d20 or Bust?

[diaglo]

I'll pose a question in another way. I believe that the two question have similar answers:

You've just pulled off the interstate at an exit in the middle of Nowhere, Indiana, after a trip to Gencon. You're hungry, you have 3 more hours of driving, and you're down to your last $5.00 cash (you've got credit, but nowhere out here has an ATM). You've got two choices for food:

Bert's Chicken Hut

A fast food restaurant

Which do you pick, and why?

personally i'd starve. but since i am currently in this crux. i ended up picking the fast food joint. i just make sure i close my eyes, plug my ears and nose, and order something that at least looks like it did... when the fast food joint of the same name years ago knew how to make decent food.

 

[Razuur]

I am the primary GM. Learning and teaching the systems has always fallen on me. Now when I was younger and in high school and college, it was fairly easy to keep all of these different systems stright in my head. Then as I got older, and became a computer programmer, got married, had a kid. Now life is just far more complicated, and it seems that my head has less room for the extra.... drek.

I began getting real tired of everytime I wanted to switch genres, I had to relearn the rules and reteach them. The gaming group only has time for a one night a week session, and all we really want to do is play.

Now we primarily play D20 - because it is intuitive. We still play WW World of Darkness. I have enough brain power outside of Real-life to know the rules for apprx two systems and their variants. My players sometimes want to try other systems, but I say sure - you GM it and learn and teach the rules. that pretty much quashes it.

For me, D20 has finally grown into what I have always wanted it to. With all of the different options and toolkits and settings out there, I can pretty much use D20 in whatever genre I want. We don't use minatures, and play really cinematically. And enough sources to determine which autofire rules we like best, for example. So in the end, D20/OGL has more than enough to keep me. Very soon, my decade long WOD campaign will be over, and then I fear that WW will no longer be played. I wish WW would open the storyteller to Open Content. I think the influx on new blood would help rectify some of a great systems few flaws, and breathe new life into a great system.

If I could have one D20 mechanic that I don't have, it would be a leveless D20 mechanic. Something in which players are rewarded experience and spend it as they wish on whatever they wish. We are close with Mutants and Masterminds. The closest I have seen is the OGL section in Godlike, which presented the bare bones of such a system (by Mike Mearls). I have created my own system, which accomplishes this, but would love to see some other publishers takes to see how mine stacks up.

Razuur

 

[Ranger REG]

Only if there is a big market for it. Otherwise, you could publish yours as a niche product.

 

[SSquirrel]

If I could have one D20 mechanic that I don't have, it would be a leveless D20 mechanic. Something in which players are rewarded experience and spend it as they wish on whatever they wish. We are close with Mutants and Masterminds. The closest I have seen is the OGL section in Godlike, which presented the bare bones of such a system (by Mike Mearls). I have created my own system, which accomplishes this, but would love to see some other publishers takes to see how mine stacks up.

There's a thread in House Rules "DrSpunj's Combat Balance Spreadsheet" (I believe) that still has levels, but it breaks down all teh classes into point buy and upon attaining a level you spend X points on abilities etc. Nifty so far.

Hagen