Actually, I´ve been told, they "don´t have to worry about profits."

I suspect a large vanity thing fueled by a tax scheme.

But alas, the more I learn about RPGs and their making, the more I see the influence of external, uncontrollable factors.
Especially with everything not D&D.
But even in D&D.

Historical accident and ouside influence trump any sane, rational or continuous development of the overall product portfolio.

Thusly: Seize the Edition! Be thankful for everything printed, and mourn  the stuff that never was.

1. True, true.

2. Who ARE these guys? They're planning to publish like ten (10) RM books in 2008. Plus MongTrav on top of that??? "Nahezu zeitgleich" with the English edition??? So they're translating the playtest docs as we speak. -> Disaster area.

Somebody should do a German T5. The license would be dead cheap. The translation of a 1000-page PDF, not so much.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityOh, those guys. Funny they should still have $$$ left after the Rolemaster relaunch. Maybe it's some kind of tax write-off scheme.

I assume that you mean 'Runequest' and not 'Rolemaster'.  Rolemaster is published by ICE. (Rolemaster 2e has been 'relaunched' recently as 'Rolemaster Classic', just not by Mongoose.)

Quote from: AkrasiaI assume that you mean 'Runequest' and not 'Rolemaster'.  Rolemaster is published by ICE. (Rolemaster 2e has been 'relaunched' recently as 'Rolemaster Classic', just not by Mongoose.)

I'm talking about the new German edition of Rolemaster, licensed from ICE.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityI'm talking about the new German edition of Rolemaster, licensed from ICE.

Ah, I see.  That's what I get for not looking at the relevant link...
:deflated:

Combination of factors IMO. Not just some staleness. Holidays, people now playing with all the goodies that either mimic, reprint or supplement their game(s) of choice, and problems with the forums themselves.

Dragonsfoot - has recently had changes in its production staff and IIRC are looking for a new editor. Some of the AD&D discussion has moved to places like K&K, some of the OD&D discussion to the new OD&D forum. Snipping at $E got old real fast.

K&K Alehouse - next release of OSRIC has stalled for, half a year+ now? Pouring over RPG books like holy texts is of little interest to me aside from a resource. Good threads are enshrined with no need to cover the same topic again.

COTI - QLI is undead due to the real life of the head (only) person and resurfaces every year or so to all but vanish for 6+ months. Forums got nuked, then they got moved and now can't be viewed without a login. I can't be bothered and am not currently playing Traveller.

COTI started to support Traveller d20, which cherry picks from all previous Traveller versions  through a d20 filter. If things had turned out differently, TNE: 1248 would've come out through QLI. The CT reprints and PDFs are a Far Future thing and the reprints predate COTI.

Traveller is in a holding pattern right now, the Mongoose announcement took a lot of people by surprise (and the one it didn't, QLI, was in no way to act on it IMO). Until the terms of Mongoose license are revealed every existing Traveller line aside from GT is on life support with the light at the end of the tunnel fast approaching at a scheduled time.

Quote from: HaffrungI think a lot of the activity on old-school D&D boards a few years ago was older gamers coming online at the same time, often because they rediscovered the game with 3E and found it wanting in some ways.

(snip)

The old-school D&D community may be too fragmented and moribund to survive the relentess attrition of time.

One thing I still enjoy about those sites is the joy people have on playing again, talking about their old and current campaigns, (re)reading the old material and even wanting to writeup some new stuff.

The quibbling over One True D&D, how WotC rap3d their childhood and what is the real Greyhawk etc. bore me to tears. Play and have fun I say.

Casey, I agree, and that's why I was pretty shocked by the near-zero response to T5.* Also, I hadn't visited CotI in the past few months, and since then "attendance" has dropped massively. I don't think that can be tied to Hunter's absence ultimately. It's not like discussions ever revolved centrally around him or T20.

*Admittedly, it could have been worse: the TML has yet to realize/acknowledge the announcement.

Quote from: HaffrungAnd I have my doubts that old-school gamers are playing more. Look at the threads on the NG about adventures like Caverns of Thracia and the Lost City of Barakus. Tumbleweeds blow by. Even new old-school adventures like Goodman Games' DCCs generate very little discussion. For all their emphasis in stripped-down utility, I wonder how many of those modules are ever played.

Say what you will about modern adventure design, with the adventure paths and the Red Hand of Doom, the folks at WotC and Paizo have done an outstanding job of presenting shared experiences that generate a tremendous amount of buzz and fan-submitted material. Look at the vast amount of material about the Shackled City adventure path people have contributed to the Paizo site.

Well, basically, after Paizo took over Dungeon Magazine and 3.5 happened, they collectively killed the d20 companies and took their stuff. It was a magical formula, and part of it that the new adventures were actually decent and sorta iconic. And now? Looks like Wizards is sweeping up the remains - Paizo is going to suffer from the loss of its magazines and not getting the new SRD in time... whether from negligence or intentional negligence, we cannot say.

After 3.5, d20 sales collapsed, and those Necromancer adventures sold a fraction of their previous amount; hence the less discussion. I also believe that they kinda lost thier way with some of the later modules, but that's an issue we have explored to death on NG's forums.

QuoteThe 3.x community isn't only much larger than the old-school community, but it's far more cohesive. There seems to be a compulsion among old-schoolers to break away into ever-smaller and specific niches.

This same direction exists on regular 3.X boards; what you are looking at is the Official Dungeons&Dragons community, the people who only buy Official Approved Material.

In this context, I don't see the situation so darkly.

Pierce, you're the only one it seems who is making the claim that CotI is on its last legs. Its still around and probably will be for years. There's also a lot of erronious information about CotI floating around, like you have to subscribe to the forum to read the threads (yes, there are some that you do have to subscribe to read, but those are playtest threads or non-Traveller threads like those in the Political Pulpit).

Go check it out:

 http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/index.php


For an "Old Skool" forum that is "dying" it seems pretty lively to me.

Quote from: flyingmiceI only have trouble when the dice fall on the floor - I can't bend down from my walker far enough to get them. Dang things just sit there, tantalizingly out of reach.

I'm thinking of switching to diceless...

-clash

I've become quite adept at picking up dice with my feet.  Though, eventually I won't have the flexibility to cross my legs and pry the dice from my toes... :haw:

Speaking of boards dying; Do you fine people think that some of you could start some more threads here??

I think that activity is lower than I've seen it in a long time; I understand its December and all, but still.

PLEASE, if you have something, anything, you want to talk about in RPGs, post a thread here!

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditSpeaking of boards dying; Do you fine people think that some of you could start some more threads here??

I think that activity is lower than I've seen it in a long time; I understand its December and all, but still.

PLEASE, if you have something, anything, you want to talk about in RPGs, post a thread here!

RPGPundit

If you insist...

Quote from: RPGPunditSpeaking of boards dying; Do you fine people think that some of you could start some more threads here??

I think that activity is lower than I've seen it in a long time; I understand its December and all, but still.

PLEASE, if you have something, anything, you want to talk about in RPGs, post a thread here!

You don't like what I choose to talk about.

Quote from: droogYou don't like what I choose to talk about.

Hey, as long as its about RPGs and not Theory, it doesn't matter whether I personally like it or not; I might not post but others will. Go, diversity!

RPGPundit