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May 30, 2004
not invented here
Monte Cook discusses how the d20 industry has responded to D&D 3.5 in his latest Line of Sight column. i haven't been keeping up with the gaming biz lately, so it was nice to stumble over this sort of "state of the union" column from a leading game designer.
one point that really resonates with me is that there continues to be only a small niche market for adventures. this has always frustrated me - how many gamers can there be who have the ongoing free time needed to sustain an entire campaign on homebrew adventures? my guess is that most people are satisfied with working from chicken scratch maps, outlines and rough notes, whereas i prefer publication quality maps, descriptions, art, and adventure design. i certainly don't have the necessary creative or artistic talent to create professional adventures, let alone the time, so i'm happy to pay publishers. it appears that i am part of a small minority that is not growing over time, tho, so i guess i will forever have to settle for campaigns designed around a mish-mash of Necromancer Games mods, Dungeon Magazine adventures, and converted Greyhawk classics - or else learn to love my own rushed, inferior work, and hope it satisfies my players too.
should resorting to my own work be an unfortunate necessity, one thing that might help improve the quality is Dundjinni, a new map creation and adventure authoring tool from Fluid Entertainment. one of the nicest features is "stat packs", which presumably automates the tedious process of creating stat blocks for monsters and NPCs. the shipping product will include stat packs for the SRD and a few third party products (including Malhavoc's stuff). i hope that the tool will be sophisticated enough to apply templates and advancements and that Fluid will establish relationships with Wizards of the Coast and other leading publishers to provide stat packs for their settings and accessories. if so, or even if they simply provide a facility for importing custom stat packs, i will definitely give the tool a shot.
Posted by bcm at May 30, 2004 11:32 AM
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