I expected Microlite74 Standard to be the most popular version of Microlite74 Version 3.0. After all, Microlite74 Standard covers almost all of 0e, including material from the supplements and early TSR magazine articles. Microlite74 Basic, on the other hand just cover the original three little 0e booklets. It lacks the higher level spells, additional character classes, and other material that is common to most editions the "World's Most Popular RPG". As Microlite74 Extended was similar to Microlite75 (as it includes late 1970s 0e house rules as a builtin part of the gamesystem), I did not expect it to be all that popular. After all, Microlite75 was not nearly as popular as previous versions of Microlite74.
Therefore, I was surprised to discover that Microlite74 Standard was the least downloaded version with 28% of the downloads at the main download site and Microlite74 Extended was the most downloaded with 39% of the downloads. Microlite74 Basic was in the middle of the pack with 33% of the downloads.
I've very surprised by these results. The are almost the opposite of what I expected. I'm not really sure what this all means, other than my predictions were basically wrong. If only downloaded one version of Microlite74 3.0, why did you select the one you did?
That could be due to the products' names. Why get the Basic or Standard version of something when you can get the Extended version?
ReplyDeleteI downloaded basic because what I want from Microlite is the minimal form of the 0e rules: the version of The Game where the rules get out of the way as much as possible. I then got extended because it contains all the add-ons, so I can pick and choose supplementary complications from the broadest palette available.
ReplyDeleteI chose Extended because I figured it would have the most to offer. As you know, I've houseruled it fairly heavily to something that works very well at my table. Basically, I wanted the most options to choose from, and I'm quite happy with the selection!
ReplyDeleteI think some people are purists (Basic), and others want all the bells and whistles (Extended). I dl'ed all three because I like the idea of a progression.
ReplyDelete@Brent: I thought of that, but if it was mainly the names/amount of material, I'd think Basic would have the least downloads and Extended the most with Standard in the middle. However, that's not what I'm seeing. Basic is more popular that Standard. Color me confused but curious.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Basic the best- it has the least amount of rules, which is what I want. I just want a system that lets me start playing with a minimum of fuss, which is what Basic is.
ReplyDeleteI think I looked through basic and standard once or twice, but ultimately Extended has been the thing for me-- your houserules really scratch the itches I had.
ReplyDeleteI chose extended due to all the options available. I love the house rules and even with all the bells and whistles the game is really light by today's D&D standards.
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