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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 609392" data-attributes="member: 18">Mistah - You say all those people that *used* to play Twilight 2000 and Merc. Yes, there were plenty, once. I was one of them. I played Millenium's End, too, even more realistic and techno-obsessed. Heck, you name it, if it was a realistic modern combat RPG and they sold it after 1990, I played it.Thing is, those products don't seem to sell any more. Admittedly the passing of the millenium may have helped make those games seem out of date, but I think there are also issues of popular culture, and RPG culture. I suspect that even had Millenium's End been titled Black Ops 2010, or whatever, we'd still be seeing a distinct lack of it on the shelves. It doesn't help that it resembles reality all too closely. Terrorist groups that seemed far-fetched in the Terrorist Sourcebook for it now seems all too realistic in some respects!I mean, for Afghanistan, what would such a book contain? Details on the war? It's over now, and only a very few players, I suspect, would have ANY interest in recreating it. Most of them would probably prefer to play computer games of the same. So you'd be left with detailed ethnography, maps, place details and so on, much of which would likely be out of date by the time you finished it, perhaps obviously so.There would be little or no "crunchy bits", and as WotC knows, "crunchy bits" sell books. Just ask them! They forced them to put *some* "crunchy bits" in The Silver Marches, and said that if it didn't sell with only a few "crunchy bits", mostly info, there would be no more informational-type books. It doesn't seem to have sold very well.With other areas you face a similar problem. I mean, hands up who wants a detailed book on inter and intra-regional conflicts in Africa? I doubt we'll see any. Even those who do could probably write it themselves. At best, you'd write a detailed book that few people would want (I mean, you want to have your PC shooting some poor thirteen year old who is high on qat and being forced to fight by the person who kidnapped him from his parents? Thought not), with few "crunchy bits", or you'd have something that was unrealistic and probably seemed either overly happy, or racist. The same problem applies to Somalia. Once you've gotten that the country is run by warlords, and given stats for technicals, somali militia, and the game effects of being high on qat, what else is there to do? Recount the events of Blackhawk Down? There's already a book and a movie.I just can't see that any people would really want those books. I mean, look, are there similar books in the GURPS line? No, because there's no real call for them. It's not a gap in the market, it's a non-market.OTOH, you mention the Russian Mafia. That's not so unappealling. If you extended it to cover the Mafia in general, perhaps even the Triads and so on, went into a lot of detail, gave rules for certain things (like how much money, or whatever, you get from a certain area of the city/industry), gave lots of suggested plots, and some crunchy bits in the from of Social-oriented Feats ("Made" could be a Feat, for example), some gangster-ish physical/combat Feats, and some weapons suited to the mileux, you could have a decent book that people might actually buy, rather than picking up and going "Yikes!".Basically, RPGs are about escapism. Even realistic ones. So people don't want horrible situations in their face. Gangsters are fine, because they're a part of "pop culture", and distant from most people's experience, and unlikely to get TOO unpleasant. Wars in Africa are not, because they're generally UTTERLY HORRIFIC, in a way even WW1 or WW2 weren't, quite, and they're still going on *right now*. Really, I'm racking my brains, but I can't think of anyone who would want to RP such a horrible situation (excepting a few White Wolf playing masochists, who probably would never by a d20 product).For Technothriller, you surely want stuff that's a bit more, well, fun! Busting up drug barons is more fun, for one thing. Busting up the Russians or the Chinese or fictional break-away states is also a lot of fun, and they have lots of snazzy equipment, complex combat techniques, and crazy weapons that make for good "crunchy bits". I mean, who doesn't want a Feat for some secret Russian commando death grip, or rules for Chinese elite troops martial arts training, or whatever? A slightly over-the-top terrorism sourcebook could be alright, too, though given how political that issue is right now, you might have to take some care. Remember to put in less-likely but fun and possible terror groups, as well as the usual "Middle Eastern Fanatics", "Crazy Cults" and "Anti-Government Types".The only problem with an End of The World Cults book, is that it's maybe three years too late. The interest in that sort of thing is on the wane, like the cults themselves, I suspect. You could definately make them part of another sourcebook, like the Terrorism one, for example.On the floorplans, YES! Definately! GM aids would be a VERY welcome addition, so long as the were "generic" enough to fit a variety of time-periods, or there were just a lot from various periods, of various styles, and so on. As a download, it could be even better, as you say, you could create a load of stuff, sell it as a collection of GM aids. I think I'd buy that, especially if I saw some samples and they were of good quality.GM aids are one of the things we rarely see today, and they're always nice...</blockquote>

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