[HOE] Way OTC: d20 System

[Sean Gore <sgore@midlink.com>]

Okay...I've got someone to thank for opening this vile can of worms for
me.

First, a little rant.  All WoTC did for the AD&D system was put,
officially, into print what every DM has been doing for the past
decade.  The game stagnated aeons ago as an RPG, and while they tried to
revitalize the system with the Players' Options books (Spells & Magic,
Combat & Tactics, Skills & Powers, and High-Level Campaigning), it
really did nothing more than confuse most of us...or if not confused, it
gave us TOO many options, too many ways to spend our points...although
it was a good effort at brining one of the oldest RPGs up to modern day
standards.

Now, WoTC has done nothing more than re-written this entire
thing...doing is as if it were Guess buying out Levi's...just so they
could slap their logo on it and call it "all theirs."

While no one will EVER see me purchase a WoTC product (yes, to those of
you that know me, that includes Star Wars), my voice is but a small
one.  And yes, I read this same article that was mentioned about WoTC
wanting to bring every system under the d20 system.  Their thought (if
this was all fact, and not some incredibly intelligent, anti-WoTC
propoganda) was that we...the gamers and consumers...didn't want
different systems for different games.  We all want the same system for
the same game.

To that, I ask, has anyone heard of a game called GURPS?  How about
Champions?  Both have tried this course.  Both were excellent games.
Neither is a MAJOR market factor.  Yes, Steve Jackson Games has made one
Hell of a reputation and name for itself with GURPS, but most folks I
know (which isn't all that many, admittedly) use GURPS stuff as resource
material.  On top of that...can any of you truly think that Deadlands
would be "better" with six stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution,
Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma) and a small smattering of skills?
How about Call of Cthulhu?  Or Star Trek (which, even though WoTC bought
Unicorn Games, Paramount pulled the plug and sold the rights to
Decipher...long live corporate America!)?  Its bad enough that they are
going to butcher a perfectly good system (Star Wars) just so they can
slap their label on that as well...but gaming would come to a sudden and
definitive halt (for me, anyway) if Pinnacle sold Deadlands to WoTC.  It
would be, in short, a travesty.

I do hope that this is pure speculation.  I do hope that Shane and John
and Jeff and all the other wonderful minds behind one of the greatest
RPGs to ever be produced have the good sense and willpower to turn down
the money, in lieu of keeping their vision alive.

Okay, enough of that.  If democracy is still alive and those polls on
the Pinnacle site mean /anything/, please, God please, vote no.  If you
don't, I'm sure the WoTC Reckoner (which either falls under the ruling
of the Horseman of Stupidity or the Horseman of Assimilation, not sure
which) will gladly thank you and promise you a perfectly good seat in
Hell.

Sean "For the love of God, don't do it!" Gore