In defense of Open Gaming

[Dispater]

You have to admit that the OGL is pretty much a stroke of genius.
Look what it has done for the hobby. I can do very litle but give WOTC credit.

 

[Wolfspider]

I wouldn't waste my time with the Decipher message boards. They're haunted by pretty pathetic specimens, if you ask me. Over on the Lord of the Rings message board, they tore me apart for suggesting the D20 could adequately portray Tolkien's world and for saying that MERP was an overly complicated system that didn't really convey the atmosphere of Middle Earth very well. They really do HATE D20 and D&D over there. Not even a mutual love for Tolkien's books saved me from being attacked by them.

So don't waste your time. Let them tear at each other alone in their hateful little pit.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

At least one company has decided to drop d20 from a game (sort of).

Pinnacle is dropping the d20 aspect of their Weird Wars game, in favor of their new free, 4-page Wild Card rule system.

According to Pinnalce president Shane Hensley (in an email to the Weird Wars mail list on April 20), Weird War II will remain d20 and there are three upcoming books (through August 2002) that are d20 books for Weird War II.

After that, sales will determine if any more d20 is released.

Other Weird Wars lines, will use the new Wild Card System.

From another Shane Hensley email:

So What the Hell is the Wild Card System?

It is *NOT* the Deadlands system. It is loosely *based* on the Rail Wars system, which allows you to have dozens of characters/NPCs/bad guys/monsters out on the table at once and resolve *huge* combats in less than 20 minutes.

Best of all, the Wild Card basic rules will be *free.* An Advanced Rule Book is how we'll make money on it, but you *will* be able to play *any genre* with the four-page basic rules.

 

[Desdichado]

I only buy d20 stuff right now. Although I'll probably pick up Middle-earth once it's done. I don't like to bother with systems, really. D20 has a few flaws, but they're not really game-breakers. Other options, including WoT, CoC, etc. are slowly eradicating those potential flaws and increasing the usability of d20 over a wider base of genres.

Then again, I never really bought tons and tons of stuff. I own a lot of Traveller and MegaTraveller, but never liked that system. I own a lot of Werewolf, and didn't really have a problem with that system. I own an original printing of Champions, which I can't stand, I own 3rd edition Shadowrun, I have 2nd edition MERP, and probably a few other systems that I can't think of right now. But my d20 stuff is my favorite stuff, for the most part, and it's the stuff that's actually getting played. And again, I think the system's as good for my purposes as anything else out there, so why should I mess around with another one?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

You know what I'm reminded of? Microsoft.

WotC makes a superior product, and offers it to others essentially free of charge.

You are joking about Microsoft making a superior product right?

 

[WSmith]

Nowadays, I prefer to hang out in the TrekRPGNetwork message boards.

Aloha, REG. Did you ever get to see if Jellies in the Pearl Kai shopping center is still there?

I find it very amusing that not even the Decipher people hang around their own message boards, save an occasional post by Ross Issacs. Now I know why. I have gotten more info in the CODA system at Trek-rpg i a week or so than I have in months on the official boards.

 

[WSmith]

I wouldn't waste my time with the Decipher message boards. They're haunted by pretty pathetic specimens, if you ask me. Over on the Lord of the Rings message board, they tore me apart for suggesting the D20 could adequately portray Tolkien's world and for saying that MERP was an overly complicated system that didn't really convey the atmosphere of Middle Earth very well. They really do HATE D20 and D&D over there. Not even a mutual love for Tolkien's books saved me from being attacked by them.

So don't waste your time. Let them tear at each other alone in their hateful little pit.

Greetings, Wolfspider.

I remember that. I guess I too belong over here with the "fecus eating flies" I have to say a good DM/GM/storyteller/narrator/whatever can make any system work for any setting, even if not intended to do so. Granted, I don't think "D&D" could handle Tolkien perfectly, but "d20" with a few tweeks, like the ME section of this site, could do a fine job.

 

[King_Stannis]

Re: Re: In defense of Open Gaming

Who's buying only d20 stuff?

me.

 

[evileeyore]

D20 has a few flaws, but they're not really game-breakers. Other options, including WoT, CoC, etc. are slowly eradicating those potential flaws and increasing the usability of d20 over a wider base of genres.

You are correct that d20 is slowly fixing the minor flaws...

Unfortunately I will never like the system so long as the Biggest Flaw remains. The Level, Class system d20 relies upon.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate level or class based systems just because of levels or classes. In fact I loved L5R and the system. However the way in which it is implimented under d20, the strict class basing, the way leveling is done... Well L5R lost a few things... And the fact that the PrCs really don't reflect the Clans very well, well....

So I'll never change. Now before you go "He must have been birthed with a GURPS book in hand", my first "real" RPG was AD&D I was 9 (yeah a long time ago, heh, remember Comeliness?). Then I played D&D until I was 16. Then I found Nirvana (not the band, that was later...) GURPS. Hell I'll be the first to admit its flaws are hefty... but it best represents what I want in a system.

Now I am not slammin D&D enthuisits (you *&@*&$&'s... ) so don't take it that way...

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

buying d20 only

I'm now buying only d20 books, etc. I have in my collection, GURPS, Shadowrun (1st ed), Teenagers from Outer Space, Call of Cthulhu (4th edition), Ars Magica (3rd edition), but you know what, none of them ever got played. With the arrival of CoC d20, one of the other players in my group actually volunteered to GM an adventure!

Supporting an open system also sits well with me from an ideological point of view. If other publishers don't understand the benefit of an open system where everyone gets to share the benefits of improvements, bug fixes, and a large, mutually compatible customer base, I do. My gaming time is precious, and now that I have a choice, I no longer want to spend it beta-testing for anybody else's "House System".

After all, I don't have to buy the Middle Earth Role Playing game, I can always crib of the net notes that so many others here contribute to. The community size of d20 is so large, that chances are, someone else has already done the work for you! When I first got started with the Temple of Elemental Evil conversion, I was daunted by the size of the project, but then I looked in the conversion library, and found a lot of existing monsters already converted! This saved me so much work --- I can't imagine doing the same conversion for say, GURPS, or any of Decipher's game, however elegant the game engine might be.

I'm not predicting the death of other game systems, but for those of us who have real jobs and a life, the time saving benefits of a large d20 community cannot be over-estimated.