Origins of the d20 system?

[Scribble]

Originally Posted by Akrasia
Strange. My experience has been that the d20 system has been much more "in your way" than any other version of D&D -- given its obsession with quantifying every aspect of the game.

In my opinion it did both.

If you were the type of person who would attempt to do this anyway in AD&D then the new edition streamlined it and made the system "get out of the way"

If you weren't, and were a little more into "free form" gaming, then it made the system a little more "in your way"

Does anyone remember the AMAZING ENGINE system? I never played it, nor did I ever really look at the rules. Or I may have but I don't remember them... I remember it was TSR's concept of a universal system though wasn't it? Did it have any similarities to 3e?

 

[Janx]

Back in '94-95 there was an online effort on rec.games.frpg.dnd to make a new open RPG.

They called it DragonRPG. It probably died out, given that google reveals nothing.

Oddly enough, a few months ago, I cleaned out my gaming closet and threw out the print-outs I had of it.

The core of it was D&D like. It had revamped the skills and attack system to be pretty much the same....d20+skill >= target Number

Go figure....

Lots of people taking D&D and pushing it in similar directions

Janx

 

[SpiralBound]

Back in '94-95 there was an online effort on rec.games.frpg.dnd to make a new open RPG.

They called it DragonRPG. It probably died out, given that google reveals nothing.

I remember that!!! Geez!! You're going back-a-ways with THAT reference! I don't remember how much it was like or unlike D20 currently is, however I do remember my overall impressions of DragonRPG. It felt like the goal had been to overhaul 2nd Ed and mke it more streamlined, and work some of the "kinks" out of the logic of the core system mechanics. I also recall what appeared to be its major drawback and what presumably caused its downfall. Too many people were involved. This was causing too many divisions of opinion and development of the system as everyone began following the direction that they thought it should go in. To make matters worse, some of the designers were trying to make the disparate parts reconcil... I stopped following its progress when the system began to look like a million-headed hydra, and the discussion groups around it started sounding like a recording of the tower of Babel...

Lots of people taking D&D and pushing it in similar directions
Janx

Yeah, that's a good point which can also help explain all the comments of "No, no, it's like THIS system!!". Many other fields experience convergent development. We've all seen it happen: two different groups, totally unaware of each other, independently develop nearly the same concept. It's most obvious in Hollywood, where many movie ideas seem to get released in unrelated pairs! This also happens in science and engineering. It's as though ideas themselves want to be born and they'll push and thrust at all the viable locations for them to emerge until they're out!