01-06-2012, 10:45 AM
Rafael Wrote:Hehe, thanks.
I also think there is this false idea among fans - and designers, at least, should be aware of it - that D&D "won the 80s" because TSR had the better rules.
They won because they had the best artwork, the highest production values of the time,
and a viral media campaign in their favor that included a cartoon series and an extensive and popular movel line.
For comparison, Troll Lord Games easily put together the best fantasy RPG ruleset in the last decade, and their Castles & Crusades is a margin product.
So, it's not as if rules would necessarily be a selling factor...
Well I know for me personally, there's a lot less incentive to learn a second ruleset once I already know one. Law of diminishing returns is pretty high on learning new rules: you don't really gain much benefit from all the work you do. You might as well just play the ruleset you already know. Of course there are other factors that increase the reward, like being surrounded by other people who know a particular set of rules.