Why did TSR dump Alternity?

[Cowpie Zombie]

You know, spending all this time poring over the new Dark*Matter: Shades of Grey has me wondering why TSR dumped Alternity in the first place. Looking at my FLGS I'm struck by the sheer number of Alternity stuff that TSR actually released and the high quality of it. Did the game not sell? Or was TSR just in financial trouble? Or both???

 

[Psion]

Yes, it did not sell well. I am under the impression that they over-produced it, expecting sales more in the order of D&D.

Also, at the time that they got the Marvel license, they had to decide which of their systems to adapt it to and alternity lost. Further, by the time they had gotten the SW license, the d20 concept was already in the pipe, so it was more or less being shed as a fifth wheel of a system by then.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I really liked the StarDrive setting

 

[Von Ether]

Beyond having d20 SW on the horizon and thus having two SF games competeing for each other, WotC kept saying "This is not D&D in space."

Imagine the irony of that statement now.

 

[Ranger REG]

I don't know, Von Ether. Do you truly believe that SW-d20 is "D&D in space"?

 

[bubbalin]

I get annoyed with the number of people who say that...
i think it has a lot to do with the GM and how they run something...
the rules can help, but how much more is the GM's performance a part of it. IMNSHO the books did a good job of getting the feel of star wars across.

 

[Bagpuss]

Looking at my FLGS I'm struck by the sheer number of Alternity stuff that TSR actually released and the high quality of it. Did the game not sell?

I think you just answered your own question there, if it is still on the shelf in your FLGS, it certainly hasn't sold well.

 

[Von Ether]

I don't know, Von Ether. Do you truly believe that SW-d20 is "D&D in space"?

Of course not, but Dragonstar is and d20 Future will be d20 Modern rules (a varient of the D&D rules) for SF.

The other level of irony for Alternity is that when the game line officialy closed, the developer wrote on the TSR/WotC website, that Alternity players should check out the upcoming 3rd edition of D&D since some of Alternity's mechanics inspired the changes in 3.0, espeicialy the concept that one type of die mechanic should manage the vast majority the game engine.

For trival's sake, Alternity's mechanic was a d20 + a bonus/penalty die to beat a difficulty number (which was the PC's skill level, if I remember right.)

As an aside, IMO game sales are like box office receipts. Sales reflect games that pick the best target audience and provide a decent product to that audience through solid distribution channels, but that doesn't determine the total quality of a gaming product.

Just like there are movies that are great art (like some indie movies among others) that don't match box office sales with fun, cool action flicks put out by major studios. And there are also alot of stinkers out there put out at all levels of the movie biz.

A lot of industry guys will tell you that Dark*Matter products broke some ground at the time they came out. I am sure Alternity had more influence on D&D than we know.

 

[Golem2176]

If you know the workings of Alternity well, you know that it wasn't completely scrapped. It became streamlined and was used as a base for the D20 system.

 

[Greatwyrm]

If you know the workings of Alternity well, you know that it wasn't completely scrapped. It became streamlined and was used as a base for the D20 system.

Plus, if you look at Unearthed Arcana, the random die bonus/penalty section looks an awful lot like the Alternity dice mechanic.