Games - D20 System

Home > Listing Index > Games > D20 System

	Games - D20 System

The d20 System is a system of game mechanics for role-playing games published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast and based on the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons
. The system is named after the 20-sided die which is central to the core mechanics of the system.

Much of the d20 System was released as the System Reference Document (SRD) under the Open Game License (OGL) as open gaming content, which allows commercial and non-commercial publishers to release modifications or supplements to the system without paying for the use of the system's associated intellectual property, which is owned by Wizards of the Coast.

The original impetus for the open licensing of the d20 system was the economics of producing role-playing games. Game supplements suffered far more diminished sales over time than the core books required to play the game. Ryan Dancey, Dungeons and Dragons' brand manager at the time, directed the effort of licensing the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons through the d20 trademark, allowing other companies to support the d20 system under a common brand identity. This is distinct from the Open Game License, which simply allows any party to produce works composed or derivative of designated Open Game Content.

Theoretically this would spread the cost of supplementing the game and would increase sales of the core books, which could only be published by Wizards of the Coast under the Dungeons and Dragons and d20 trademarks. (To this end, the SRD does not include rules for character creation and advancement.) The marketing theory behind the d20 System and its associated licenses is network externalities; support for the core rules would become an external expense rather than one incurred by Wizards of the Coast, but would promote the sales of the company's core rulebooks.

Mechanics

Mechanically speaking, the d20 system is similar to older, proprietary game systems. One example among many is the d10-based Interlock System used by semi-defunct publisher R. Talsorian Games. The three primary designers behind d20 were Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook and Skip Williams; many others contributed, most notably Richard Baker and WotC's then-president Peter Adkison. Many give Tweet the bulk of the credit for the basic resolution mechanic, citing similarities to the system behind his game Ars Magica. Tweet, however, has stated that the design team already had ideas similar to his in place when he was brought in.

To resolve an action in the d20 System, a player rolls a 20-sided die and adds modifiers based on the capabilities of the character, and sometimes the situation. If the result is greater than or equal to a target number (called a Difficulty Class or DC) then the action succeeds. This is widely considered superior to the first- and second- edition AD&D "THAC0" mechanic, which often involved more (or more confusing) computational steps for, mathematically speaking, the same end result. Also, in d20 this system is consistently used for all action resolution; in prior games in the D&D family, the rules for different actions varied considerably in which dice were used and even whether high numbers or low numbers were preferable.

The d20 System is not presented as a universal system in any of its publications or free distributions, unlike games like GURPS. Rather, the core system has been presented in a variety of formats that have been adapted by various publishers (both Wizards of the Coast and third-party) to specific settings and genres, much like the "Basic Role Playing" system common to early games by veteran RPG publisher Chaosium.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for D20 System ]

Searches on eBay

d20 system