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Message: <blockquote data-quote="chriton227" data-source="post: 6543728" data-attributes="member: 33263">Just because you can't guarantee that a product will be evergreen doesn't mean that you shouldn't try.  Chess, Backgammon, and Monopoly are evergreen so far, someone who knows how to play Monopoly with a copy they bought last week could easily play with a copy from the 70s, while there have been cosmetic changes the core game mechanics are virtually unchanged. The fact that there are themed versions of Monopoly and Chess don't affect the evergreen status, since the themes are purely cosmetic or limited optional rules that are intended for use within that particular themed version only.3e D&D isn't evergreen, since to use the 3.0 books with 3.5 you needed to perform minor conversions, and to use 3.0 or 3.5 with Pathfinder you need to perform more extensive conversions.  For me to consider 3.0/3.5/PF evergreen you would need to be able to run a 3.0 module with Pathfinder without needing to remap changed skills, calculate CMB/CMD, address changed feats, skills, spells, class abilities, and hit dice for NPCs.  Heck, I had to pay attention to system changes when running the original 3.5 version of Pathfinder's Rise of the Runelords with the Pathfinder RPG rules, and tripped on some during play where I asked players to make skill checks for skills that didn't exist.  Pathfinder RPG may end up being evergreen, but that would mean that when and if a new edition came out, all of the original Pathfinder supplements would need to be compatible, which would make it harder for Paizo to encourage sales of the new versions of the old supplements. Many RPG companies use the system changes in new editions as a sort of planned obsolescence to encourage sales of the new books.  Shadowrun comes to mind, with Rigger Black Book, Rigger 2, and Rigger 3 covering the same material for three different editions.  GURPS on the other hand stayed pretty static across editions, so the previous edition sourcebooks were still very usable with the new editions, and instead of releasing new versions of the existing sourcebooks, for the most part they focused on new books covering new ground, and updated the old books as needed when they decided to do a reprint incorporating errata and such (look at how few of the books on <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/" target="_blank">this list</a> had different versions for different editions).  Of all the systems I've played over the years, I'd consider GURPS and Hero System to be the closest thing to evergreen RPGs I've seen.</blockquote>

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