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<blockquote data-quote="TerraDave" data-source="post: 5725106" data-attributes="member: 22260"><p>Some difference between then and now:</p><p></p><p>In the early 80's, D&D was a wave of success, and could support OD&D, B/XD&D and AD&D. (and Runequest and T&T and many other RPGs). And those products could still be used together pretty easily. Bullgrits experience is a typical one. </p><p></p><p>When 2E came out, there was a split. Many splits. But people accepted that one "D&D" game could very different from another. Not from the core rules--which were almost identical in practice across the various versions--but from conventions, house rules, various add ons that were proliferating. And it was accepted that GURPS, WoD, Cyberpunk, with radically different rules and styles...could also be played by the same overlapping groups of players. </p><p></p><p>Then all this splitting <em>may</em> have helped the whole industry just about collapse. Enter 3E. Its was good timing with a version that, at least initially, could appeal to lots of 90s players by artfully combining D&D details (not just tropes, but nitty-gritty details) with 90s obsessions, like detailed skills and various rule sub-systems. It wasn't backwards compatible, but the gap between it and older versions wasn't huge. </p><p></p><p>When 4E came out, there was not big PnP RPG wave to ride. 3E had been pretty successful, was extremely well supported, and had lots of fan. Players had (on average) aged and faced all sorts of demands and alternatives for their time. And 4E was a radical break. </p><p></p><p>It was a recipe for a big split.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TerraDave, post: 5725106, member: 22260"] Some difference between then and now: In the early 80's, D&D was a wave of success, and could support OD&D, B/XD&D and AD&D. (and Runequest and T&T and many other RPGs). And those products could still be used together pretty easily. Bullgrits experience is a typical one. When 2E came out, there was a split. Many splits. But people accepted that one "D&D" game could very different from another. Not from the core rules--which were almost identical in practice across the various versions--but from conventions, house rules, various add ons that were proliferating. And it was accepted that GURPS, WoD, Cyberpunk, with radically different rules and styles...could also be played by the same overlapping groups of players. Then all this splitting [I]may[/I] have helped the whole industry just about collapse. Enter 3E. Its was good timing with a version that, at least initially, could appeal to lots of 90s players by artfully combining D&D details (not just tropes, but nitty-gritty details) with 90s obsessions, like detailed skills and various rule sub-systems. It wasn't backwards compatible, but the gap between it and older versions wasn't huge. When 4E came out, there was not big PnP RPG wave to ride. 3E had been pretty successful, was extremely well supported, and had lots of fan. Players had (on average) aged and faced all sorts of demands and alternatives for their time. And 4E was a radical break. It was a recipe for a big split. [/QUOTE]
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