You Meet In A Tavern is having another contest, so head on over there and see if you can earn yourself some loot!
We all know that D&D is the 800 lb. gorilla when it comes to RPGs. But what if this were one of them there alternate universes, eh? One where there was no such thing as D&D, and yet RPGs still existed.
Tell us what non-D&D game would have taken the top spot and why, and we’ll give you an electronic copy of an RPG from RPGnow.com! Don’t worry about the timeline or anything like that, we don’t care if the game came out before (there technically were RPGs before D&D), around the same time, or even last week. We just want to know why you think the game is the rightful ruler of the RPG world in this strange land of Nodeean’Dee.
What do you have to do?
As always, we don’t like difficult contests. We like contests that promote thinking though. So you don’t have to juggle knives or anything like that. Just write a post of 250 words or less telling us why your choice is the ultimate D&D replacement. Post that bad boy to this thread on YMIAT’s website and then wait to see if the YMIAT staff agrees with you!
How do you win?
Win by writing the best reason for your choice to be the only choice! Impress us with your RPG Fu! As always it is a double jeopardy process. First you have to convince our two moderators Rick_TWA and Telas that you are right. Then they’ll submit their favorite three each to site owner VV_GM, that’s me. I’ll pick the winner from the entries I receive and one runner-up as well.
What will you win?
On Friday July 10th at noon I will announce the winners and send them gifts via RPGNow. The winner and the runner-up will each get a new RPG in PDF format.
The fine print.
One entry per person, and no editing an entry after it has been posted. Make sure that your post is no more than 250 words long. All entries must be posted no later then Thursday July 9th midnight U.S. central time. YMIAT staff are excluded from winning any prizes (sorry guys).
So what would be the D&D in a world without D&D? We don’t know, but we’re about to find out!
Traveler.
We might have had multiple Traveler settings after the original Imperium setting, much like D&D started with Greyhawk and Blackmoor. Perhaps additional licensed settings would have come out like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Star Wars, or Battlestar Galactica, similar to what like Dragonlance did for AD&D.
Perhaps Sci-Fi RPGs would be more dominant than the fantasy ones today. Perhaps the flamewars would be over the credentials of Traveler 4e vs 5e. 😀
EGADS, was it spelled Traveller?! 🙁
Sans DnD, I’d also have to assume that fantasy is no longer the norm for tabletop gaming. Perhaps it never caught on.
Ideally, I’d see Steampunk filling this gap. But, since I’m not really familiar with any good Steampunk games (hint: a link or two would be super-duper lamguin @ yahoo . com) I guess I’ll allow Cyberpunk to reign supreme in this strangely dystopian world.
Cyberpunk, of course, leads to ShadowRun. Not my favorite system, but elegant in its way. Six-sided dice are extremely easy to find even in a non-gamer’s home.
Taking elements of 1984, Snow Crash, Neuromancer, and heck, even a little Running Man for flavor, ShadowRun’s cruel dystopia is one heck of a good time.
As much as I would like to count these comments as part of the contest, you are going to have to post them at You Meet In A Tavern if you want a sot at the prize. 😉
Just in case, I’ve edited the post so that there is no confusion.
*Groan.*
sot = shot
That’s how things work in Nodeean’dee land.