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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 2496070" data-attributes="member: 158">I have to disagree with this point. I went through pen-paper.net's database and hunt-and-pecked for a list of start dates for various RPG's. (I will never do this again! pen-paper.net really needs some expanded search tools! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />)An incomplete list of what I found (because I got tired of looking):1989ShadowrunArs MagicaWorlds Beyond1990TorgRifts1991AliensAmber DicelessVampire The Masquerade1992Lost SoulsOver the EdgeTraumaWerewolf the ApocalypsePrimal Order1993Wooden Suits Iron MenWWF Adventure GameShatterzone1994AriaPirates of Dark WaterPsychosis: Ship of FoolsWraith the Oblivion1995Changeling the DreamingWorld of Species (masterbook)Project A-ko1996Feng ShuiWitchcraftNoir1997ArmageddonPrincipia MalefexSpace ninja cybercrisis XDOZeroZombiTrinity1998SpookshowStar Trek NextGenW.H.A.T.?19997th SeaAetherco ContinuumAll Flesh must be eatenApocryphaNobilisShriek: Game of Teen HorrorSix GunStar Trek TOSFrom 1989 to 1999 there were some 43 that I found (and very likely far more than that); these were not supplements, I'm just talking about the Core Books for new game lines. 1999 seems a "Boom" year, with 8 titles by itself; I'm suspecting that the buzz about WotC delivering a new D&D probably got similar buzz generating for new games, because if the "Skaff Effect" is to be believed (all game sales ultimately benefit the network leader), game companies were ALREADY benefitting from an return of some gamers after AD&D was supported again by WotC after the debacle of 1996-1997 (though gamers LEAVING WotC in 1996-1997 would have had an influence as well, and you possibly had a bunch of companies noting this after the "demographic bulge" and getting games to market after the fact). I didn't include 2000 because there's a period of overlap; some games were specifically OGL released then, and some were simply late to market from 1999, so I left out 2000 due to lack of specific info. I could have easily put in things like Orkworld, because I KNOW these weren't OGL, but didn't want to get into the fine-toothed comb.Each one of these (that I can tell) are totally different game systems; very few or no related mechanics. After 2000, the number of systems coming out with totally unrelated mechanics is far fewer. Of the ones that Rasyr mentioned off the cuff (I concede I haven't gone and done the same thing with 2001-2005) most listed are based on former existing products (Shadowrun, HARP, Storyteller, Warhammer).Prior to 2000, you couldn't swing a dead orc without hitting someone's small press product that was inventing the wheel before it could roll. Now, 80 to 90% of brand-new games are OGL based. The ones that aren't are revised editions of prior work. There may be exceptions (Burning Wheel), but they're not the rule.So did it reduce the number of games? No. Did it reduce the number of completely incompatible mechanics? Yes. As Ryan Dancey pointed out (and I'm note here to debate it, I'm here to point it out) even games that are not derived from the OGL these days, are at least influenced by it; in order not to, they'd have to be designed by a robot. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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