Re: [DL] Deadlands - Flagship vs. D20

[Fred Jandt <fajandt@yahoo.com>]

Let me give the opinion of a humble supplicant of the
Wondrous Shane (well, he is more like a Reckoner
himself, maybe he's the fifth horseman): ;)

--- Grand Master Nilus of the Dark Angel Chapter
<grandmasternilus@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I don't know if Steaming mad is a good definition. 
> Just over Stimulated by 
> D20.  My problem is that everytime I see one of my
> favorite companies 
> putting out D20 versions of games.  I think to
> myself, would that money, 
> time and effort be better spent on making new books
> for there already 
> successful system.

Well, the thing is, like 'em or hate 'em D20 books
tend to (pardon my French) make a shitload of money.
More money than can easily be made with even the most
successful house systems. The thing is, D20 has this
huge fanbase to tap into. So if you are using that
fanbase to increase the awareness of your property and
thereby increasing its total revenue which allows you
to create more new products for it (dual statted or
not), I say no harm no foul. Hell, it's a great
business move.

> My other majoy complaint is from the people that
> believe that God himself 
> came down from heaven and blessed us with D20, the
> greatest of all Game 
> systems.  D20 is Easy, D20 is simple(for the most
> part).  It fixed Dungeons 
> and Dragons and for that it works great(I'm not
> miltantly against 
> Level/Class system games), but its not the best
> thing ever.

Well, those people are just like the ones who say any
other system is just this side of sliced bread as the
world's greatest creation. You will also find a lot of
the time that those same individuals tend to be sheep
that flock to whatever system is being touted as the
best in the industry at the moment. D20 is enjoying a
time in the sun right now, but even though it will
never go away entirely, it will fade eventually and
those people who are worshipping its glory will be
pushing another game down your throat then.

And IMODO D20 is a good system. Probably one of the
better systems out there. But is it the One System to
Rule Them All? No. Will it ever replace the DL system
as the best for DL? No. Simply because until the
Deadlands crew gets to deconstruct the D20 system from
top to bottom and build it up so that it properly
simulates the feel of the DL universe, it won't feel
just right. And then it probably wouldn't be D20 would
it? ;)

Oh, and if you got D20 questions, shoot. I will do my
best to answer. And if I don't answer right away it's
because I missed the post. If after awhile nobody has
responded, email me direct and I will see about that
answer for ya. ;)

Later,

Fred J.


=====
Fred Jandt
Freelance writer/editor/designer
fajandt@yahoo.com

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