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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bryan Vining" data-source="post: 401208" data-attributes="member: 7628">From Joshua Yes; however, it is not a pointless pedanticism.  To take a couple of examples, the Harn roleplaying system is widely considered by those who have played it to be a very high quality game.  However, it does not enjoy the popularity of D&D.  My guess as to that would be that the flavor of Harn is very quasi-historical.  It is fantasy, to be sure, but it is more grounded fantasy than what you find in D&D or GURPS or even FUDGE fantasy.  It doesn't appeal to a lot of gamers, but it's still high quality.  Second example:  Every year the Academy Awards nominates 5 or 6 films as Film of the Year.  Almost without exception, you'll find 1-3 blockbuster films amongst the nominees and 2-3 films that are not terribly popular at all.  (I used to joke that if a critic liked it, I wouldn't go see it).  Oftentimes these less popular films are either slow or depressing or both.  However, they are very good films, at least as movie makers judge them.  Personally, I just saw the Four Feathers, and I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a nominee next year.  This film won't make tons of money, though.  It's slow paced and a lot of the interesting stuff in it is rather subtle, which is easily missed.  I happened to be in a mood that made that work for me, but I oftentimes would pass on it given a choice of other films.  Hey, thanks for making my point for me <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Well, yes, as I said, popularity and quality often correlate.  While we can't prove that the quality is part of the cause of a game's popularity, it is reasonable to infer that the quality of a game must meet some minimum standard to be popular and that the popularity of a game will be proportional to its quality to some degree.  That said, I do not think that one can then say that the tremendous popularity of 3E is due solely or even largely to its quality as a rules system.  I would include the quality of the rules system as part of the cause of its success.  However, I would put forth the notion that 3E is largely successful for a couple of different reasons, to wit:  It's flavor has been updated from the 70s-era feel of 1e and 2e to something more modern.  Good examples of this are the artwork (which we were told was picked specifically to appeal to younger, new gamers), the faster level progression, and the inclusion of skills and feats, which weaken the concepts of characters archetypes.  The other major reason I think it has been so successful is marketing, pure and simple.  The game was heavily pumped in all of the relevant media.  A special simplified version is in toy stores and in book stores.  A movie came out with the brand name as its title.  Don't underestimate the power of marketing.  An amusing example of that power is grocery shopping with my 2 1/2 year old daughter.  We'll walk by the cold cuts section wherein the Lunchables and the like are stocked.  This child does not watch much commercial TV and yet she sees those products (which are aimed at kids) and she wants them.  It's amazing (and a little disconcerting) to see how easily she is drawn into a product of which she has no real knowledge other than its appearance!  That's marketing, folks.</blockquote>

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