Would this be this weird ideal of business that they keep telling me about? Until know I could never understand why companies in competition with each other couldn't just play nice...Originally posted by The Kurgan:
Maybe, but to have pulled it off Decipher would have had to have been working on it in the background for quite a while, before WotC did the buyout. You don't just walk into the Paramount office on a whim and say, "Hey, wouldja take a little more than the other guys are paying for the licence? Cool! Where do I sign?" Then they didn't even have the balls to contact LUG or WotC to let them know what was done, they just waited until Gencon to make the embarrassing announcement. How would you feel if your wife waited until you were at a big party to tell everyone she was re-marrying?
So that would be a... um whats its name? Oh Yeah... A roleplaying game then?Again, no argument here. D20 is a pathetic joke, and a bad one at that. It's not (in my opinion) even really a role playing game. It's Magic: the Gathering with character sheets and dice.
In other words their business plan worked. They could see an end to a meal ticket and used their 'artificial profits' to ensure that the company didn't collapse...>Third WotC and AOL have something in common, they bought a lot of stuff during the ‘Hype’ of their duration. See AOL bought Time Life, and a bunch of other communications company while their stock was at an (artificially) inflated high (if they were to have to come up with the money for the stuff now, with their stock at a more ‘corrected’, they couldn’t do it). Same holds for Wotc; they bought things during their ‘hype’ era (with the help of ‘big brother’ Hasbro), now that both Pokemon and Magic sales are starting to go through the floor rather than the roof, D20/D&D (IT BURNS, IT BURNS) is real the only thing keeping them afloat.
I think were back to the business aspect of things here.
Now for the record, before you get annoyed with me. I agree with Some of your points, but the arguements you present were taught to me during business classes at school. Deep down I may not like what either Wizards or Decipher have done, but the fact is that both companies are supporting the hobby and are still bringing in new blood thus ensuring that those of us who still roleplay dont stagnate and die sad lonely individuals (OK I exadderate here, but still)...
Believe it or not THAT is the bottom line. The one with the Profit totals on it.
As for those of us who dont like the change. After all, we must fear change, change is bad. Then may I suggest that if 95% of roleplaying is background and 5% rules.
WHO CARES WHO WRITES THE RULES? This is trek, the background remains the same and the added bonus is that in being a roleplaying game as well, if we dont like the background we can change that too...
Jeez, whats next. A Narrator writing his own roleplaying world and rules? Whatever is the world coming too?
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Dan.
"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"