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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 4837549" data-attributes="member: 7635">OGL bloat refers to IMHO to three things1.) Topics covered multiple times (how many drow books were there?) or dealt with so thoroughly, it was almost impossible to keep straight (demon/Abyss books were so popular, the Abyss is laden with 40,000 different types of demon to torment your PC)A sub-element to this was the "now 3.5 compatible" reprint books with 25% new content and 75% redone skill points and here you go. 2.) Topics covered poorly; this was a feature of early 3.0 (and again at the 3.5 switch) where designers didn't understand the rules. However, some companies made a career of released broken game elements and untested game mechanics in order to sell books.3.) New Systems: Sure, not everything fit D&D's assumed worldview and new settings (along with new rules) seemed natural, but after a while there was a giant bloat of every-new-setting-gets-its-own-OGL-compliant ruleset. Thus, as the games became more-and-more specialized, they became less-and-less inter compatible and thus created unique "D&D-wannabe" sub-games that had their own compatible supplements. For example, I couldn't pick up Trued20 sourcebook or a Conan adventure and run it in 3.5 because of the multitude of rule-changes from the 3.5 system. All of this lead to lots of niche products lining the shelves and bloating the market.</blockquote>