We need a unified optional game system or this hobby's gonna die

[Flatus Maximus]

We need 3rd parties to come together and have the equivalent of the d20 system and support it TOGETHER, but without all the stupid licensing gimmicks. Then lazy D&D players like me don't have to waste money on "neat games" that will never have enough players in my area to ever bother with.

Until then, you're just going to have 15 other systems all with a "few" players.

What is it? Is it 3rd party ego's that prevents something like this from happening? Seriously, what prevents them from getting together and doing the ANTId20 system and supporting it themselves with their games?

jh

Maybe it's just way easier said than done? Seriously. There are probably so many different systems because people can't agree on what the alternative to D&D should look like.

 

[howandwhy99]

When DDi comes about it should solve many of these problems (as 4E isn't built into the system it could be used for any game). And if you're in the middle of nowhere for gamers, online is a great place to find 'em.

Don't get me wrong. I find gaming online to suck about as much a practicing acting lines in a chatroom, but it's beats the alternative. (no gaming at all)

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I think finding a particular game that's not the flavor of the day might be hard if you're a player, but if you're the GM, it's not so bad. I like James Raggi's attitude towards finding players.

 

[The Little Raven]

Maybe it's just way easier said than done? Seriously. There are probably so many different systems because people can't agree on what the alternative to D&D should look like.

People can't agree on what D&D should look like, so I find any hope for the One System to Rule Them All to be slim to none.

 

[Klaus]

That's EXACTLY my situation too. Group wants 4e and there's no other unified systems out there that they want to try (except star warts..which is essnetially 4e!!!!).

ARRRRGH!

jh

Whoa.

Star Wars is "essentially" 4e?

Dude, SW has more in common with 3e than 4e.

 

[Dice4Hire]

A new game system. Lots of them.

A new game system popular enough you can find players wherever you can find D&D players---->Big problem.

A couple examples
I played Star Wars 2nd ed online in one aborted game--Current location closet
I played Deadlands online once and with my friends a bit-->current location closet
I play M&M online in one game and have not played with friends-->current location bookshelf

That is the rub. I want to play games with other people, not just read them or buy them to sit on my shelf or in some folder on my computer. Would a second thing as big as D&D be good? Of course, but so far none has even gotten its foot in the door, regardless of how 'superior' the system is.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Professor Cirno writes:

All you need to pay for there is the brandy you'll be drinking while playing, if you're doing it right

Mixing gaming with alcohol? I say thee nay! This sort of behaviour just leads to fun. And I'm against it.

As for finding a great new prophet to lead the way to the land of gaming milk and honey: meh. Mine is broad church with room for many systems.

Am content with me and my groups. We play a variety of games and are happy to experiment. For my part I like to play one campaign regularly until it's finished then search about for something completely different in system and/or style. Am hoping (just hoping I suspect) that when this new 4e game I've joined dies that I'll be able to convince folks to play Hero System Pulp Adventures.

I've just had a suddne urge to go buy some minis. Pulp minis. Bye.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Wow. I guess all the other RPG companies better close their doors and go home. D&D is apparently the one and only for far too much of the potential market.
They certainly shouldn't consider creating even more new RPG's.
Then again, these attitudes conveyed about games other than D&D have proven my point.
Too many D&D gamers don't spread their wings enough to make more new RPG's all that viable. Too much of the potential market is stuck on D&D. Competition for the gamers who do "spread their wings" is simply too fierce.
So even more "new RPG's" are doomed to failure. WOTC, White Wolf, etc... already have a lock on too much of the potential market.
Stay home new guys. Failure is too likely with how tight the competition for gamer dollars already is.

WOW! Drama Queen much? I think the only person missing the point is you. If you did your research you would find that gamers as a whole are just a bump in the road of toys&games. We are a niche market and the only way to increase play in ANY system is to market to non-gamers. The problem you fail to grasp is that Paizo, Goodman, etc. are NOT getting put on store shelves, because they cannot generate the buzz that puts them there.

For example, my wife and I went to the local hobby store to check out the titles that are up for voting for the ENnies in order to make an informed decision, of the numerous nominees STAR WARS SAGA edition, Changelling: The Lost, and Scion: Gods were the ONLY books available. There are over 100 products on that nomination list and my local store had three. Why, supply and demand.

The demand for these products are greater therefore they are supplied, the demand for 'something else' isn't there, the only way that happens is through marketing and without that, there will never be a need for other titles. You want a change in the way things are done, I respect that, however, you are but an idealistic dreamer in a sea of business reality. One can always hope and even try to make a difference, but the fact is written in basic business text books, you have to make the public want it before you can sell it, only 1% (rounded up mind you) of all successful products started out as a product not a problem to overcome where the product was the solution.

For a more realistic view, think about this - D&D is the most widely recognized PnP RPG, it currently has somewhere between 4 and 7 million players in the US. The population of New York City is roughly 8.5 million people. Adding in gamers that use other systems, I still doubt we equal the population of NYC, and that is a single city (although one of the largest) in a country that isn't the most populous in the world. We are but a small fraction of the people in the world and you are proposing slicing us into further and further slices of pie. Even if all other companies combined to rival D&D, you are still taking from the same pool, not increasing your base. If for no other reason than that, WotC is doing a GREAT JOB! I don't know of anyone that isn't a hard core gamer that has ever even heard of d20/OGL,pathfinder,GURPS,etc. but you can bet your bottom dollar, for good or for ill, a whole bunch of non-gamers at least know of Dungeons & Dragons. You want change, talk to those people first, the rest of us can wait.

 

[WayneLigon]

What the "OTHER" game companies need to do is GET TOGETHER AND COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT SYSTEM.

Unless something really changes, I can't see them bothering. Gamers have shown that, unless it's named 'D&D', they will not flock to a 'new game system' in numbers enough to matter. There have been a number of game systems out there, some offering a much better rules system or play experience than D&D, and they've all been 'also rans'.

It just a matter of economics. Why waste time putting together a design team when you know that it's probably going to be a one-hit wonder? You'll win an Ennie or two for excellent game design and then people will forget you and go back to playing D&D. Quick, name the 2007 Ennies Best Game. Are you playing it? Have you ever played it? Do you know anyone playing it? Arcana Unearthed and Blue Rose were the Gold and Silver Best d20 Game in 2005, both strong and well-positioned games that offered exciting new interpretations of the d20 rules, yet one is unsupported and the other is probably causing most of you to go 'never heard of it'. And those were for games that were D&D in all but name only; how is a completely original game going to fair?

I think we all saw that when the OGL came out. Everyone and their brother immediately dropped what they were doing to ride on the 3E coattails. How many original in-print games have come out since 2000? Not all that many.

 

[Cang]

Well i am probably the minority here, but D&D to me is not even my back up game. I am playing (and gming) it right now because i know a bunch of people who want to try out 4e. My game of choice is Shadowrun. I love the setting, i love the realism meshed with fantasy, i love the story and the reason to have a character. D&D as a system to me was never very appealing. I personally don't like the duality that plays in alot of the novels and games (the good vs evil or this being is evil and this race is good). I know some will agrue with me about that but im not posting about how much better my game is versus yours, that just a silly conversation. All i am saying is i like the unique system (d6) i like the custom rules, i like the fact that the rules mechanic is made for that perticular game and the fluff and the crunch are one in the same. To take settings and toss them all in one rule system limits the creativity of the game setting and to remedy that then you will have piles and piles of races and classes and exceptions. Everyone has what they like and i encourge everyone to give other games a real shot (atually play more then one half hearted afternoon) and leave your perseption of how a game is suppose to be or how your setting is different form this other one at the door. And if you want more people to get into gaming, do something about it. There is very little people in my area that play shadowrun, so i go to comic book stores or speak to people i know and run games to introduce people to something i love. Finding a GM really is the hardest part.