"This game will bury you" vs. "This game is a flash-in-the-pan"!

[Crothian]

TRi state needs to also be mentioned. While it isn't the biggest thing, Gaurdians of the Order have a good product and some devoted fans. I really knew little of them before this summer but they have quickly impressed myself along with many others gamers I know.

 

[GlassJaw]

D20 is the way of the future

While I think D&D 4ed will still be d20, it's going to look and feel a lot different IMO. I expect some significant changes to the d20 system to come along with D&D 4ed.

 

[AIM-54]

I feel I have to put a vote in here for my favorite non-D&D/d20 game and that would be Shadowrun. It's been around since the late '80s and has a pretty devoted fanbase. It doesn't put out too many books, but those that are put out are among the most entertaining to read game books of any system I've ever seen. Certainly head and shoulders above the majority of the d20 books that I've seen.

The setting itself is also pretty flexible for gamers of all types. Depending on what your group likes, you can emphasize different elements, like the fantasy elements (magic, immortal elves, dragons) or the cyberpunk elements (the matrix, cyberware, dark, grungy cities under the control of faceless corps) or whatever else one wants to pick out of it.

It'll never be as big as some of the others (d20, WoD, probably), but I don't see it going anywhere, unforeseeable circumstances notwithstanding.

EDIT: Well, I see that GlassJaw beat me to the punch while I was writing this.

 

[Stone Angel]

I also see d20 staying around for a long time. It assimilates things too easy. I mean with a little time you can put it into almost any Genre. Horror as mentioned, Wrestling, Modern, Eastern, Sci-Fi, Western. Yep I think that it is here to stay.

As for 4th ed. I am just not sure. I agree that there will be a different feel, and maybe a different play style, though I am not sure what direction that is going at the moment.

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[buzz]

As for 4th ed. I am just not sure. I agree that there will be a different feel, and maybe a different play style, though I am not sure what direction that is going at the moment.

I don't forsee any major changes to 4th or subsequent editions of D&D, at least not for a long time. WotC have found an excellent core system. We'll probably see incremental changes a la 3e to 3.5e, but it's going to look the same, I'm betting.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

shh! You'll wake the beast!

I wish you people would stop going around talking about 4th edition like that. It's been "4th edition this," "4th edition that," for quite a while now. You're going to invoke something fearsome, I swear! I feel like everyone is wandering around going "Hastur...Hastur...Hastur..."

 

[Johnnie Freedom!]

Rifts confuses me. I KNOW there are fans out there - I see the books for sale online, I see the fans online, I see the books occasionally at used bookstores in larger cities - but I don't know a SINGLE SOLITARY RIFTS fan in northeastern South Carolina. I've seen D&D fans, COC fans, White Wolf Fans, Battletech Fans - heck, I've seen Shadowrun fans counting on one hand - but not once have I run into anyone in a 100-mile radius of where I live who ever played RIFTS. Is it a regional thing, as D&D used to be in the 70's?

I've wondered about this too. I've visited gaming stores in Edmonton, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver, and every one of them had TONS of RIFTS stuff. Who are all these RIFTS fans? And *where* are they? Is it true that RIFTS fans are the lepers of the RPG community, and spend all their time huddled together at palladiumbooks.com?

 

[s0rn]

No one seems to have mentioned Paranoia. It has been around for 20 years with a devout following, and has even survived going out of print for years. Now with the new edition, which is by all accounts selling very well, I expect it to be around for a long time to come.

 

[Darren Ravenshaw]

I got to agree with Henry about Feng Shui. Its simple, fast paced, and fun(in the over the top kind of way).

It may not be a game thats played all the time, but for people who have played it chances are it will be one of their top five games.


P.S. Henry I am a Rifts fan so reply and be able to say you have had communicated with a person who plays Rifts.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Agreed about Call of Cthulhu. I think that it has lots of staying power.

I am not sure about Supers games. I definitely think Champions has lasted quite awhile but I think that Mutants and Masterminds may have the power to last awhile but it may be too early to tell.