Don't hate the game because of the company

OK, before I go any further I want you to bear something in mind. Nothing I say here is a personal attack. This is all based on broad patterns I've observed over the last couple of years. If you feel that I am writing directly about you, I'm not. You're just being a bit paranoid.

This article is not an attempt to solve the problem of D20 and D&D. It is not an attempt to sway popular opinion either way, for or against. What I want to do is to try and make people look at why they so intensely dislike D20. Hopefully some people will come away from this and look at things differently, or maybe I'll just get flamed again. Whatever happens at least it should be fun to see the reactions.

So the basis of the article is that as far as I can see most people seem to hate D&D and/or D20 because its there. People hate it because its popular. People hate it because it stole their friends (its evil like that, didn't you know?) They hate it because company X made their favourite game into D20 and now its terrible. People hate it because there's nothing new anymore because its all D20.

And as far as I can tell these problems have nothing to do with the system. They have a lot to do with the players though. And gamers in general too. A typical conversation that I seem to have all the time goes something like this...

"I hate the D20 system, its awful"
"Why? What’s so wrong with it?"
"The system’s rubbish"
"Whats wrong with the system. Its reasonable simple and is quite fluid as well. In fact if you're honest about it its quite a linear and intuitive system in comparison to a lot of others"
"No it isn't"
"Yes it is, D20+modifier versus target number. That’s really simple"
"Yeah but there's all this other complicated stuff too"
"Which you don't have to use. Feats are usually well explained, spells and equipment all have sensible stacking rules now. The whole thing is a lot simpler than it used to be"
"Yeah but it costs, like £100 to get set up with the core books to run a game"
"Er, actually no it doesn't. The PHB costs £17, and you don't really have to own anything else to use the majority of the books under the D20 license. That’s actually cheaper than almost any other game around at the moment. Especially given that its a 320 page hardback"
"Yeah but there's all the other stuff you have to get like the complete guides and that dragons book and stuff"
"Er, no. They're optional. There's nothing in any of those books that you need to run or play the game. Like I say all you need is the PHB"
"Yeah, well I still hate the system. It's sh*t"
"Without wanting to be a pedant, I have to say that the system isn't bad, its just not to your liking. 1 million gamers can't all be wrong. So have you actually played a game of D&D, or used the D20 system at all?"
"Well no, but thats not the point..."

And so it goes on. I'm constantly amazed by the amount of people who will rant on and on and on about how diabolical the D20 system is without ever actually having tried to play or run it. I've done both and with over 20 years gaming experience under my belt I can say that in my opinion it is a perfectly serviceable system. It won't ever be my system of choice and there are, in my opinion, a lot better systems out there, but there's nothing actually fundamentally wrong with it. It is, as I like to say, a Ronseal product. It does exactly what it says on the tin, you get dungeons and you get dragons.

Another conversation I know all to well goes something like this:
"I hate D&D"
"Why?"
"It's taken over everything. There's nothing good and new coming out anymore and Wizards have taken over the gaming world..."
"Er, what?"
"Everything that’s coming out now is D20 or D&D. Wizards seem to own it all"
"Er, actually Wizards only put 2 books out per month. That’s actually not a lot of the overall amount of product that is released in any 1 month. Sure there's a lot of D20 floating around, but there's less and less of it every day."
"Yeah, but its all really bad stuff"
"Well actually there used to be a lot of really bad stuff around, but now the D20 bubble has burst most of the product that’s around is pretty solid. Less focused on lots of feats and spells and more focused on setting and good gaming."
"Yeah but its D20"
"So what’s the problem with that? You run Game X, but buy supplements for Game Y to use for inspiration. Why not have a look at a D20 supplement for inspiration?"
"Coz its D20"
"And that makes it bad because..."
"D20's evil"
"Ah, I think I can see the problem. Have you ever tried playing or reading some of the D20 product around at the moment?"
"No, but that’s not the point..."

The knee-jerk reaction to all things D20 is tiresome. Especially given that I try to only buy the better stuff that comes out. People condemn books just because they have a D20 logo on them. Some of the best general guides to building and populating game worlds I've read in years are Gary Gygax's Living Fantasy and World Builder. I would recommend them to anyone wanting to build a fantasy game world with any depth. People won't buy them though, because they have a D20 logo on the back cover. It doesn't matter that they only have maybe 6 pages of D20 stuff between the 2 books, or that they are full to the brim of good ideas and relevant information. No, people won't touch them because they have a D20 logo on them. The Extraordinary Book of Names should probably be on nearly every GM's shelf but no-one wants to buy it because of the dreaded logo. The fact that it only has 4 pages of system, half of which is actually for Lejendary Adventures, is irrelevant apparently even though it is one of the best breakdowns of names and naming conventions I've ever read.

People hate D&D because its popular. They hate it because their friends decided to play something that they are unsure of. Maybe they're afraid of change, maybe they just don't like some aspect of the system, but mostly what I seem to see and hear is people griping about a game they've never played. They're upset because they're part of a small gaming group and everyone else is having fun playing D&D. Normally they wouldn't complain but its easy to hate D&D or D20 because everyone else does too.

But here's the thing. Most people don't seem to actually hate the system. Most people don't seem to have even played the system, and if they have they can't really point out what it is that they hate. Most of the cause that I see is created by bad GM's and people trying to play in the wrong type of group. Don't try and play a diplomat with a bunch of hack'n'slashers for example. If you are looking for a life-changing character driven plot based soul searching game then you're looking in the wrong place pal. If you want a reasonable set of rules for having fun while fighting monsters then you're onto a winner.

People hate it because its there. Its in their face all the time and its there because its so damn successful. And we all know how much success breeds contempt. That's not a good reason though. Is it so wrong that D&D is still, after 30 years, giving a quite substantial percentage of gamers exactly what they want? No, there's nothing actually wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with people wanting to play D&D. Sorry if that means that you don't get to play game X nearly as much as you used to, but don't blame the game just because that’s what people want to play. It's not D&D's fault that most gamers select it as their game of choice.

And don't condemn supplements and books for a logo either. I'm not a fan of either D&D or most of the D20 systems out there, but Blue Rose is still on my shortlist of systems to run when I finally sit behind the screen again. In comparison to the old Babylon Project rules system the new Mongoose B5 2nd edition rules are so much better it hurts to look at the old stuff. Dark Legacies, Kingdoms of Kalamar, Iron Kingdoms and Midnight are all settings that I love and want to play in or run at some point, but you'll never know why if you don't look at D20. I would probably use a different system for most of them but still the setting material is all fantastic.

"I hate D20. I used to play Game X and then they changed it to D20 and now it sucks!"
"That’s not D20's fault. Surely that’s the fault of the company?"
"Yes, but that’s not the point, D20's evil. Wizards are trying to take over the world."
"Er, well no. <em>Hasbro</em> are trying to take over the world, Wizards have merely got caught up in the backwash."
"Yeah, so Hasbro are evil and they own Wizards who make D&D so D20 must be evil. Quid Pro Quo"
"Its still not their fault that the company who make the game you liked so much chose to change their core system to something far more popular so as they could maybe make some more money out of their work. Anyway aren't all those supplements now dual statted so that you can use them for either system?"
"Yeah, but I don't want to pay for D20 material! It's costing me money!"
"Er, actually, the supplements are much better quality than the old ones, have a higher page count, smaller font size and less white space, so more material and are mostly the same price or cheaper, so you aren't actually paying any extra for the D20 material. Have you actually looked at any of these supplements"
"No, but that’s not the point..."

Companies are in this business, not to publish gaming material out of the goodness of their hearts but to try and make a little (and I stress the little here) money out of their hobby and what is for many their passion. If the majority of the market is screaming out for D20 and D&D then you have to at least understand a companies reason for changing or dual-statting their systems. If it keeps them in business and puts dinner on the table for them then you can’t really complain. Well actually it appears that people can. And again it so often is people who haven’t even bothered to try and find out if the new D20 variant even plays well. It’s just evil because it uses a 20-sided dice.

*and breathe*

So I guess what I’m trying to say in this very long rant is that you should give some of the D20 and D&D stuff a look over. Don’t just dismiss it because of the logo. Don’t just ignore it because it’s a supplement for a system you don’t play. Don’t condemn half of the product that come out in a month just because they are trying to pander to the majority of games buyers the world over. Don’t write off a game just because it happens to use a derivative of D20. You never know. You might find one that you enjoy. I really like the look of True 20 and Blue Rose. Babylon 5 looks pretty solid too.

With so much good product to choose from give it a look over. Don’t worry about the system and the mechanics. D&D is easy enough to learn and if you really have that big a problem with giving Wizards and Hasbro money then just look at the SRD to work out the core system. Once you have that under your belt it opens up a whole new bookcase of fun in my shop to you.

Oh and one final note. Something to think about. A very brief conversation I had last week before I walked away and hid behind my counter for fear of crying…

“D&D stole all my friends, I hate it”
“Er, was that before or after you started playing World of Warcraft for 8 hours a day and stopped talking to people in the real world...”
“That’s not the point...”

- Liam