Attorney vs Lawyer

[buzz]

Here is the "difference", as explained by Eric Cagle, who wrote the lawyer character...

Red. Headed. Stepchild.

 

[Greatwyrm]

On Redheaded Stepchildren...

As far as redheaded stepchildren, I think d20M is suffering from being in the same product niche that Alternity was in at the end of TSR. Unfortunately, Alternity was fairly well supported before it was cancelled about a year into it's life. d20M hasn't been really supported all that well. I understand that it's D&D that pays the bills in this department, but a little more would have been nice.

That aside, I think d20M could really benefit from some more third-party support. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a d20 fantasy module, but there just aren't many modern ones out. You've got the Game Mechanics and whoever does the "Blood and..." series, but after that, the field gets pretty thin.

 

[buzz]

That aside, I think d20M could really benefit from some more third-party support. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a d20 fantasy module, but there just aren't many modern ones out. You've got the Game Mechanics and whoever does the "Blood and..." series, but after that, the field gets pretty thin.

Indeed, and as I mentioned in another thread, the field has also been somewhat limited in scope.

I think it simply boils down to the fact that d20M is not D&D, so there's less incentive, economically, for companies to support it (WotC included). Which is too bad. I woudn't mind any of this if Urban Arcana hadn't been so lackluster, because then at least one could say that the Mothership was consistently making good product for it. At least the d20MM is looking good so far.

 

[Doc_Souark]

As far as redheaded stepchildren, I think d20M is suffering from being in the same product niche that Alternity was in at the end of TSR. Unfortunately, Alternity was fairly well supported before it was cancelled about a year into it's life. d20M hasn't been really supported all that well. I understand that it's D&D that pays the bills in this department, but a little more would have been nice.

That aside, I think d20M could really benefit from some more third-party support. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a d20 fantasy module, but there just aren't many modern ones out. You've got the Game Mechanics and whoever does the "Blood and..." series, but after that, the field gets pretty thin.

Hopefully they (WoTC/ Hasbro) won't decide it's a lost cause (non money maker) and dump it.

JPL far be it for me to cause you "reckless infliction of emotional distress". .

 

[Greatwyrm]

Hopefully they (WoTC/ Hasbro) won't decide it's a lost cause (non money maker) and dump it.

For a long time, those same fears were shared by a lot of D&D fans. Hasbro wouldn't be happy with the return, can the product line, and just hang on to the IP for action figures and board games. With the d20 and OGL licenses, we don't have to worry about this.

If WotC/Hasbro pulled the plug on d20M tomorrow, you or I or anyone else could produce our own rulebook to replace it. Sure, it wouldn't have Shadow Chasers or Urban Arcana or Agents of PSI in it. Then again, if I was doing the book, it probably wouldn't have had those in it anyway. (Why they left Genetech on the cutting-room floor, I'll never know. At least it made Polyhedron.)

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Heh. Ditto Call of Cthulhu d20, in a sense. Of course, WotC was pretty clear that both of those were one-off projects. d20M is supposedly part of the holy trinity.

D&D, D20M, and Forgotten Realms?

 

[Greatwyrm]

D&D, D20M, and Forgotten Realms?

I'm guessing D&D, d20M, and Star Wars.

 

[buzz]

I'm guessing D&D, d20M, and Star Wars.

Exactamundo. Which is precisely why I was suprised that d20 Future was being planned. I had thought WotC had some agreement with Lucasfilm not to publish competing SF products.

 

[Katowice]

I think the mistake is that both "attorney" and "lawyer" should appear in Chapter 1, under "Fiend".

 

[Psion]

As far as redheaded stepchildren, I think d20M is suffering from being in the same product niche that Alternity was in at the end of TSR. Unfortunately, Alternity was fairly well supported before it was cancelled about a year into it's life. d20M hasn't been really supported all that well. I understand that it's D&D that pays the bills in this department, but a little more would have been nice.

Well, I imagine, like Alternity, it is a cell on someone's spreadsheet that says what they can make. Unlike alternity, they know what they are likely to sell ahead of time and act accordingly.

The thing about the d20 license and OGL is that it lets smaller companies print the smaller print-run supporting products that a larger company like WotC would just be forced to discontinue. It's a cold hard fact that D&D/d20 Fantasy outsells just about any other product category, even if it is riding on some of those familiar mechanics.