Too many RPGs out there?

[HellHound]

Definitely.

If we only had a few RPGs out there on the market, like maybe only FATAL and Synnibar, then everyone would be talking about how cool and innovative my own newest RPG (AssassinX) instead of looking at it as derivative junk.

 

[Arnwyn]

Are there too much role-playing games published?

I don't know, as I'm unsure of the effects of the number of games being published.

As a basic consumer, I say "no", as variety is good. As a consumer facing economic and business realities (such as, and especially, distribution), I say "maybe". If that's what causing my LGSs to stock only WotC and nothing else, then it's a problem (if).

 

[Turjan]

Are there too much role-playing games published?

No, there aren't too many role-playing games around. Actually, the situation is quite good, not only for the customer, who has the choice between many different approaches at those game, but also for the genre itself. A little bit of competition helps making RPGs better. You may argue that D&D with its market dominance might not really feel this competition, but I believe that this is only true because the makers of this game learnt from their competitors. The latest edition of D&D contains many great concepts that have been imported from other RPGs, and this was ultimately for the better of D&D.

Of course, I'm also glad that there are completely different RPGs available. Games like Paranoia, HeroQuest or Everway are sometimes good for a change of pace .

 

[Turanil]

Yes, there are too many games, and I want more!

If I publish my own set of rules (be it d20 or whatever) or my own setting, even for free, there is already too many good product competing with it.

If I keep buying new stuff, I don't have enough time to play them all. Most of them will never be played at all.

Even in this western wealthy world, we have reason to be disappointed and suffer... **shudder**

 

[Desdichado]

Are there too much role-playing games published?

Express yourself at leisure. I'm interested in your opinions.

No, not at all. Until the game that's absolutely perfect for me comes out, there will never be enough.

Even then, once I play it for a while, I'll want to move on to something else.

There's too many if your expectation is stay on top of everything published, though. But that's hardly my expectation.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Too many games? Are there too many movies? Too many TV shows? Too much music? Too many books?

 

[Umbran]

ColonelHardisson kind of hit it on the head, there.

Form an economics standpoint, the number of games out there isn't the main issue. There's a pretty solid analogy with the world of living things - the number of species out there isn't as important as whether they form a healthy ecology.

A standard healthy ecology has a few big critters, and lots of little critters. In our case, there's a coupel big games (I expect D&D and WoD) that hold a nice stable pool of players. The little fish swim around, living in and among the big ones, usually not doing any harm. But they sit as a repository for diverse ideas that we can use to make new big fish shoudl the need arise...

 

[ThirdWizard]

There arn't too many RPGs. There are too few gamers. (around here at least)

 

[Psion]

I'll go with yes.

The ones I am interested in are modestly exceeding my budget and greatly exceeding my time to play them.

Now wishing that more of what was out there was better quality or better supported is something I would wish for...

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I'll go with yes.

The ones I am interested in are modestly exceeding my budget and greatly exceeding my time to play them.

Well, then, if the question is whether there are too many RPGs for me, personally, then yes - there are way too many games I'm interested in (same goes for movies, books, TV shows, etc.). I could never afford to buy or play them all. I guess that's a good thing.