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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
The Bastardization of the Game: Edition Purity versus Edition Innovation
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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4860002" data-attributes="member: 80487"><p>Now, I am a notable "edition warrior" in the sense that I resist the pressure from some quarters to accept some changes as either insignificant or somehow objectively better. The problem really boils down to a commercial decision to use the term "edition" in a most eccentric way (due to the perceived value of a trademark divorced from former referents).</p><p></p><p>There is a point beyond which it is very, very much more meaningful to speak of playing (say) "RuneQuest" rather than "Tunnels & Trolls". Avalon Hill's unpublished "RuneQuest: Slayers", or the alternate "T&T" included in the tin along with Fiery Dragon's 7th Edition, would be so much a different game as to make the usage confusing.</p><p></p><p>Game Designers' Workshop encountered that confusion with the game initially billed as "Traveller: 2300", and quickly remedied it by changing the title (to "2300 AD"). The later Traveller: The New Era featured mechanics and assumptions nearly as different (much more than in MegaTraveller), depending for apparent continuity on the Third Imperium setting (thrown into civil war in MT, in ruins in TNE). GDW at that point was using a common game system (originated in Twilight: 2000, if memory serves) for all its RPGs.</p><p></p><p>If one happens to like The New Era altogether very much, and Classic Traveller very little, then the "bait and switch" may be simply an improvement (and about time). If one considers the (antebellum) Third Imperium setting most important, and prefers GURPS mechanics, then GURPS Traveller may be the bee's knees. If one was never into the Imperium at all, then the Classic rules set may remain what Traveller means.</p><p></p><p>The first part of the problem is that (for commercial reasons) things go beyond "tastes like chicken" to a claim that something <em>is</em> chicken. The second part is that some folks get emotionally attached to the notion, and object when others say that even the flavor is quite something else -- never mind the lack of feathers and presence of scales.</p><p></p><p>"Tinfoil" may be a fine colloquialism, but aluminum in fact has different elemental properties that could be important in some applications.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 4860002, member: 80487"] Now, I am a notable "edition warrior" in the sense that I resist the pressure from some quarters to accept some changes as either insignificant or somehow objectively better. The problem really boils down to a commercial decision to use the term "edition" in a most eccentric way (due to the perceived value of a trademark divorced from former referents). There is a point beyond which it is very, very much more meaningful to speak of playing (say) "RuneQuest" rather than "Tunnels & Trolls". Avalon Hill's unpublished "RuneQuest: Slayers", or the alternate "T&T" included in the tin along with Fiery Dragon's 7th Edition, would be so much a different game as to make the usage confusing. Game Designers' Workshop encountered that confusion with the game initially billed as "Traveller: 2300", and quickly remedied it by changing the title (to "2300 AD"). The later Traveller: The New Era featured mechanics and assumptions nearly as different (much more than in MegaTraveller), depending for apparent continuity on the Third Imperium setting (thrown into civil war in MT, in ruins in TNE). GDW at that point was using a common game system (originated in Twilight: 2000, if memory serves) for all its RPGs. If one happens to like The New Era altogether very much, and Classic Traveller very little, then the "bait and switch" may be simply an improvement (and about time). If one considers the (antebellum) Third Imperium setting most important, and prefers GURPS mechanics, then GURPS Traveller may be the bee's knees. If one was never into the Imperium at all, then the Classic rules set may remain what Traveller means. The first part of the problem is that (for commercial reasons) things go beyond "tastes like chicken" to a claim that something [i]is[/i] chicken. The second part is that some folks get emotionally attached to the notion, and object when others say that even the flavor is quite something else -- never mind the lack of feathers and presence of scales. "Tinfoil" may be a fine colloquialism, but aluminum in fact has different elemental properties that could be important in some applications. [/QUOTE]
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