One System to Rule Them All!

[MerricB]

Is the d20 System designed to supplant all other role-playing systems, and be the only one left standing?

Note, I mean "DESIGNED" or "INTENDED", not "IS" or "WILL"!

Cheers!

 

[I'm A Banana]

I don't think it was MADE that way.

I think it was made to be the best game system out there but, let's face it, everyone starts with that intention.

There are certain things that d20 will never really be able to handle that other systems can -- levels of realism, for one (just ask any Harniac).

GURPS was designed to be one system to rule them all, if anything. And while GURPS can, indeed, handle anything tossed at it, it doesn't handle it in a way I like.

d20....you may be able to work with the framework, to fit it into almost anything, but I think it wasn't built with that in mind.

 

[Xarlen]

d20 seems to have been built more towards combat then anything. Given the amount of combat spells, and classes more focused with Combat STUFF, it really doesn't have many in the way of helping with roleplaying in non-combat areas.

Now, Hero or Exalted...

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Well, the designers don't seem to have shown any understanding of the concept that certain systems don't work well for certain genres-- Call of Cthulhu being the most blatant and offensive example of a game that doesn't fit d20's "default assumptions."

So, yeah, I'd say it was designed as a system to replace all the others. It doesn't work as a replacement for several other games, so I don't think it will supplant other systems. On the other hand, D&D is the most popular roleplaying game, and several incredibly good d20 products are coming out.

Since the games I prefer to play work well with d20 mechanics, all is good.

 

[Olive]

Well, the designers don't seem to have shown any understanding of the concept that certain systems don't work well for certain genres-- Call of Cthulhu being the most blatant and offensive example of a game that doesn't fit d20's "default assumptions."

Personally I think that CoC is fine as a d20 game... most people who say this (you of course may mean something different) think that D20=DnD=hacknslash.

when I've played d20CoC, it's been 'run AWAY!!!!!' just like any CoC game.

 

[Raving Raven]

No.

I do not believe D20 was designed to be the end all and be all of all games. D20 doesn't encourage roleplaying the way some other systems do, nor does it encourage realism. It is, however, very good at what it does; provide simple and intuitive rules for combat oriented gaming styles.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Personally I think that CoC is fine as a d20 game... most people who say this (you of course may mean something different) think that D20=DnD=hacknslash.

when I've played d20CoC, it's been 'run AWAY!!!!!' just like any CoC game.

It's not a matter of CoC being hack'n'slash. It most certainly isn't.

But Call of Cthulhu characters becoming more powerful, being able to take several hits from the terrors they encounter... even the increasing saving throws, run counter to the flavor of Call of Cthulhu.

The main reason that characters in Call of Cthulhu are supposed to run away so much, and do their research, and find ways to avoid gunfights, is because they don't stand a chance in a stand-up fight. The d20 level-based mechanic, the extra hit dice-- all of these make Call of Cthulhu characters heroic. They can survive the horrors, and they can defend themselves. Cultists can't cut them to shreds with their knives any more, and the investigator can charge through that hail of gunfire, because they have that heroic, epic quality that all d20 games have.

I like that quality, which is why I like most d20 games. But it's the wrong flavor for Call of Cthulhu.

 

[Olive]

of course the other side of the coin is the way that the old CoC system allowed you to keep scaling up skills... Monte ook has dealt with this in interviews and makes lots of good points i think, but ultimately i reckon that mosty people play short term CoC one offs etc. of at leadst everybody I know does. Plus the CoC massive damge rules help offset what you're saying considerably.

 

[diaglo]

it will never rule them all.

they can have my rpg when they pry it from my cold dead mind.

 

[hong]

Is the d20 System designed to supplant all other role-playing systems, and be the only one left standing?

Well, it depends on how much emphasis you put on that "all". Ryan Dancey was quite upfront back in 2000 that one of the aims of d20 was to "rationalise" the RPG industry by weeding out the more fringe rulesets out there. Reason being that this hobby survives by building networks of gamers, and you can't network very well if noone else plays your game.

I'd have no idea whether that's actually what's happened. There certainly seems to be no shortage of alternatives two years down the track....