No problem. The role of the Character Builder in more or less "isolating" 4E from the rest of the RPG community is interesting from a business standpoint. Yes, it technically does cost money, as it's one of the features available to anyone who pays the DDI subscription fee to WotC. And it's cool! You can easily choose races, powers, feats, items, etc., and not only does it do the math for you, but it prints out a character sheet (complete with color-coded power cards) that provides your PC's attack and damage numbers right off the bat. So, no, while the Character Builder isn't strictly necessary to create a 4E character, it is convenient, and it gets updated regularly with new crunch from
Dungeon, Dragon, and the WotC D&D sourcebooks.
There are two things that, in my opinion, gave the Character Builder more power while reducing third-party publishers' desire to produce 4e crunch:
1)
D&D Encounters and "Organized Play": Granted, the RPGA had its ups and downs over the years. One thing that had been fairly consistent prior to 4E was that RPGA events were typically held at conventions. Yeah, there were v3.5 RPGA games (e.g. Living Greyhawk) at a few gaming stores, but for the most part, they weren't a factor. Then, after 4E launched, the RPGA -- now fully integrated as WotC's "Organized Play" -- began "D&D Encounters": regular, weekly events at local stores where the
same game was run nationwide. And unlike earlier campaigns, where new attendees were often intimidated (intentionally or not) by veteran attendees who had stockpiled massive amounts of certificates and magic items ("Living City," anyone?), D&D Encounters was designed so that you could attend as frequently or infrequently as you wished. It's been a definite hit for WotC and for gaming stores. And, as with earlier national campaigns, your character had to be generated using official D&D content, i.e., no third-party stuff. Again, the Character Builder makes this easy to do, and so Character Builder sheets at Organized Play events became the norm.
2)
No importing of outside crunch into the Character Builder: Under Third Edition and the OGL, lots of third-party publishers (3PPs) created feats, spells, prestige classes, etc. (Hey, I used to freelance for Goodman Games; I
worked on some of that crunch!
) In the months before 4E was released, WotC offered another licensing deal to 3PPs, although it was noticeably more draconian than the OGL. (For one thing, a 3PP's acceptance of the new 4E license meant that it could no longer create new v3.5 content or even sell its older v3.5 material, although WotC relaxed this part of the license months later.) So those companies that did accept the 4E license began creating adventures and crunch, just as they had done before under the v3.5 OGL. But that was during the initial months of 4E, before the DDI Character Builder had fully developed. Once it
had developed, fans quickly realized that they couldn't use crunch from 3PPs; there was no way to import them.
Between those factors, it wasn't long before 4E crunch from 3PPs became little more than creative exercises; most 4E players weren't using them. So if you're a 3PP, why spend any more time or money on assigning and publishing such articles? Typically, any 4E crunch that you DO still see from 3PPs is aimed at DMs, not players.
I'm sure that some will disagree, but I don't believe that the Character Builder was created with the squashing of 3PP content in mind; certainly, based on WotC's previous, less-than-stellar online efforts, there was little reason to think that the Character Builder would have a big impact. That said, once that impact
was noticed, WotC (from a business sense) made the most of it.
"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."
--W. Somerset Maugham
