> > Woodelf wrote: >> but this thread has also been discussing several of the other open >> and not-so-open games (and thus gamers). *i'm* no better off than >> before the D20STL. i *might* even be worse off--if some publishers >> devote efforts to rules-intensive D20 supplements that hold no >> interest for me, when they were going to use that effort for >> something that would interest me; or if they alter a product in ways >> that make it poorer from my POV, in order to make it work as a D20 >> product. so far, i don't think this has happened (though i'm waiting > > to see the Farscape game), but it is certainly a distinct possibility. >
>Because in general, I believe that consumers have been well served by >the d20 and the drive to Open Gaming. They have legions of new products >they can use in their game, which makes it easier to play D&D. They have >a wide number of choices by a huge number of publishers who are >producing products on about every conceivable topic. They're getting >their D&D fix like they've never had it before. > >To be fair, I understand that there are a small number of gamers that >only want to see new rules systems; new ways to do things that are >better than the old ways. But that number of gamers is much smaller by >comparison, and publishers are looking to where the consumers are right >now. actually, i was thinking of a 3rd sort of gamer which is, i suspect, much larger than the rules-tinkerers: those who are simply content to use a good-enough rules system, but don't happen to like D&D/D20. *those* are the ones for whom, i suspect, D20 has done nothing. also, i was intending to contrast not rules-intensive D20 supplements vs. rules-intensive non-D20 supplements, but rules-intensive supplements [that just happen to be D20-based] vs. rules-light or rules-less supplements. because the former are to some degree dependent on that rules content, requiring me to either ignore that portion of the content, or understand it well enough to use it as is or convert it to a system of my choice. and, while the rules content could be completely superfluous (merely restating in mechanical form what is also present in the text), i've seen few or no RPG products where that is the case. even in some of the best supplements of this sort (the many GURPS setting supplements), i often find that too much of the material is expressed in terms of mechanics, rather than narration, which is a frustrating extra step (decoding the foreign system, before instantiating it in my system of choice). a supplement created from the gronud up to function without rules, or to be compatible with a large number of systems (TPO, Central Casting, just to name a couple) thus tends to be more usable no matter what system you use (one of the intended ones, or one the authors' never heard of). > > actually, that reminds me: i'm more than a bit surprised that we have >> seen very few or no no-rules D20 products. i'd have expected all >> those "generic" supplements of yore to have been resurrected as "D20" >> products, with nary a change. frex, the Central Casting books. >> closest i'm aware of is the Slayers' Guides--maybe a page of rules, >> all collected in one place, in a 32p book. > >I think you're seeing publishers create new rules around bodies of work >that they own. For instance, naval rules are being published inside of a >pirate game. were there any rules in the Gelspad Gazateer? [did i get that right?--the Scarred Lands setting book] at first glance, no, and, if so, that's exactly the sort of supplement i'm thinking of--one that is intended to be used with an RPG, maybe even a particular RPG, but doesn't express its concepts in game-mechanical terms. or, the various BITS Traveller supplements--other than making 5% OGC, i don't see anything preventing one of those being labeled a "D20" supplement--looking at the ones i've got, there's not a single rule, stat, or other game artifact in the whole thing. at first glance, it *could* be designed for fiction writers, but it provides the sort of content gamers, not authors, need. and they're eminently suitable for D20 (at least, of the appropriate genre)--just no more so than they are suited for any other RPG. -- woodelf <*> [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://webpages.charter.net/woodelph/ If any religion is right, maybe they all have to be right. Maybe God doesn't care how you say your prayers, just as long as you say them. --Sinclair _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
