The Coming Doom...

[Kid Charlemagne]

The parallel's are too numerous to ignore

Yet you don't list even one.

 

[Starman]

We need a "Doom" posticon.

May I suggest the following:

 

[Sir Elton]

"Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."

The time: March - 1983. The young video game industry is flourishing, and Christmas sales of catridges surpass movie sales for the first time. Hundreds of manufacturers are churning out dozens of titles for Atari's 2600 VCS. Everything looks good. Yet, 1 year later - everything would be gone. All but a handful of the companies would crash and burn.

I seriously think d20 is on the verge of this problem. The parallel's are too numerous to ignore - and I'm not sure anyone can do anything about it. Like Atari before it - WotC excersizes no controls on who can and cannot make a game under the d20 label. Unlike Atari and to their credit WotC is at least producing a core product of passable to outright stellar quality with few to no outright bombs. And some of the bigger names of d20 are doing the same - Malhavoc, Green Ronin, and even Mongoose has finally upped their QC. Beyond them though the rest of the market is saturated to or beyond capacity.

Dude, it would be Catastrophic if the d20 system was the only system in town. Now you have HARP, Rolemaster, GURPS, White Wolf, Blue Planet, Savage Worlds, Castles and Crusades, LotR RPG, My Life with Master, Ars Magica, Over the Edge, Unknown Armies, In Nomine, Pendragon, Stormbringer, Cthulhu, and Rifts. Probably many others too.

 

[alsih2o]

If all the publishers disappear and WoTC goes the way of the dodo and icosahedrons become illegal people will still game.

THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

 

[Starman]

THE SKY IS NOT FALLING!

How can you be sure?!? The sky looks cracked and broken where I'm at. I know it's going to come down anytime now. I'm getting into my bomb shelter right now, just to be on the safe side.

Starman

 

[Dimwhit]

Also, don't many d20 publishers have a day job? I was under the impression that very few actually try doing it as the sole source of income. But I could be wrong.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

The video game crash had a number of causes, but it's important to remember that it was a brand-new industry. Nothing like it had ever existed, and most companies made mistakes as they tried to adapt existing business models to the new environment. They crashed, but 20 years later, video game sales reached $12 billion in the U.S. alone.

Companies adapt. Consumers adapt. Few industries collapse catastrophically and never recover, and those that due are generally those rendered obsolete by new technology. Pen and paper rpgs may someday be replaced by electronic equivalents, but that day is a long ways off. And the p&p designers of today will be perfectly placed to develop content for their new electronic overlords.

 

[Rel]

Ever since that damn "Chicken Little" trailer from the new disney movie started running (I saw it at the start of "The Incredibles") it's been nothing but doom and gloom around here!

I blame Hollywood I tells ya!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Ever since that damn "Chicken Little" trailer from the new disney movie started running (I saw it at the start of "The Incredibles") it's been nothing but doom and gloom around here!

I blame Hollywood I tells ya!

It all makes sense now! Cursed preview!

I'll second the cretion of a "Doom" thread icon only if we name it "Irrational Doom"

 

[Vigilance]

Wait I can compare industries that have nothing to do with each other too!

Watch...

I heard there used to be people who operated elevators... then the whole market collapsed and they have machines that do it... you just push a button and the elevator goes by itself.

The similarites are uncanny!

The d20 market is going to collapse just like that!

Chuck