Cover other games?--- Err No

[Samurai]

I spend the great majority of my time at RPG.net precisely because it is the best general rpg site around. To be honest, I would probably spend more time here at EnWorld if it covered all RPGs instead of just d20, but I still doubt it could replace RPG.net in terms of the community atmosphere.

That said, I think more and more, EnWorld will HAVE to cover other games! Dual-statting is becoming very popular, so games like L5R/Rokugan, Deadlands, Fading Suns, Godlike, SAS, and more will have both d20 and another system. If EnWorld wants to cover d20, they will by extention also report all news, upcoming books, reviews, etc for these games house systems too. You can try to exclude the other half of the books, and only talk about the d20 parts, but that may be rather silly and pointless, as we all know they are dual-statted.

Many people talk about d20 being king because of all these companies jumping on the bandwagon, but one of the main reasons they are doing so is to increase visibility and the number of people taking a look at their house system! By throwing d20 stats in there, many d20 fans will buy the book and look at the original rules alongside the d20 versions. Some, they are hoping, will say "these look cool, lets try playing with the original system for once!" Maybe with some support and encouragement here on EnWorld for those and other systems, people will give more games a try and find that d20/ D&D is not the entire world of RPGs...

 

[Sir Falke]

What can we say?

I have nothing against adding "other RPG´s" content as long I can easily find what I´m looking for... The idea of the tab indicating the "other RPG" sectoin seems great to me and I´d say "go ahead!". If it helps you, then sure, it´s YOUR site, Morrus, after all
But you surely will need lots and lots of new collaborators and scoopers...
So, putting all my ideas together: "No problem, so long the D20 content remains top quality!"

 

[trancejeremy]

No, bad idea.

While it would be handy getting all the news in one place, it's not that big a deal reading another site (I usually read Gamingreport, which also lets you make MST3K style comments, if you want, on various news articles).

The main trouble is, this is a fairly friendly site. For the most part, people get along very very well here. That's largely (IMHO) because everyone likes d20 here, or least enough to play it or have an interest in it.

Mixing RPG game systems a lot like mixing musical genres. Sure, you can have a site devoted to both Country & Rap fans (and there is some crossover), but you're basically just asking for trouble. Look at RPG net, for instance.

 

[Suzerain]

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[Evil-B]

Just to make sure nobody misunderstands me - I'm not referring to any impending "fall" of D&D or D20 or anything like that.

But...could there be rumblings about changes in the d20 SRD that would impact this site? With all the tension of late...

Anyway, not to belabor the point. I know how speculation runs hereabouts. It's a hobby for some of us

As for the site...like many, I wouldn't have a problem with expanding the coverage out to other games as long as the d20 content stayed the same high-quality. I just would be concerned about the long-term effects on Morrus's already-overworked sanity...

 

[Morrus]

Re: Good Idea, Morrus!

I think this is a constructive approach to bringing new gamers towards the d20 system!

That's absolutely not a goal. Why should I want to make people play d20 instead of GURPS, Storyteller or whatever their game is? I'm not interested in converting people.

In fact, I'm not even considering a "more visitors" angle. I don't care about more visitors - I care about the people who come here now, and about providing stuff that *they* will find useful. Thus the poll.

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

Personally I wouldn't want to see ENWorld cover other systems. It currently has a good core focus. To begin to branch into other systems could cause it to loose the focus of why I come here. To see discussion of D20 related items.

 

[Aristotle]

I guess it depends on the format that the staff wants to give this "other games" section. If we are just talking about a basic industry news site... that might work. Of course there are already general RPG sites like www.rpg.net in operation, but another (if done well) might gain an audience.

If we are talking about more in depth coverage of other games, then I suppose it is either a matter of resources or need. Does this site have the staff and resources to offer the same kind of strong support it offers the d20 system? And is it something that the community needs? This site fills a valuable niche. It a center for the d20 community online. Some game systems already have sites that fill this roll for their fans.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Re: Re: Good Idea, Morrus!

That's absolutely not a goal. Why should I want to make people play d20 instead of GURPS, Storyteller or whatever their game is? I'm not interested in converting people.

In fact, I'm not even considering a "more visitors" angle. I don't care about more visitors - I care about the people who come here now, and about providing stuff that *they* will find useful. Thus the poll.

I voted No, but after reading this.. err.. I am willing to trust your judgement on the matter.

I am concerned a broader focus would invite more users, and it would waterdown the value of the forums to me, but you mentioned a seperate news page.. so perhaps seperate forums as well.

So, count one "No" as a "do whatever you think is best- I doubt it will impact me in a negative way."

FD

 

[Suzerain]

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