Old System - to - d20 - to - New System?

[KDLadage]

Here you go: THIS little news item was just brought to my attention (I am sorry if this is old news).

As far as I can tell (and this comes from my source, not my own reconning, so take that for what you will) this is the first time anyone has made a switch to d20, then abandoned it.

Odd... not sure what it means in the grand scheme of things (most likely: not much) but it is still rather interesting.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Well, there were two reasons given. The first is the system (which was broken down into four points, but really its all the same). I think they have a point. d20 is, at the core, a fantasy adventure system. The more you break from that the more work you have to do to suit the mechanics to the system. After a certain point, you're left wondering why you're using it at all when you could just start from scratch.

I liked this quote:

Those numbers aren't bad of course, but the initial reason to use D20 was to break into a whole new sales level for us. This hasn't happened. It seems most D20 players are D&D players, and aren't particularly interested in switching genres.

So the people who buy d20 stuff want magic elves with swords. I'm generalizing, of course, but apparently (and I'm pulling this straight out of my buttocks) people who buy d20 want fantasy and that company doesn't do fantasy. That's not their niche.

I don't think this means anything bad for d20 or Pinnacle/Wild Card system. Just a different take on how to tell a different kind of story.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Very interesting. Probably this is just the beginning of the D20 "downturn". Cook and others have been predicting for a while that some of the D20 publishers will go under -- but this might be more the sign that some of the D20 games either will no longer be supported or, for games in production, they will be switched to a new system. Too bad about DL D20, though. It seemed like a fun adaptation.

It's not the end of D20, of course, because D&D seems to be going strong.

Edit: I also just wanted to point out that they did not switch Deadlands to D20 (which the subject of this thread implies), they just released a 2nd line of D20 products.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Bah!

Read Ryan Dancey's response:

http://www.gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=viewthread&tid=72

Basically, they rushed-jobbed their d20 conversion, and got a poor market reception. Surprise. Take a look at the sales figures for CoC d20 at Amazon.com, and you'll see what's possible when a GOOD job is done.