D20 taking over?
- Thread starter Eryx
- Start date
Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad
This is kinda sad. It seems all my life this same arguement happens, over and over again. When I was a kid, it was atari vs. commodore, then it was betamax vs. vhs, then it was ibm vs. apple/mac, then it was dat vs. cd, then it was linux vs. microsoft...
Guys, you can argue that X gaming system is the best until you die. The truth is that it has nothing to do with how good a system is. Betamax WAS, technically speaking, better than VHS. Atari was, technically speaking, better than IBM. DAT was, technically speaking, higher quality than CDs. And linux is, technically speaking, "better" than Windows operating systems.
But, this is the sad truth. The systems that reach the critical mass of popularity are the ones that win. Most of the time, the winner does it by making their system the most open (only one provider of DAT killed it, only one provider of Betamax killed it, only authorized and paid-licensed hardware manufacturers for all systems other than IBM compatible killed the other systems, other than Mac, who struggled until their system became mostly open). Currently, only the d20 system (I believe) is an open system, all the other systems (HEROS, GURPS, ETC) are closed systems. If you want to add on or change those systems, I believe (and I could be wrong here), you have to pay a licensing fee to someone. Those systems will, in the long run, die (it will be a slow death, to be sure). Or, perhaps they will adapt, and become open systems also.
It really doesn't matter if non-d20 systems can do things better than d20 systems. If they stay closed systems, and they let d20 get too far ahead in popularity, eventually they will die.
Guys, you can argue that X gaming system is the best until you die. The truth is that it has nothing to do with how good a system is. Betamax WAS, technically speaking, better than VHS. Atari was, technically speaking, better than IBM. DAT was, technically speaking, higher quality than CDs. And linux is, technically speaking, "better" than Windows operating systems.
But, this is the sad truth. The systems that reach the critical mass of popularity are the ones that win. Most of the time, the winner does it by making their system the most open (only one provider of DAT killed it, only one provider of Betamax killed it, only authorized and paid-licensed hardware manufacturers for all systems other than IBM compatible killed the other systems, other than Mac, who struggled until their system became mostly open). Currently, only the d20 system (I believe) is an open system, all the other systems (HEROS, GURPS, ETC) are closed systems. If you want to add on or change those systems, I believe (and I could be wrong here), you have to pay a licensing fee to someone. Those systems will, in the long run, die (it will be a slow death, to be sure). Or, perhaps they will adapt, and become open systems also.
It really doesn't matter if non-d20 systems can do things better than d20 systems. If they stay closed systems, and they let d20 get too far ahead in popularity, eventually they will die.
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
Well maybe I'm misunderstanding but wouldn't that logic lead to Linux killing Windows? It lacks any chance at all and it's perfectly open system, while Windows is closed.
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
Corinth said:
That will never happen. Until something that is so easy and revolutionary that it makes Windows look like DOS we are pretty much stuck with Windows. Linux already is a lot more stable and quick than Windows, but since most commercial apps are devolped much later than the Windows versions, if at all, it will never reach critical mass. I hope we never see the day when WOTC is the Microsoft of RPG's, ie 95% of games are d20 rather than systems matched to a specific genre or setting.
Kaptain_Kantrip
First Post
Mistwell said:
I agree 100%. With the OGL, a whole new level of support by third parties is possible where before none existed. The system that is the most open and supported eventually will win, hands down. d20 can do anything the other systems can do. It may require a tweak here and there, but it can be done, and done well, such as in the case of Spycraft, Call of Cthulhu, Pulp Heroes, etc.
Really?
I don't think that the Internet is a fad nor do I think that it will go out of fashion. Like anything it will grow, evolve and become something new and better. D20 and roleplaying in general will do the same.
The only fad's that go out of fashion are those that (although they may be good) don't have the fan base to keep them going.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
Windows really isn't closed. Anyone can make software for it, license free. It's just not as open as Linux, where people can use the source code to port Linux to any platform.
If companies had to get a Windows license from Microsoft to make programs for Windows, then Windows would be closed. (This is how it works for various consoles...)
Kaptain_Kantrip said:
<< I agree 100%. With the OGL, a whole new level of support by third parties is possible where before none existed. The
system that is the most open and supported eventually will win, hands down. d20 can do anything the other systems can
do. It may require a tweak here and there, but it can be done, and done well, such as in the case of Spycraft, Call of
Cthulhu, Pulp Heroes, etc. >>
The d20 system can probably be tweaked to mimic other systems to a degree, although I don't know how well the flavor of significantly different systems would convert over. But why even bother anyway? Would it make sense to convert Rolemaster to d20 for instance? It would require a lot of work (redoing stats, skills, professions, attack tables, spells lists, etc... basically most of the game) and it would only be a pale imitation of the original.
It's too bad too, because I would love to see a OGL version of Rolemaster. But ICE has the copyright and that's not the direction they want to take... Nevertheless it still remains my favorite FRPG, and although we are probably a niche market, I don't think there is any danger of d20 "taking over" the Rolemaster players. The systems are just too different in feel.
<< I agree 100%. With the OGL, a whole new level of support by third parties is possible where before none existed. The
system that is the most open and supported eventually will win, hands down. d20 can do anything the other systems can
do. It may require a tweak here and there, but it can be done, and done well, such as in the case of Spycraft, Call of
Cthulhu, Pulp Heroes, etc. >>
The d20 system can probably be tweaked to mimic other systems to a degree, although I don't know how well the flavor of significantly different systems would convert over. But why even bother anyway? Would it make sense to convert Rolemaster to d20 for instance? It would require a lot of work (redoing stats, skills, professions, attack tables, spells lists, etc... basically most of the game) and it would only be a pale imitation of the original.
It's too bad too, because I would love to see a OGL version of Rolemaster. But ICE has the copyright and that's not the direction they want to take... Nevertheless it still remains my favorite FRPG, and although we are probably a niche market, I don't think there is any danger of d20 "taking over" the Rolemaster players. The systems are just too different in feel.
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