Cubicle 7 Also Announces A New 'C7d20' System

Joining Paizo (which has hinted at plans to update Pathfinder), Kobold Press (with it's Black Flag project), MCDM (which is working on a new game), and--of course--Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (which was released last year), Cubicle 7 has announced a new C7d20 System.

You heard it here first! C7d20, our brand new system, is in development. Building on the great d20 games we know and love, our system will offer all the exciting action-packed adventures players expect from a d20 fantasy game, as well as the broader styles of gaming that we’ve brought to 5e in Doctors and Daleks, Adventures in Middle-earth, and Uncharted Journeys.

C7d20 will be a complete rule set that is compatible with 5e — you’ll be able to use all of your favourite 5e books and supplements, including Uncharted Journeys and Broken Weave. A core rulebook for C7d20 will launch later this year and you’ll be able to see hints of what is to come when Broken Weave launches. We’re involved in discussions about open licensing and will have more news on this as the situation develops.

 

[Haplo781]

The word ‘balkanization’ is an inherently negative word, with connotations of ethnic state warfare and ethnic-based expulsions.

While I realize you’re emphasizing the valid point that multiple “D&D adjacent” systems are emerging, the ethno-political term is tonally off.

Balkanization is the fragmentation of a larger region or state into smaller regions or states, which may be hostile or uncooperative with one another. It is usually caused by differences of ethnicity, culture, and religion and some other factors such as past grievances.

– Wikipedia

I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine if this is offensive.

 

[overgeeked]

Here’s to hoping this one is lighter than all the other not-5E but totally compatible with 5E games in the pipeline. We already have the heavier-than side well and truly covered.

 

[Dire Bare]

But will Black Flag and C7d20 be compatible? That would seem to be the element that will determine whether we see a flourishing of Open Gaming or a balkanization of competing 5E-alikes.

Why wouldn't they be?

I would assume an adventure written for 5E, Black Flag, A5E, or C7d20 would be usable with any of those systems. Or some of the crunchy bits like monsters and items, while they might be built differently, would be compatible at the same table. My C7d20 character should work just fine at the same table as your A5E character, even if we built them differently.

Character creation options are where things will likely be least compatible. Will the ranger subclass written for 5E work for the ranger class in C7d20? Will there even be a ranger class in C7d20?

I'm not worried about the "balkanization" of D&D. At all. I'm excited about seeing multiple takes on D&D 5E, and being able to pick and choose between them for my home game!

Wizard's OGL missteps are an unmitigated disaster . . . but the silver lining is pretty damn silver! Platinum even!

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

We'd love it to be! So we'll definitely be reaching out to the Kobolds as we develop ours and they work on theirs

Good to hear! I'm hoping for more tines, and less forks.

 

[Jer]

I was expecting either this, or C7 abandoning their d20-based games completely. Not sure which way they'd go, but this is actually the better route IMO.

As far as "compatibility" is concerned - honestly if all of these companies stick to the general rules that Wizards labelled as potentially to be released under a CC-BY license, they'd be 95% compatible already. It would mostly just come down to what interpretations of the different classes they released.

And for ones that are just trying to be compatible to make it easy for D&D players to switch over that's not really a problem. Since Doctors and Daleks, for example, doesn't use D&D classes, spells, magic items, or monsters, they're going to be as compatible with 5e as they are now with no changes needed.

Hilariously to me, I've been told that if Wizards revokes the OGL everyone who writes their own D&D compatible ruleset can scrawl "Compatible with Dungeons and Dragons" on their covers, where now the OGL prevents them from doing that. The era of people trying to figure out how to write "Compatible with the World's Largest RPG" in various and sundry ways will be over.

 

[Xethreau]

The word ‘balkanization’ is an inherently negative word, with connotations of ethnic state warfare and ethnic-based expulsions.

While I realize you’re emphasizing the valid point that multiple “D&D adjacent” systems are emerging, the ethno-political term is tonally off.

Point well taken, but don't @ me about it. I did not introduce the word to the conversation.

 

[CleverNickName]

This is all starting to remind me of the Cola Wars of the 1980s. I'm curious to see which one will end up on top (my money is on ORC, but time will tell.)

 

[sevenbastard]

Sounds cool, but C7d20 doesn't roll of tongue.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine if this is offensive.

Having visited the Balkans during the post-Cold War civil war era, I think it's hard to characterize "balkanization" as anything other than bad.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Here’s to hoping this one is lighter than all the other not-5E but totally compatible with 5E games in the pipeline. We already have the heavier-than side well and truly covered.

Lighter makes for maximum compatibility, so someone will be making one of those.