When I refer to d20 being generic, I am refering to the fact that you can pick up the core books, or even the SRD, and run just about any sort of Fantasy world.. and in the future, probably any timeline you want. You are not herded with a small group of players into a specific world or setting. There are, as you pointed out, vast markets that are capable of being tapped with even more generic approach. One could use the core d20 rules to, for example, make a new generation of 'Host a Murder' games, which could get the mom and dad crowd to actually 'roleplay' without them realizing they are doing the same thing as their kids who play D&D.
-R >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [Ogf-l] New Open Gaming subject >Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 16:51:27 -0600 > >In a message dated 11/08/2001 3:47:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, >[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > The problem with intimately knowing the people who play the game is that > > you have to carve a niche at some point then. IronClaw is a great > > example of this, and I mean that in a good regard. They intimately know > > what their target wants. They are serving that specific audience rather > > nicely. They will never see the level of success that a more generic, > > d20 style game sees however because they took the time to get to know > > their players. > >The assumption I am thinking from is that D&D is not at all generic. It is >very hard to market "D&D" to parents and the elderly, for example. Now, >coffee is generic. It is cool to everyone from the hip teens hanging at >the local open mic to the sweet old ladies who meet every other tuesday for >breakfast. > >So, maybe d20 can be like coffee. D20 is generic and could eventually >become synonymous with "roleplaying". If RPG companies don't have to worry >about the rules to the degree they were in the past, then hopefully they >will have time to just sit back and focus on finding more customers. A >vast majority of people in this world are ignored as potential RPG >customers. The only way to reach them, however, is to intimately know >them. So, I guess we are both right, but I see that this new niche could >potentially be larger than the current RPG market, not a smaller niche of a >small niche of the general public. > >Maggie > >_______________________________________________ >Ogf-l mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
