Laffs: Mike Stackpole on 3E, ca 1999

[MeepoTheMighty]

It's because a great proportion of GURPS worldbooks *are* generic, without a setting attached. In other words, extensions of a system, not setting.

Brad

Heck, I've bought quite a few GURPS worldbooks, and I don't even own the core rules.

 

[Aaron L]

Well, anyway, whos Stackpole anyway? RPG gurus aren't usually business gurus (quite the opposite sometimes), so if he's an RPGer it explains something.

Mike Stackpole is a writer and sometime game designer who did a lot of stuff for FASA and wrote some good Battletech novels, and some Star Wars novels about Rogue Squadron that I haven't read. Hee currently does novels and stuff for Mechwarrior: Dark Ages for WizKids.

 

[Unseelie]

I don't see the irony. Their worldbooks are selling better than their GURP rulebook, and that's because the material themselves are so good (actually more hits than misses), most of us adapted them to our favorite system and game.

Umm, no.

All of their worldbooks combined *may* have outsold their main rulebook, or the compendiums, and their best selling suplements have been David Pulver's 'Tech' books and their ilk (Vehicles, Robots, etc.).

 

[scottdunphy]

Mike Stackpole is a writer and sometime game designer who did a lot of stuff for FASA and wrote some good Battletech novels, and some Star Wars novels about Rogue Squadron that I haven't read. Hee currently does novels and stuff for Mechwarrior: Dark Ages for WizKids.

He has a much more important place in the history of role-playing games. He led the fight against B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) and exposed them as the liars and idiots they were. Many people consider him the savior of RPGs for his work in this regard.

But yeah, he blew it on this analysis. I think the OGL, the strength of the system, and the price of the original books were the factors that made his perdictions false. On the other hand, even Wizards is coming out with a new and fully supported world because he was right about worlds selling product.

This veers a little of topic, but I really don't like the fact that worlds sell product. I read a lot of Dragonlance books and I would never want to play a game set in that world. Too much history and not enough mystery. I think the same is true for a lot of settings. I play Star Wars, but I ignore the books (even Mr. Stackpole's which I enjoyed a great deal) because it is nearly impossible to have a game with any surprises if you are in an era for which the history has been written. Same is true for Middle Earth, why would I want to adventure there when the most important battle have been fought? Why would I want my hero to play second fiddle to Frodo, Aragorn, or Gandalf?

I wish that game companies would release world settings without novels and without telling us what is going to happen to those worlds. Those would be worth playing in. Of course, that isn't likely to happen because the marketing is so linked to the novelization of these worlds.

 

[WayneLigon]

Well, anyway, whos Stackpole anyway? RPG gurus aren't usually business gurus (quite the opposite sometimes), so if he's an RPGer it explains something.

He's a game designer and novelist. Several novels to his credit; Most of the early ones are in game worlds: Battletech being the major one I think. There are a number in the Star Wars universe, plus many excellent original fantasy novels (esp the last four listed)

Warrior: En Garde
Warrior: Riposte
Warrior: Coupe
Lethal Heritage
Blood Legacy
A Gathering Evil
Lost Destiny
Evil Ascending
Natural Selection
Evil Triumphant
Assumption of Risk
Once a Hero
Bred For War
Dementia
Rogue Squadron
Malicious Intent
Wedge's Gamble
The Krytos Trap
The Bacta War
Talion: Revenant
A Hero Born
Grave Covenant
An Enemy Reborn
I, Jedi
Wolf and Raven
Prince of Havoc
Eyes of Silver
Isard's Revenge
Onslaught
Ruin
The Dark Glory War
Fortress Draconis
When Dragons Rage
The Grand Crusade

He's also the designer of the Crimson Skies game when it was held by FASA. Besides his work against BADD (thank you, Mike) noted above, he was also heavily involved in Tunnels and Trolls, the Second RPG Ever. Grimtooth's Traps and the famous CityBook series are also edited by him.

 

[Ottergame]

He expected what most role players expected would happen when WOTC pushed out it's new RPG, that it would be crap. A lot of people feared it was all about the money, that D&D was going to be bastardized into being a Magic RPG, and that it was going to be just another broken mess like it was at the end of TSR's reign in the mid 90's.

He (and we) could not have been more wrong. While the RPG systems with exciting worlds he spoke highly of are all now all dead, D&D has brought people back to role playing. I'd wager there were more people playing RPGs in 2001 then there had ever been at any point before. D&D (and d20) is a generic system without setting, and the OGL setup makes that ideal. It's not as flexable as GURPs is at it's ability to handle anything, but it's adaptive enough and it's popular enough.

I know I can't speak for everyone, but 3rd edition was like the second coming of RPGs for me. It brought me back to playing D&D, something I swore I'd never do. WOTC might not have been perfect in their decisions, but they did enough of it right.

 

[Ranger REG]

So, has anyone asked him what his opinion now?

BTW, would he be interested in writing an Eberron novel? I think he might like this noir-like fantasy setting.

 

[rounser]

I don't think he (or anyone besides maybe Ryan D. himself) could have predicted the Open Gaming movement, though. That really changed the RPG landscape. It really did make it possible for a "system" to sell -- maybe not on its own merits per se, but on the strength of its network potential.

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, but...

How do you know that the Open Gaming movement has sold WotC more books than if it didn't exist?
How do you know if it hasn't sold WotC less books than if it didn't exist?

 

[RangerWickett]

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, but...

How do you know that the Open Gaming movement has sold WotC more books than if it didn't exist?
How do you know if it hasn't sold WotC less books than if it didn't exist?

Well, I asked God, and he told me that in alternate reality 31,234,567,371,632,917,419,034,302,655,010, in which Peter Adkison and Ryan Dancey were arrested for the murder of 'that damned snoop Noah,' D&D 3e sold very poorly. This, however, God attributes to the lack of Eric Noah's 3rd Edition D&D News Page, not to the lack of the OGL.

 

[rounser]

Well, I asked God, and he told me that in alternate reality 31,234,567,371,632,917,419,034,302,655,010, in which Peter Adkison and Ryan Dancey were arrested for the murder of 'that damned snoop Noah,' D&D 3e sold very poorly. This, however, God attributes to the lack of Eric Noah's 3rd Edition D&D News Page, not to the lack of the OGL.

I see.