Alternatives to D&D

[thecasualoblivion]

Forked from: Mishler's rant part II. (Forked Thread: another rpg industry doomsday article)

My response to this thread brings up an interesting point. In the current tabletop RPG world, alternatives to mainstream D&D are at a low ebb. Aside from White Wolf chugging along as the number 2 publisher, doing its own thing as always, what is really selling outside of 4E? 3PP 4E books aren't, outside of Goodman being modestly successful selling adventures. The OGL has slowed down considerably. Indie games and non-d20 systems are barely on the radar. Most people who haven't switched to 4E are playing old games. Either retro clones of a previously released game(and I would include Pathfinder in this), older editions of D&D, or playing older games that haven't been updated recently. A few blips here and there, but not a lot. There's 4E, and White Wolf puts out new games for their system, but outside of that, nothing new is really happening.

While I'm happy with 4E myself, I've always liked having other systems around. I tend to prefer non-d20 systems when it comes to this personally, but thats me. I believe that people want something new, and something not D&D. I believe the not-D&D market has been focused on the OGL for a long time now, and I'm not sure the OGL is the future of not-D&D at this point.

 

[ggroy]

I believe the not-D&D market has been focused on the OGL for a long time now, and I'm not sure the OGL is the future of not-D&D at this point.

Mind as well flip a coin.

Having some diversity in rulesets and games would be nice again.


The recent Mongoose version of Traveller uses an older set of rules.

There's always GURPS, but it hasn't been as exciting this time around.

Call of Cthulhu went back to an older set of rules. Chaosium even released its Basic Roleplaying set of non-d20 rules.

 

[Glyfair]

I think more people are playing non-D&D games than you know. D&D is certainly the top dog by a long shot. I know that White Wolf games have taken a slight hit in my area, but there are plenty of other RPGs being played.

The issue I see right now is that there are so many other good RPGs out there. You can probably find something out there that is close to your ideal RPG, if you look hard enough. The big issue is finding other players to play the RPG with.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s I played dozens of RPGs. People still do, but I don't see it as often. Mostly because a large portion of the gaming population is older, with less time to roleplay and the younger players have more distractions. I suspect most experimental players might be gravitating to online games where it is easier to find gamers willing to try a particular game for a while.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I'm not really talking about whats being played. I'm more talking about whats being sold and produced. Nothing really new is floating around, nothing major anyway.

 

[Hjorimir]

Eclipse Phase is the only thing I see on the horizon that may have real market potential...and that's just a gut feeling.

The core rulebook is like 400 pages, color, hardback (so it would seem production levels are there). I'd love to see a preview of the rules to see if the game sparks any interest, but so far they've been pretty tight lipped. I think the book may be available at Gen Con.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm not really talking about whats being played. I'm more talking about whats being sold and produced. Nothing really new is floating around, nothing major anyway.

Ah, I missed the connection to the original thread.

I think you might be true, because you exclude so much, but so what? Do we need a "big, new, original RPG" right now? There are a huge number of RPGs out there. Right now a new RPG would have to be amazing, original, and appeal to a large audience to make a big dent.

As I said, there are enough great RPGs out there. I could probably play a new one every week and not run out of them for several years while keeping a high threshold of quality.

 

[Hussar]

I'm not really talking about whats being played. I'm more talking about whats being sold and produced. Nothing really new is floating around, nothing major anyway.

I don't know if I'd say that.

Savage World's Explorer edition is out there and they are releasing their Space 1889 world very soon.

Spirit of the Century is in the middle of releasing the Dresden Files setting.

Catalyst Games is redoing Battletech rather well.

That's off the top of my head. I know that, just for my group, when our current D&D campaign ends, we're going to become gaming whores for a while and experiment with as many systems as we can. All Flesh Must Be Eaten is high up on the list along with several others.

There certainly are lots of games around. Whether they are selling or not is something I can't even guess at.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I would say there is some major stuff coming up the pipe (or continuing):
Cthulhutech: While already released there are still more books coming down the line that should continue for sometime and has, IME has had fairly good success.
Eclipse Phase: It is coming out this summer, and has had a fair amount of talk and anticipation and looks like will be worth the wait.
Dragon's Age: This could bring new blood into tabletop if it can bring people from the video-game into the tabletop.

 

[Asmor]

Mutants & Masterminds seems to be doing pretty well, at least among those I follow on Twitter. Not a major force, of course, but I have noticed several people talking about it and working with it...

 

[Aus_Snow]

In the current tabletop RPG world, alternatives to mainstream D&D are at a low ebb. Aside from White Wolf chugging along as the number 2 publisher, doing its own thing as always, what is really selling outside of 4E? 3PP 4E books aren't, outside of Goodman being modestly successful selling adventures. The OGL has slowed down considerably. Indie games and non-d20 systems are barely on the radar. Most people who haven't switched to 4E are playing old games. Either retro clones of a previously released game(and I would include Pathfinder in this), older editions of D&D, or playing older games that haven't been updated recently. A few blips here and there, but not a lot. There's 4E, and White Wolf puts out new games for their system, but outside of that, nothing new is really happening.

Um. How is it that you (think you) know all this stuff about the industry, and in such detail too?

Would it be possible for you to post some data or the like, and would you mind doing so? Ta.