Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="MongooseMatt" data-source="post: 2260284" data-attributes="member: 16996">Hi guys,1.  Has the gaming industry evolved.  Hell yes - look at the web support even the smallest products get, look at the production quality of the higher end books.  In these areas we have scooted along from ten or even five years ago.  Evolution of game design is more subjective but there are certainly games that continue pushing boundaries.  However, don't discount the effect the OGL and d20 licences have - the using of common rules sets is beginning to spread beyond the d20 SRD and you will begin seeing a lot more games in the future that have a rules set picked for them not because it is automatically popular but because it fits the setting.Using another company's rules system might have been unthinkable before d20 came along.I would argue against computer games evolving out of this industry but it may be true that they can be used as a model to develop.  However, you won't get far with RPGs alone and once you begin moving beyond RPGs, there is little wrong with the gaming industry. . .  That said, compare an RPG of the 70's with the current D&D, Buffy or Conan.  We have come a long way.2.  Lateness and Vapourware.  This has two causes (generally - as with everything else, the <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Up Theory can always apply).  Either a, umm, less well-managed company failed to plan ahead or a more established company has run into problems.  With the latter, it is easy to ponder about financial problems but a freelancer letting a company down can have a similar impact, especially if a project has to be started over.  As for being taken seriously, if you hit your release dates, the distributor chain will take you seriously.  If not, they won't.  There is a natural mechanism here guarding against the worst offenders.3.  Hobby or Business.  Yes, now, I have always hated this question.  All through the d20 craze, various 'companies' complained about the little guys ruining the rest of the industry.  Poppycock.  If companies like that are ruining your day and your sales, then maybe, just maybe, you are not that much better off than they are.  It is not a good idea to throw mud.  For my part, I say that if someone wants to run an RPG company as an extension of their hobby, and if it actually makes money - good on them!  They are already doing better than 90% of all people who enter the industry.  If they make it 'big' they are not going to be a hobby business for long (there are some interesting exceptions here but I digress).  If they sell just enough to make a tidy profit then they are not going to have much effect on the industry one way or the other.  Collectively, these 'hobby companies' make up less than 1% of the overall market share.So no, they are not 'killing the industry'.  Comapnies criticising one another does no good, but hobby companies are not the root of all evil.4.  New Gamer Blood.  No arguments here.  You also have some very good ideas but I fear you lack the oomph to push them through.  It isn't the hobby companioes you have to convince here but the likes of WotC and White Wolf.  Between those two you have perhaps 60% of the market share of the RPG industry and the resources that go with that.  However, drop me a line if you want to talk about this further - it is important.5.  Evolution and Revolution.  Well, the last was d20.  What will be the next?  No idea but it will be here in a year or three.  Less than that for a general gaming evolution rather than RPGs.  The trouble is when you move too far from the RPG format, it is no longer an RPG.  People call it a splinter or whole new category of game.  The D&D miniatures game is a good example of this.Your intentions are laudable and I wish you the best of luck.  However, many people have been down this path before <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification