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So What IS Happening to Tabletop Roleplaying Games? Dancey & Mearls Let You Know!
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<blockquote data-quote="pickin_grinnin" data-source="post: 7653565" data-attributes="member: 6697674"><p>Normally I would say that it's a smart business move to take your IP and extend it into other media, toys, online games, etc. </p><p></p><p>The reality, though, is that the various owners of D&D (from TSR to Hasbro) have tried to do that for a really long time now, and it never takes. They have the right idea, but not the right IP.</p><p></p><p>D&D was designed by folks who came out of the wargaming community, and it shows. They were also very into Tolkien (and Howard and Moorcock, etc.), and it shows. Though the game was revolutionary for it's time, the basic fantasy elements were largely borrowed from existing fictional universes. There was nothing innovative in their world concept/design - the innovation was in introducing roleplay into wargames. </p><p></p><p>When you try to move things to other media, your core world concepts need to seem innovative in some way if they are going to catch on. The gaming aspects of D&D don't translate to movies, toys, comics, TV series, etc. In those media, it just comes off looking like a mishmash of Tolkien, King Arthur legends, general European mythology, etc. There are far too many movies with those same fantasy elements already. D&D just gets lost in the mix.</p><p></p><p>There have been different campaign worlds in D&D to be sure, but very few of them have deviated much from the general high fantasy concepts of Tolkien, Howard, Moorcock, etc. In fact, there's very little conceptual creativity in any of the popular high/epic fantasy roleplaying games. A Pathfinder movie wouldn't do well, either.</p><p></p><p>I started playing D&D back when it was first released in the 70s, and have enjoyed it in all it's various incarnations (except for 4e). I have yet to see them produce anything in other media (except fiction) that has enticed me, even though they have tried very hard. What works well in a gaming enviroment does not necessarily work well in a movie. It can be fun to struggle to climb a mountain or kill a dragon in a game setting, but it just looks stereotypical and boring in a movie unless you have a very talented director at the helm who can bring something new to it.</p><p></p><p>To take it from the opposite end of things, "Game of Thrones" is doing well on TV. The original books are doing well, too. If you move it to a roleplaying game environment, though, you might as well just do it in D&D or Pathfinder or any other epic fantasy game. There would be no reason to buy a dedicated "Game of Thrones" game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pickin_grinnin, post: 7653565, member: 6697674"] Normally I would say that it's a smart business move to take your IP and extend it into other media, toys, online games, etc. The reality, though, is that the various owners of D&D (from TSR to Hasbro) have tried to do that for a really long time now, and it never takes. They have the right idea, but not the right IP. D&D was designed by folks who came out of the wargaming community, and it shows. They were also very into Tolkien (and Howard and Moorcock, etc.), and it shows. Though the game was revolutionary for it's time, the basic fantasy elements were largely borrowed from existing fictional universes. There was nothing innovative in their world concept/design - the innovation was in introducing roleplay into wargames. When you try to move things to other media, your core world concepts need to seem innovative in some way if they are going to catch on. The gaming aspects of D&D don't translate to movies, toys, comics, TV series, etc. In those media, it just comes off looking like a mishmash of Tolkien, King Arthur legends, general European mythology, etc. There are far too many movies with those same fantasy elements already. D&D just gets lost in the mix. There have been different campaign worlds in D&D to be sure, but very few of them have deviated much from the general high fantasy concepts of Tolkien, Howard, Moorcock, etc. In fact, there's very little conceptual creativity in any of the popular high/epic fantasy roleplaying games. A Pathfinder movie wouldn't do well, either. I started playing D&D back when it was first released in the 70s, and have enjoyed it in all it's various incarnations (except for 4e). I have yet to see them produce anything in other media (except fiction) that has enticed me, even though they have tried very hard. What works well in a gaming enviroment does not necessarily work well in a movie. It can be fun to struggle to climb a mountain or kill a dragon in a game setting, but it just looks stereotypical and boring in a movie unless you have a very talented director at the helm who can bring something new to it. To take it from the opposite end of things, "Game of Thrones" is doing well on TV. The original books are doing well, too. If you move it to a roleplaying game environment, though, you might as well just do it in D&D or Pathfinder or any other epic fantasy game. There would be no reason to buy a dedicated "Game of Thrones" game. [/QUOTE]
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