Post originally by Roy Morgan at 2004-07-14 15:30:51
Converted from Phorums BB System

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All that they had to do was to use the d20 system, and they would have had some degree of success; but they went with their own system, and now they're doomed.
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Don't count on it, ever. Some fairly recent non-D&D fantasy games, like Arrowflight, are still going strong. Not every game succeeds, but d20 also has a huge surplus of books that are in the half-off and bargain bins of game stores around the world.

Just to put some of Darren's ranting into perspective, here's a little gem from several of his past non-d20 fantasy reviews:

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MACLENNAN’S FIRST LAW:
If you are creating a fantasy game or setting, you had better have a goddamned good reason not to go with the d20 system.
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And I'll say it again...

Good reasons not to go with the d20 system aren't hard to find: Too much emphasis on numbers rather than roleplaying, /very/ hard to customize (hence the 'shoehorning' tendency of most d20 sourcebooks to fit the world to the system rather than the other way around, a very bad idea), a PAINFULLY obvious tendency toward cookie-cutter characters, even with the customization options available (but compared to AD&D 1st and 2nd, that's progress), and ranged combat tends to be very weak compared to melee in low-tech worlds (and even some high-tech worlds). The system is viable, but needs a lot more work before it gets half as good as WotC hype says it is. What the system is now is what it should have been ten years ago.

d20 is not the ultimate in fantasy gaming. The mere fact that all these publishers keep trying to put out alternatives is proof of that. It's backed by the fact that some of them succeed. Obviously there are niche markets that blanket system will never reach, but there are also a lot of FORMER d20 players out there who still love fantasy, and still buy fantasy games. And yet, you still see a lot of railing about how every non-d20 fantasy game out there is doomed to failure due to system choice. As Arrowflight, HARP, the original L5R, Darkwood, Ars Magica, and Earthdawn 2nd Edition have proved, that's completely false. So why all the screaming? Would the fanboys rather that the rest of us didn't KNOW that the alternatives sometimes succeed in carving out their own share of the market?