After 40+ years of RPG publications, the edition treadmill has gotten so tiresome. In the news lately, Shadowrun has just leapfrogged D&D to have a 6e. Pathfinder now has a 2e. It seems everywhere you look, some game or another is getting updated for... what reason? Simple money grab?

I'm thinking though, that 13th Age and Dungeon Crawl Classics might keep on just as they are. Other OSR games probably will remain the same too. And Call of Cthulhu, even though it technically has gotten new editions, remains quite compatible throughout the line.

What other games can we reliably play 10 or 20 years from now, without having to learn a whole new ruleset?

Quote from: Robyo;1101174After 40+ years of RPG publications, the edition treadmill has gotten so tiresome. In the news lately, Shadowrun has just leapfrogged D&D to have a 6e. Pathfinder now has a 2e. It seems everywhere you look, some game or another is getting updated for... what reason? Simple money grab?

I'm thinking though, that 13th Age and Dungeon Crawl Classics might keep on just as they are. Other OSR games probably will remain the same too. And Call of Cthulhu, even though it technically has gotten new editions, remains quite compatible throughout the line.

What other games can we reliably play 10 or 20 years from now, without having to learn a whole new ruleset?

You actually never have to learn a new ruleset.  Just continue playing the one you have.

I think it would be neat if DCC was evergreen.

The Street Fighter RPG only had one edition since it was part of a licensing deal that ended in the mid-90's

While it's officially out of print, it also has fan support including the fan-made "20th Anniversary Edition" which compiles all the old material into one volume and also features character write-ups for the newer Street Fighter games.

It's evergreen entirely due to fan support, and it reminds me of the early OSR in a lot of ways.

Call of Cthulhu is up to, what 7 editions now plus all the extra Trail of Cthulhu knock offs.

Of the games that I have a copy of, maybe Stargate SG-1 by AEG.  I cant see that getting a 2nd edition.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;1101178The Street Fighter RPG only had one edition since it was part of a licensing deal that ended in the mid-90's

While it's officially out of print, it also has fan support including the fan-made "20th Anniversary Edition" which compiles all the old material into one volume and also features character write-ups for the newer Street Fighter games.

It's evergreen entirely due to fan support, and it reminds me of the early OSR in a lot of ways.

You are the gift that keeps on giving, Doc

Rifts or just about any rpg from Palladium Books. Harnmaster is another.

The newer editions are mostly for cash grabs yet sometimes in the case of both above they are required as the current rules while still serviceable and clunky as hell to use imo.

(Broken record): Lejendary Adventure

It's very unlikely that one of my personal favorites, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, will ever see a second edition. Nor its older supers genre brother, Truth & Justice. The author for these games seems to have moved on entirely from gaming.

While Witchcraft may have technically been a second edition already (was it?), I don't think we'll ever see that game break free of the 1990's. There's a certain charm to that, to be sure, but it also kinda makes me sad.

I think many, maybe most, are indeed cash grabs. But sometimes I think the author just wants to do something different with their creation, and that can be cool.

It seems Castles and Crusades is fairly stable.

Street Fighter RPG has been really, really fun. Would love to play again.

Quote from: sureshot;1101206Rifts or just about any rpg from Palladium Books.

Arguably, RUE was a collection of edits and changes that makes it a 2nd edition even if it's not called one.

Quote from: sureshot;1101206Rifts or just about any rpg from Palladium Books. Harnmaster is another.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1101242Arguably, RUE was a collection of edits and changes that makes it a 2nd edition even if it's not called one.

There are multiple editions of HarnMaster that have been released. Currently on I believe 3rd from columbia game and a seperate company has their own edition.

Also unlike many games RUE is compatable with all prior material with no conversion or upgrading required so I don't really see it as a new edition. Now if you were to point out Palladium Fantasy, Beyond the Supernatural, After the Bomb, or even Heroes Unlimited I would say they are different enough to be full new editions.


SR 6th ed is not a jump ahead of D&D in editions since D&D had multiple editions of D&D and 2 editions of AD&D, and then went back to calling itself just D&D with what it called 3rd ed but that is not really accurate. It's kind of like trying to figure out how many editions of Traveller there are...

Classic Traveller
Mega Traveller
Traveller the New Era
Marc Miller's Traveller
D20 Traveller
GURPS Traveller
Hero Traveller
Mongoose Traveller
Mongoose Traveller 2
Traveller 5th Ed
Traveller 5.10

I'm sure I'm missing some.

Quote from: Shasarak;1101181Call of Cthulhu is up to, what 7 editions now plus all the extra Trail of Cthulhu knock offs.

Yeah, but if you open your first CoC product up and then pop open 7th edition, you could feasibly use 95% of the stuff in one book as source material for the other.

Although, to be fair, I've never handled a CoC 1st edition book, only 2nd edition onwards...

How much does backwards compatibility count? You can run 1e Savage Worlds campaign books with the current newest edition with on-the-fly conversion. So in that sense, Savage Worlds.

Do you also count games that are dead? Because tons of RPGs will never have another edition because they stopped making more material.

Do you count dying games like GURPS? It won't have another edition. It is still producing some books.

D&D 5e may not make another edition. Hasbro wanted an evergreen edition going into 5e and if that stance hasn't changed with the success, then there may never be another edition of D&D. Hasbro doesn't need you to play D&D all your life. It just needs new people buying the core books each year to be happy and they will create a few splat books for enthusiasts.

I'm guessing what you are after is games that will keep being in print forever without a new edition to shake things up. I think Stars Without Number and other print-on-demand books can hold that title. I don't see SWN coming out with another edition and I don't predict new splat books released for it forever, but I expect it to keep selling among the niche/hungry Sci-fi RPG crowd for a very long time.

Quote from: BronzeDragon;1101268Yeah, but if you open your first CoC product up and then pop open 7th edition, you could feasibly use 95% of the stuff in one book as source material for the other.

Although, to be fair, I've never handled a CoC 1st edition book, only 2nd edition onwards...

So every CoC "edition" has just been a blatant money grab?  And the Keepers put up with that?