From: adair@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Jonathan Edward Adair)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Dumb Moves By Game Companies
Date: 13 Jan 93 02:35:58 GMT
Organization: Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
NNTP-Posting-Host: hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu

In article <6JAN199310574505@vxcrna.cern.ch> casper@vxcrna.cern.ch (CASPER,DAVI./PPE) writes:
>In article <1992Dec30.195744.525@afterlife.ncsc.mil>, acadams@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Arthur C. Adams) writes...
>>I was setting around thinking today:
>>what are some of the dumbest moves made by game companies?
>

Well, on a small scale, T$R/Gygax's decision to publish "WG4".  This
has got to be the worst TSR product I've ever seen.  It's got all
the content of the old Judge's Guild publications, just cleaned
up. 

On a larger scale, T$R really seems to want to cater to the glossier
video-game/cyberpunk generation, rather than their loyal customers from
years past.  Just try buying any of the higher quality TSR products
like the Original Ravenloft, that aren't $15.  Remember when you
could spend $100 a year and get all of the AD&D products that came
out in a year?  Now there's so much specialty crap out there you
really need to pick and choose what you buy.

In micro software, it's called feature creap.  It's probably better
described as bloating.  The AD&D game is so bloated these days.
You could get by with just the monster compendiums, PH and DMG, but
what serious gamer would go without the Tome of Magic, all the
various Handbooks, etc.  I think the Unearthed Arcana and a 
handfull of Dragon articles had just as much good stuff as 
a few hundred dollars can get from T$R these days.

Look at Steve Jackson's Car Wars.  It went from an admittedly humble
($5?) plastic boxed set to an $18 boxed set, then to a set of $15
compendiums and other books.  Now-a-days, to play the up to date
Car Wars game, you need to shell out nearly $40 just for the rules,
not to mention all the neat counters and maps.

What's a game company to do?  They've got to make progress, just
so they can make money.  Even if they were already all rich, they'd
be dying to make all sorts of improvements.  There's just got to
be a point when all the revisions are done.  Leave the rules alone
and concentrate on supplements...  Modules, modules, modules.

Things to make games interesting, not complicate them.  I don't 
need to give my players any more classes to choose from, I need
to give them good plots, good riddles, etc.  Another huge book
of spells would be wasted, because the players already tend
to research what they want.  I don't need another book of
Fiend Folio-style monsters, I need better ideas on how to use the
ones I already have.  I know what an orc lair should look like,
but why should gnolls and every other non-human race have the
same exact lifestyle?  Gnomes, dwarves, and halflings are all 
as similar as orcs, goblins, and kobolds, but their cultures
are vastly different.  "Acute Paranoia" had a section of 1 to 2
page adventure sketches.  This was great.  The Free City of Greyhawk
had adventure idea cards.  Those were incredible.  That one product,
even though I never used the city, kept my players occupied for 
at least 6 sessions by now.  

Just look at what the people in these groups are looking for.  
I'd kill for a good book of 200+ scenarios, a ton of NPC personalities,
or even a book of lists of names, or a set of systems for names.

--
Jonathan E. Adair  -  Programmer at Large                          /\
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