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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 2693610" data-attributes="member: 177">Hint: Games do become obsolete, in much the same way technology does - because in a sense a game is a technology.  It is a system of logics, just like your computer.  The fact that the system works with different hardware is of no difference, really <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=":)" />Most tech becomes obsolete in that nobody supports it, because the market has decided something else is better.  The problem with an 8-track player is simply that you can't find parts, service, or tapes for it anymore.  So,t here's no much point in owning it.Same for a game - if you can't find players or supplements, it is like an 8-track player.Evolution does not imply progress.  The "progress" view of evolution is one based ont eh idea that humans were objectively better than all other species, and that every living thing could be ranked on a single ladder.  Nothing can be farther from the truth.  Evolution implies change and survival, but neithe rone of those really means "progress".Remember - being able to objectively measure the changes in a thing is not the same as being able to objectively measure progress.  We conflate the two for technology, because we have special frameworks to measure technology's performance, relative to our own particular needs.  But is an alligator "progress" beyond a shark?  They are both supremely adapted to their niches, and those niches don't really interact.  The alligator can't work the deep oceans, and the shark can't work in the rivers.  Neither one can work where the mountain lion does.  They are simply apples and oranges.I think, in large part, the same holds true for games - The territory that RPGs live in today is not the same as it was in 1990, and that wasn't the same as it was in 1976.  I don't think we can say that one mechanic is objectively better than another in any broad sense, because "better" is always defined in terms of "better or worse at doing what I want done".  We can talk in terms of the general market, rather like you can talk about an animal in a climate.  Right now, the overal prevailing climate may favor certain types of games.  But you still have local weather conditions that may be good for pockets of oddballs to survive <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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