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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 639642" data-attributes="member: 158">I'll take Ryan Dancey at his word when he said that d20 wasn't designed to bee the end-all and be-all gaming system (see his "Ryan Dancey tells you what to think about the game" column/forum over at gamingreport.net). However, it was obviously meant to reduce the number of minor rules systems out there. It also means that projects like Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed are now viable, and cannot be sued out of hand. (The cynic in me says that Ryan knew that WotC would have to let go most of its designers and editors, and came up with a way for most of them to remain at least with one hand in the industry doing what they loved, as well as giving die-hard fans an outlet to produce as much niche-specific material as they wished.)However, it also means that development work is vital to d20 and D&D's success. d20 will live or die by the quality of those who push its design envelope. Monte Cook is one such designer. Like his work or hate it, you cannot deny that he is a very innovative game designer, and is always on the boundary of what is balanced and what is not for this system. (Take his work in his malhavoc press products as one example, and his work in Call of Cthulhu d20 for very inspired take on how to keep a game lethal, that is reknowned for its lethality as part of its flavor.)But I can't honestly say that any designer in their right mind (you can quote me on this) would say that d20 can do any genre, any level of realism, and any level of grimness or grittiness desired. There is a reason for the continued existance of classless systems, and skill-based systems, and it's not just the stubbornness of die-hard gamers. In fact, take a look at Green Ronin's Mutants and Masterminds as one example of breaking the mold and taking the d20 mechanics into new territory that isn't traditional level/class.</blockquote>

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