Why is Palladium so ant-d20?

[Crothian]

Well, so maybe there's a few Palladium players who like it's doofy problems, but myself and plenty of my fellow ex-Rifters left because it got to be too much. A Rifts world with a stable, portable ruleset would be a phenomenal seller, IMO.

The problem with that is your opinion doesn't count. Only KS's does and he has made it absolutely freaking clear he has no intention of ever doing this.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

The problem with that is your opinion doesn't count. Only KS's does and he has made it absolutely freaking clear he has no intention of ever doing this.

Oh trust me, I know. It's going to take either Palladium going into Chapter 11 or KS dropping dead (not a death threat) or possibly a cold front moving through Hades before we see Rifts D20. I guess he likes being "right" more than being rich. Which is well within his right, but it isn't very friendly to the consumer.

 

[Mark]

To him, fans who try and produce a d20 conversion of the game to share with others aren't fans, they are ungrateful copyright thieves

That's going overboard to think of them as "ungrateful"

 

[Crothian]

Oh trust me, I know. It's going to take either Palladium going into Chapter 11 or KS dropping dead (not a death threat) or possibly a cold front moving through Hades before we see Rifts D20. I guess he likes being "right" more than being rich. Which is well within his right, but it isn't very friendly to the consumer.

You think going d20 will make him rich?? That's very funny. Actually I've seen the guy's house and he's living pretty well already. I doubt going d20 would get him more money, in fact it would probably drive off the fans he does have and becasue of their reputaion I doubt that many people would switch over to them. Most third party publishers are not raking in the bucks. You don't go into the RPGs to get rich.

 

[scourger]

I only hate to run Palladium games. I love to play them. And that's the problem, in my experience. They make great games for players but not for GMs. When my buddy who has been a more sustained Rifts GM in the past (primarily using the fantasy game foes with the Rifts conversion guide) started talking about running Rifts again, I was OK with it. Then I steered him toward Systems Failure by giving him a discount certificate at the FLGS so that he got it for about $2. I kind of look forward to playing it for a while and then not. It's a complete system, probably because the base rules are cut & pasted from all its predecessors (as I saw back in the day with Heroes Unlimited and Rifts). I can stand a Palladium game for a break and a change of pace, but I would rather play any number of other d20 games before it.

 

[Crothian]

Running Palladium was the best thing I could have done to learn how to run game my way. It taught be how to get by without fully using the rules but to also keep the game going and make sure people have fun. It taught me how to build encopunters and adventures for creatures that were ultra powerful and completely not in the same group.

 

[Felon]

Besides, Rifts players love the inconsistent, über-munchkin nature of the system. (True story: a friend of mine was trying to get some other players to play Rifts using GURPS rules. The others told him that they liked using the Palladium system, precisely because it was such a kluge. It's part of the charm, apparently.)

For some it is, for others it isn't. When it comes to gamers, speaking in terms of absolutes is just asking to be proven wrong. I speak from my own personal experience where on a couple of occasions attempts to start up a RIFTS campaign fell apart due to the lousy system. I'd welcome a D20 version...and I'd buy it, which is really the point.

 

[Ranger REG]

I just want to know why Palladium is so anti-d20?

I don't think they hate d20, other than acknowledging it is a rules system developed from a rival RPG publisher.

They do not want their brand of d20-based rules system to get mixed up with WotC's rules system. Otherwise the gaming consumers both veterans and newbies might not be able to tell the difference.

Granted, there may be some ego involved. After all, before d20, Palladium's Megaversal System was the only d20-based multi-genre rules system. But ever since WotC offered OGL and SRD, we have seen variant spawns of d20-based rules engines, now introducing a third-generation (True20 System, based on Mutants & Masterminds ruleset, based on SRD).

 

[Axegrrl]

One thing that appeals to some Palladium/Rifts/etc. GMs is this: there are so many conflicting rules across various systems that you have to pick and choose which of those rules you're going to use. Some GMs like this flexibility.

As a player, I think the thing I liked most about Rifts was that the setting had a ton of flavor. You name the genre, if you looked around long enough in the Multiverse, you'd find it. I mean, really, in how many other systems can you play an anthropomorphic mutant cougar psychic from the Outback who meets up with a techno-wizard Asgardian dwarf and a young amnesiac demigod and then goes dino-hunting in what's left of Florida, vampire-hunting in the desert Southwest, and finally off to do Shadowrun-like missions in a planet-sized city? (And no, I didn't just make that up. Those really are tidbits from the campaign.)

 

[Staffan]

You don't go into the RPGs to get rich.

One of my favorite RPG sayings is "The best way to make a small fortune on RPGs is to start with a large one."