doctorhook
Legend
I see what you’re saying here and agree that 5E has been a runaway success because of a number of factors. But (controversy ahead!) I strongly believe that the 5E ruleset is, at best, a mid-sized factor in the explosion of popularity for D&D over the past decade. I truly believe the biggest factors were environmental: Critical Role and other streams, major marketing tie-ins like Stranger Things, the steady improvement of VTTs, and then the pandemic. 5E just happened to be simplistic enough not to immediately scare off newcomers with its complexity.Anyway, not saying he made a game that everyone loves; that's impossible.
I'm saying he took "our" D&D and made it everyone else's D&D too. Specifically, the same people who would have made fun of us now want to play with us. And at the same time, managed to entice the OSR grogs back as well. That's quite the remarkable feat!
I’d also strongly dispute the point that 5E “enticed the OSR grogs back”. Maybe for like a minute in 2014? Certainly not since then.