Thomas Shey
Legend
As I remember it, there were two: deadly exploration (wilderness or dungeon), and storytelling.
Where would Champions land? Chill?
As I remember it, there were two: deadly exploration (wilderness or dungeon), and storytelling.
People buy different things, because people want different things. Just don't make things nobody wants.How it matters: basic economics.
Remember, the company is spending money to make those products, and those products have to sell. If people ignore them and don't buy them, the profit margin on the work drops. Keeping your product offerings focused on what sells maximizes return on the work to produce the product.
Sadly, there is a significant difference between games nobody wants, and games that only a few people want. The latter are not commercially viable, but tempt a company to carry on losing money by trying to find a way to tweak their game into selling better. You can end up losing more money that way.People buy different things, because people want different things. Just don't make things nobody wants.
I was answering as if this were about D&D, not broadly.Where would Champions land? Chill?
There was still a much wider one than you can get out of a single game system.
Sure, but it was still a playstyle. ThT lack of support would give rise to various late 80s and early 90s attempts at storytelling games,of course. But we should remember that storytelling was a playstyle goal from very early on in the hobby.
I'll accept that as an arguable point. But, even so, it isn't like there was an internet to turn to for information about games, or what was possible.
Let us not forget the vast array of fanzines, one of which is apparently still going since the 70's... (Alarums and Excursions)... Dragon, A&E, TSG/TFG, JTAS, White Dwarf, and several other widespread distribution got news out. The second tier game companies usually had their own house organ, which also usually had a catalog page or two of their own, plus paid-for adverts for dozens of other games.I'll accept that as an arguable point. But, even so, it isn't like there was an internet to turn to for information about games, or what was possible.
I ran a BBS myself in the early 1990s. The number of people who were active in the predecessors of the World Wide Web was miniscule. The information being out there online by no means meant it was widely available.Between Mags and BBS Networks there was a lot of available information. But there was also a huge lot of gatekeeping.