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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dragonblade" data-source="post: 420658" data-attributes="member: 2804">First of all,  jasamcarl, chill out man!!  <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=":)" />  If you disagree with something Pramas or someone else says you can do so without calling their assessment "pathetic".  Present your opinion and we will evaluate it on its own merits as we will evaluate what Pramas and others have to say about the industry on their merits.  We are all friends here. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />--------------Now, I do believe that we are in the middle of an RPG rebirth, so to speak.  Some of have pointed out the success of HERO as proof that d20 doesn't glut the shelves.  Well, I believe that the success of d20 actually drives HERO sales in part.It was the renewed interest in RPG's fueled by d20 that is in part driving sales of HERO 5th.  It is those gamers brought to d20 who are looking for something more or different that have gone and picked up HERO.  Not to mention old HERO fans like me that heard about 5th Edition on a d20 website and bought it because of that.Ryan Dancey himself, predicted this ages ago when d20 first came out and all the doom and gloomers were saying that d20 was designed to drive everyone out of business that wasn't d20.  On the contrary, as Dancey predicted, d20 has served as a sort of benchmark that all game products and systems can be judged against thus helping the consumer find the diamonds amongst the coal.In the old days, RPG systems were many and varied and whether one system was better than another was mostly personal opinion.  That is still true to a large extent today but d20 has given us a measuring stick by which all RPG products can be objectively judged, even ones that aren't d20.  WotC has set a certain standard for excellence and rules cohesiveness that a lot of d20 publishers are lately being judged by simply because there are so many products to choose from.  Gamers are forced to become discriminating buyers to find the quality products amongst the chaff.Those products that are found to be good are added to the list of "benchmark" products that other products are judged by.  Over time this effect will result in consumer's  growing familiarity and experience in being able to more quickly judge the quality and usefulness of a given product when they flip through it at the game store.  Whereas before it might have taken them a read-through or playtest to arrive at the same opinion before the advent of d20.This has begun to affect and will affect other RPG's as well.  Consumers become better at evaluating the usefulness, rules, artwork, writing quality, etc. of other RPG products now that they have a growing baseline and benchmark with which they are already using to judge d20 products.Other RPG systems that have a lot to offer in terms of overall quality will see their sales increased by d20 as gamers seek things d20 doesn't offer them.  But those RPG systems that are not very good may very well see their sales dry up as consumers increasingly find d20 alternatives that are superior to their tired products.The result is there will be a tightening of the market and the number of products out there.  But the quality of RPG's as a whole will rise.</blockquote>

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