Pramas
Explorer
Over on the "Charles Ryan on Adventures" thread, this idea popped up that one of the reasons that d20 is on the decline is that publishers are not providing core material but instead doing all these "weird variants" that most players don't have any interest in. I figured that was better discussed as its own topic, so I've started this thread.
Now certainly, there are a bunch of d20 variants and OGL games that take the core mechanics and run with them: Mutants & Masterminds, True20, Spycraft, Grim Tales, etc. However, I'd contend that d20 is much more diverse than some folks seem to think because there are also scads of books that are squarely aimed at the core D&D player. What we've seen over the past 5 years is a vast amount of d20 material, from the super niche to the mainstream and everything in between.
To use Green Ronin as an example, in the past year we have released things like Blue Rose RPG, which spawned the True20 rules. We've also published stuff like Sidewinder: Recoiled, which retools d20 Modern to do the Old West right. And yes, those are not things to drop right into your D&D game, nor were they meant to be. However, we've also done things were absolutely core, like the Advanced Rulebook series. The Advanced Bestiary, Advanced Player's Manual, and Advanced Game Master's Guide are bread and butter d20 books you can slot right into your D&D game. We've also done some campaign settings like Eternal Rome and the new Thieves' World line. While these do make some changes to refelct their topics, they too are very much core stuff. Thieves' World, for example, provides a new way to handle spellcasting, but retains the core spells of the PHB so it's both flavorful but familiar.
So yes, there are products that push the boundaries and that's as it should be, but there's also plenty out there that you can plug and play with your normal D&D game. Hell, we did entire lines like Races of Renown and Master Class that were nothing but core material. The d20 market is, in short, a rich tapestry.
Now certainly, there are a bunch of d20 variants and OGL games that take the core mechanics and run with them: Mutants & Masterminds, True20, Spycraft, Grim Tales, etc. However, I'd contend that d20 is much more diverse than some folks seem to think because there are also scads of books that are squarely aimed at the core D&D player. What we've seen over the past 5 years is a vast amount of d20 material, from the super niche to the mainstream and everything in between.
To use Green Ronin as an example, in the past year we have released things like Blue Rose RPG, which spawned the True20 rules. We've also published stuff like Sidewinder: Recoiled, which retools d20 Modern to do the Old West right. And yes, those are not things to drop right into your D&D game, nor were they meant to be. However, we've also done things were absolutely core, like the Advanced Rulebook series. The Advanced Bestiary, Advanced Player's Manual, and Advanced Game Master's Guide are bread and butter d20 books you can slot right into your D&D game. We've also done some campaign settings like Eternal Rome and the new Thieves' World line. While these do make some changes to refelct their topics, they too are very much core stuff. Thieves' World, for example, provides a new way to handle spellcasting, but retains the core spells of the PHB so it's both flavorful but familiar.
So yes, there are products that push the boundaries and that's as it should be, but there's also plenty out there that you can plug and play with your normal D&D game. Hell, we did entire lines like Races of Renown and Master Class that were nothing but core material. The d20 market is, in short, a rich tapestry.
