Will there ever be new editions of the major systems?

[Parmandur]

Yea, I know it hasn't gone anywhere; I actually prefer a lot of the CoD lines to the original WoD.

90's era White Wolf is the only other time I remember D&D having a competitor that was a real challenger to the throne. (I don't count PF1 in the late 00s-early 10s because it's just D&D competing against D&D.)

I do remember Fate being the recommendation du jour for a "non-D&D" in the early-mid 10s, when the Dresden Files books and the Fate Core kickstarter happened. I'm fairly mid on Fate as a whole, so I can't say I'm shocked it didn't end up holding on to its #2 position.

Some of that is about perspective: Fate never reached number 2 status thst I can find, it was always behind Fantasy Flight Games house system games, Warhammer and then Star Wars. For a while it has seemed like Powered by the Apocalypse was The Thijg with the Avatar game even reaching Target shelves...but that has receded a bit.

 

[Aldarc]

No, I think the built-in setting thing is a thing. Even at the height of Fate's popularity, you weren't hearing about Fate Core as much as you were hearing about some of the licensed games based off of it, like Dresden Files or Leverage.

If you say so.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

There will always be a new edition if a game develops any kind of following - the only question is how long it will take.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

For a long period Fate was basically the non-D&D/D20 system. Maybe the lack of a built-in setting hurt its staying power...

Well, I think I'd disagree that FATE was ever the biggest non-D&D system, but as a person who runs FATE quite often, the biggest issue with it is that it doesn't need you to buy stuff for it. FATE is easy to make do pretty much any genre or system, so it's hard to sell extra things for. So when I run a new campaign in FATE, there's an excellent chance I buy nothing. Even when I do buy something, players really do not need to buy anything pretty much ever.

Contrast that with any system that uses playbooks for players. That generates a lot of income as each setting needs a book to be purchased, and players typically will purchase one also. So a TTRPG company might have 10,000 regular players of FATE generating less money than 2,000 regular BLADES IN THE DARK players.

 

[The Soloist]

Some of that is about perspective: Fate never reached number 2 status thst I can find, it was always behind Fantasy Flight Games house system games, Warhammer and then Star Wars. For a while it has seemed like Powered by the Apocalypse was The Thijg with the Avatar game even reaching Target shelves...but that has receded a bit.

In that regard how did Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition (2007) do compared to FATE? SWE was the talk of the town in local forums. We all played that instead of D&D 4e. Seemed BIG at the time. I GMed a Slipstream and a Cyberpunk campaign.

 

[Thomas Shey]

In that regard how did Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition (2007) do compared to FATE? SWE was the talk of the town in local forums. We all played that instead of D&D 4e. Seemed BIG at the time. I GMed a Slipstream and a Cyberpunk campaign.

I suspect its going to be hard to compare the two, because they seem likely to (in most cases) attract very different audiences.

 

[Parmandur]

In that regard how did Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition (2007) do compared to FATE? SWE was the talk of the town in local forums. We all played that instead of D&D 4e. Seemed BIG at the time. I GMed a Slipstream and a Cyberpunk campaign.

Mostly what Ibwa looking at are the ICv2 Quartetly rankings for FLGS that they used to put out, and I think Savage World heyday was before they started putting those out. Usually, DD and Pathfinder were on tip, Star Wars when itnis available, Call of Cthuli keeps popping in and out, and some wild card every other Quarter takes a spot.

 

[Voadam]

No, I think the built-in setting thing is a thing. Even at the height of Fate's popularity, you weren't hearing about Fate Core as much as you were hearing about some of the licensed games based off of it, like Dresden Files or Leverage.

I think experiences vary here.

My memory of discussions was mostly about people's individual games doing things like Star Wars and urban fantasy.

Leverage is Cortex btw not Fate.

 

[MGibster]

To those of us who come of age in the TTRPG market of the '90s, it's pretty wild that White Wolf went from one of the two main branches of RPGs to an afterthought in less than a decade, but that's exactly what happened.

Like TSR in the 1970s, White Wolf had lightning in a bottle with Vampire. It was the right game, at the right time, in the right place. It's the only RPG I can think of other than D&D that's ever really become known in wider popular culture. But the World of Darkness just screams 1990s to me in a way that most fantasy settings don't scream 1970s or 80s to me. Even when taking account the hair on Elmore's fantasy art. Maybe being set a faux medieval setting makes for a somewhat timeless gaming experience.

As long as RPGs are being produced, we'll continue to see new games with new systems. And as long as D&D is around it'll do what it's always done. It'll change.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

But the World of Darkness just screams 1990s to me in a way that most fantasy settings don't scream 1970s or 80s to me.

On the other hand, that also makes it feel ideal, to me, for running early 1990s-set games, which also gets us around the problems of the internet and cell phones that dog modern-day sci-fi, fantasy and horror.