Post originally by Cryiron at 2003-09-14 12:15:32
Converted from Phorums BB System

...And these types of arguements are exactly why I like WWolf games, but hate 3/4 of the fans who play them. Either they gripe beacuse new material is coming out which somehow makes them feel that the rest of the gaming community is saying that the older things are either invalidated or less significant; or they gripe that meta-plot is the end all, be all, of gaming.

For companies to stay around and keep making money, they have to either keep producing new material or write the golden grail of gaming, the myrhical "last book you'll ever need". The WOD has demonstrated, time and time again, WWolf's ability to expand upon material already published. They capitalize on modern trends and interests (KOTE & Exalted), millenium/end times fear (Demon, Hunter, End Times), philosophical viewpoints (Mage and Werewolf) or just plain horror fans (Wraith) to keep their products current and fresh for a growing and evolving audience. Apparently, they are pretty good at it or they would have went out of business long ago.

Individuals don't have to keep buying the new books, no one forces them, but why gripe that someone else wants to try something different. To argue against fresh viewpoints and new material being produced for a setting you enjoy is as silly as verbally accosting an old woman in a grocery store for buying a green apple instead of the red ones you enjoy. It's all apples, baby...and you'd be pretty ticked if you both had to buy oranges because they were all gone.

Meta-plot ensures revenue from the fans who like it and keeps line writers busy expanding on their original ideas as soons as possible instead of having to execute some dangling plotline years down the road. And...lo, and behold, it can be ignored, raped or stripped down to make something new.
But, on the other hand, I don't recall the bigwigs at WWolf standing over my shoulder last time I ran a game and beating me senseless the last time I deviated from their plotline or official setting.

Don't whine, plead or moan, next time you know you are not going to like something before you even open the cover. Just don't buy it, or best yet, don't even talk about it at it. Curl up in a dark corner with your favorite ten year-old book and enjoy! Twenty-plus years of gaming has taught me that is what the books were written for in the first place.