Post originally by Banshee at 2004-07-20 13:09:59
Converted from Phorums BB System

Interesting article....I don't entirely agree with everything it says, but then, I've seen variants of it in a number of places, by different people.

I haven't read through the D20 regulations, but are levels a mandatory requirement of D20? Or can designers leave it?

I have my own problems with the system, but overall it does the job pretty well. As much as hit points suck, they allow players of more experienced characters to not lose their characters as easily as if they were still 1st level. If you've been playing a character for a year, and everyone else is lvl 14, you don't want to get your character slain by a stray hit with a pitchfork from some farmer.

Is it realistic? No. A farmer with a pitchfork can probably be very dangerous. But then, fireballs, polymorphing, and wish spells aren't realistic either.

Done properly, D20 can cover a vast array of genres. I've even read posts by some of the initial designers who lamented that people weren't doing more ground breaking stuff with the system. It's very flexible, and there are many, many variant rules which can be used to make it more "realistic" (ie. wound vs. vitality points allow a 20th level character to be slain by one lucky shot).

The other thing I'm curious about is the ability scores....the standard STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA breakdown is required for a product to have the D20 license? What about the OGL license? Could they be dropped or changed?

My personal beefs are mainly hit points, lack of effect on performance when wounded, and spell memorization, among others...and the sheer abundance of magic treasure given out to PCs in 3E.

But, I've been DMing Planescape and Swashbuckling Adventures with 3E, and both have been very different from standard D&D...especially Swashbuckling Adventures. The use of guns, and some optional rules in the book make it suicide to charge a rank of musketeers, for instance.

Although many companies have switched to D20, this doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing. Before 3E and the D20 "revolution", I don't think the industry was very healthy. Plenty of companies were going out of business, games vanishing, etc. The implementation of D20 has solidified things by focusing on one system that players of just about any game can use.

I'd be interested in seeing research on whether it can be demonstrated that the number of new players has increased over those taking up the hobby *before* 3E, or whether 3E/D20 has simply taken consumers from the other companies. If the number of players has actually increased, then D20 did what it was supposed to do. And I'm confident that eventually, the "golden days" of D20 will pass, and these new players who have taken up the hobby will be interested in trying something else that is not D20 based...hence assisting the non-D20 market.

Banshee