TROLL POLL #1: d20 Golden Era or Glut?

[Darrin Drader]

I just wish they would branch out a little. Do we need more stuff on the core races and classes? Do we need more feats and PrCs? With all these similair products, asking yourself whether the newest book adds anything to the multitude of other products on the same subject is inevitable. Picking and choosing will always be everyones attitude, unless somehow every d20 book becomes a must buy.

Very true, but also keep in mind that many products designed around the same theme compliment each other nicely. Do you need to buy them all? Of course not. Can more than one book on the same topic work in the same game? Of course, as long as you aren't using contradictory information (which of course brings us back to DM's fiat).

 

[Henry]

I just wish they would branch out a little. Do we need more stuff on the core races and classes? Do we need more feats and PrCs?

Hence my point: You have to take milk (and the cream within) in order for the cream to turn up. The "milk" in this case being those things which are known sellers - the PrC and feat books - and then using them as a base for the truly innovative products. Whether the boring stuff is used to fund the innovative stuff, or whether the innovative is surreptitiously slipped into the boring stuff, both are needed for a complete picture to emerge. While monkeys will never type Shakespeare, game designers can and will take that which has been done, and give it a new twist. The more products, the more we see of this.

 

[RangerWickett]

" 'It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times?' Why, that's not even Shakespeare! You stupid monkey!"

 

[Desdichado]

My only complaint about d20 is that most guys aren't falling too far from the tree yet. I'd like to see more stuff as innovative as Mutants & Masterminds rather than yet another book of feats, or prestige classes, or what have you.

 

[TrubbulTheTroll]

Holy Cow! er - Unholy Cow...

 

[TrubbulTheTroll]

Drive a steak through that vampire cow's heart!

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Drive a steak through that vampire cow's heart!

I would say that one should let the demand for the milk dry up (or increase) on its own. Such is the way of a free market, which is a very good thing. Besides, whether someone else drinks milk or some other dairy product is immaterial to my enjoyment of cream. What seems like curdled milk to me might taste like ice cream to another. I wouldn't presume to dictate that everyone like the same dairy products I do; that would be egomaniacal.

I'm a big fan of Howard the Duck from way back, by the way. Started readin' him in the 70s. Ducks are a PC race in my campaign world because of him.

 

[Azul]

I'm a big fan of Howard the Duck from way back, by the way. Started readin' him in the 70s. Ducks are a PC race in my campaign world because of him.

Ever had a look at RuneQuest's Glorantha setting? Ducks were a PC race in that fantasy game. They kind of fill the role of halflings (smaller and nimble).

 

[JoeGKushner]

I voted love it and bring it on. I want to see more material hit the shelves.

My worry though is that a great sourcebook will come out after I've already got a similiar sourcebook. Then the $ has to decide, not the quality. Timing is getting more and more important in matters like these.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, in a lot of ways the 'glut' of games on the market reminds me of the good old days (edges of screen get cloudy, harp begins playing music, yep, it's a flashback...) when four kids with an old barn could get together an write a play, umm, I mean write a game. You'd write the stuff on carbon paper and make a dash for the mimeograph machine hoping nobody had beaten you there and start cranking out copies by hand. Ah, the ammonia smell of the mimeograph, the whir, thump, whir, thump as you turned the crank... (End flashback, please gods! End the flashback!)

Seriously, while the quality of many of the items coming out for D20 may be questionable there is an awful lot of enthusiasm that really does remind me of the beginnings of the hobby. In all, I think I prefer the enthusiasm, new folks in the game is what will keep the hobby alive.

The Auld Grump