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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7392995" data-attributes="member: 996">Bit of a tangent, but...&nbsp; back in the day, early 80s, some companies started using what I remember thinking of and/or hearing called 'core systems.'&nbsp; Most or all of the offerings from a game company would use the same or a very similar rules.&nbsp; The first, I think, to do that, was Chaosium, when it bundled the core of RuneQuest as 'Basic Roleplaying,' and used it for CoC, but I could easily be wrong, that's just the one I remember being talked about that way first.&nbsp;&nbsp; Anyway, TSR, from that point of view, never claimed to have a 'core system,' but through the mid 80s, it seemed to have two de-facto 'core systems.'&nbsp; A 3d6-stat, (mostly) d20 resolution, AC/hps system, used in D&amp;D (0D&amp;D, BECMI, &amp; AD&amp;D), Metamorphosis Alpha, and Gamma World, at least, and a % based system used in Top Secret &amp; Boot Hill (again, at minimum, there may have been others).&nbsp; At some point, they also got a license from Marvel and did MSH, using the FASE-RIP system which they also briefly afflicted Gamma World.&nbsp; Then later added Alternity (inflicted on Gamma World) and Amazing Engine (foisted on Metamorphsis Alpha).But, d20 is a very clear descendant of that first de-facto core system used in the original D&amp;D, Metamorphosis Alpha, and Gamma World games in the 70s, before 'core systems' were a thing (assuming they were ever a thing, that is).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7392995, member: 996"] Bit of a tangent, but... back in the day, early 80s, some companies started using what I remember thinking of and/or hearing called 'core systems.' Most or all of the offerings from a game company would use the same or a very similar rules. The first, I think, to do that, was Chaosium, when it bundled the core of RuneQuest as 'Basic Roleplaying,' and used it for CoC, but I could easily be wrong, that's just the one I remember being talked about that way first. Anyway, TSR, from that point of view, never claimed to have a 'core system,' but through the mid 80s, it seemed to have two de-facto 'core systems.' A 3d6-stat, (mostly) d20 resolution, AC/hps system, used in D&D (0D&D, BECMI, & AD&D), Metamorphosis Alpha, and Gamma World, at least, and a % based system used in Top Secret & Boot Hill (again, at minimum, there may have been others). At some point, they also got a license from Marvel and did MSH, using the FASE-RIP system which they also briefly afflicted Gamma World. Then later added Alternity (inflicted on Gamma World) and Amazing Engine (foisted on Metamorphsis Alpha). But, d20 is a very clear descendant of that first de-facto core system used in the original D&D, Metamorphosis Alpha, and Gamma World games in the 70s, before 'core systems' were a thing (assuming they were ever a thing, that is). [/QUOTE]

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