Well, I see that I've managed to get myself into the hot oven. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />
I'll quote what I've written as a replay to an E-Mail :
Of course this is clear to me, that something that has been put under a "open license" is quite widespread. That's the success of the d20 system !
I must admit that while writing the article in the first place I was not aware how closely connected all these "systems" were.
In the core the question I ask myself is : why did they used this particular system, and why didn't they use another one ?
Is it simply because the system is so much common and so widespread ?
I don't know *any* German RPG systems that have been used for other roleplaying games then the ones they were made for. It might be different in other countries, but I haven't seen this from originally German RPGs.
If the system wouldn't matter that much then the makers of KOTOR could've just used the DSA "engine". There would've been some interesting results because of the negative attributes" (which unfortunately have been almost totally erased from the 4th Edition). KOTOR could've used anything else, the Midgard system for example, but instead the makers used the (A)D&D system or a derivate from it.
Considering the fact that the d20 system is so widespread I must say that this is a huge success for the company itself. The system gets more known, and the (A)D&D system is the underlying base foundation.
The system is so successful that it can easily invade markets in other countries just because it's so much commonly known.
If I would build up an RPG system and I would place it under an "open license", would anyone care ? I don't think so. That's why this is a success for WOTC in my eyes. It's not so much a commercial success, but rather one in terms of marketing.
They might have had the opinion "only to use the best" and chosen the D&D system, because it's so old, widespread and known, but to me this is just a "marriage of two elephants".
The most widespread system known in the western world" plus one of the best known Science Fiction sagas - the result is awesome in terms of marketing.
