Were the 80s really the Golden Age of D&D?

[Mercurius]

It seems like a common belief, almost an axiom of the online Dungeons & Dragons community. But is it true?

A couple things come to mind that, I think, "color" this perspective. One is the fact that a significant portion (even the majority) of D&D players are Gen-X (born in the 60s or 70s) who came of age RPG-wise in the early 80s when AD&D spiked in popularity. So there was a combination of our falling in love with the game at the same time that it was increasing, and then peaking, in popularity. Later troughs (late 80s, mid-to-late 90s, mid-to-late 00s) proved disappointing, but were followed by further plateaus.

There is also the basic nostalgia effect: "Back in the good olde days." This may simply be the D&D player's version of that. (We're getting old, fellow Gen-Xers ).

This is not to say that the 80s were not a Golden Age, but I think it is just that: a golden age, not the Golden Age. Some gamers would call the early 90s the Golden Age, if you're into story-focused games like Vampire and Mage, as well as the boom of the Indie market and innovations in game systems that caused D&D to fall far behind, at least until 3E came out (which was, in a sense, Jonathan Tweet compiling the best of previous game mechanics that he himself designed and D&Difying them...but I digress).

The early 00s was certainly another Golden Age with 3E and the OGL. The early years of 4E seems comparatively tame, and that may add another factor to the axiom. This is not to say that 4E itself is not a fine product--I believe that it is--but that the excitement around it seems much less than in the first couple years of 3E, mainly because of the OGL; back then you just didn't know what would come out next and it seemed there was always something new in the game stores. Now it is a new hardcover from Wizards of the Coast once a month with a random product here and there from another publisher, although usually as a PDF.

Yet if we look beyond Dungeons & Dragons there is much to be excited about and you could say that now is the (or a) Golden Age. It is easier to produce a quality RPG book (or PDF) than ever before; the fantasy genre and its related sub-genres (scifi, horror, superheroes, etc) are more popular than ever thanks to Peter Jackson, comic book movies, and various TV shows, if only in a media-diluted way. It may even be that 30-somethings are coming back to the hobby now that they have stable families and careers (or that could be purely anecdotal based upon some of the guys in my group).

What do you think? Were the 80s the Golden Age or a Golden Age?

 

[Vigilance]

I think D&D is like anything else, it has its peaks and valleys.

AD&D and 3e were mine, but others identify OD&D or Basic D&D ('red box') as theirs.

 

[pawsplay]

The 80s were the Golden Age. I owned D&D action figures, there was a D&D cartoon, and B.A.D.D. was on the rampage. There were two versions of D&D being published at once, and each got a revision.

 

[glaucon]

Definitely the Golden Age.

In either OD&D or AD&D, all you needed was 3 books [max].
As noted in the original DMG: the printed rules are guidelines, if there isn't a rule for your situation, make it up.


Besides that, the published modules rocked, stressing story and encounter, and weren't step-by-step mechanical like the current ones.

'nuff said.

 

[jdrakeh]

In either OD&D or AD&D, all you needed was 3 books [max].
As noted in the original DMG: the printed rules are guidelines, if there isn't a rule for your situation, make it up.

Both of these things were/are true of D&D 3x and D&D 4e, as well. As for whether the 1980s were the golden age or a golden age, I'd have to say that they were the latter. Many innovations have occurred after the 1980s, as have record sales.

 

[Ariosto]

Commercially, the Golden Age -- and not just for D&D.

Boot Hill
Gamma World
Top Secret
Gangbusters
Star Frontiers
Marvel Super Heroes

and more

... and that was just TSR!

One is the fact that a significant portion (even the majority) of D&D players are Gen-X (born in the 60s or 70s) who came of age RPG-wise in the early 80s when AD&D spiked in popularity.

Yeah, funny how people think of the period when something "spiked in popularity" as its Golden Age. Odd how they consider a decline in population of the "golden", due to shortage of a new generation, to mark a lesser age.

After all, the "proper" criteria should be ... what, again?

Some gamers would call the early 90s the Golden Age, if you're into story-focused games like Vampire and Mage, as well as the boom of the Indie market and innovations in game systems that caused D&D to fall far behind ...

Right, but how many would call a "fall far behind" a Golden Age for D&D?

(Gotta love it when the OP goes wildly OT, eh?)

The early 00s was certainly another Golden Age with 3E and the OGL.

Certainly. Anyone who disagrees is self-evidently, a priori, simply wrong.

Such as the brain trust at WotC who have dumped 3E and the OGL onto the ash heap of D&D-brand history.

Such as anyone silly enough to take Were the 80s really the Golden Age of D&D? as a genuine question.

 

[Mercurius]

Both of these things were/are true of D&D 3x and D&D 4e, as well. As for whether the 1980s were the golden age or a golden age, I'd have to say that they were the latter. Many innovations have occurred after the 1980s, as have record sales.

Agreed on both accounts. Heck, I don't even think you need the DMG to play 4E, and DM's Fiat has always been the One Rule To Rule Them All.

 

[Mercurius]

Commercially, the Golden Age -- and not just for D&D.
...
... and that was just TSR!

Hmm, I've got to disagree with you here. It may be that TSR simply had a larger market share, for certainly when White Wolf started its ascent in 1991 they not only took a slice of the D&D pie but they also added numbers...in droves. But the real commercial Golden Age must have been in the early years of 3E. Did any other books sell as many copies as the 3E core hardcovers?

 

[Celebrim]

I believe the '80's where The Golden Age.

My reasoning is based on the following:

1) D&D had real mainstream reach, where as in the mainstream now it plays second fiddle to World of Warcraft.
2) D&D's mainstream reach could be felt in the fact that it had a toy line, and a cartoon on a major network, and it could be purchased along side boardgames in from pretty much every toy retailer for K'Bee to Toys R Us. Today, D&D doesn't even have a print magazine devoted to it.
3) Everything that has happened since then has always been a revival of legendary content and fluff from that golden age. There is 'Return to the Tomb of Horrors' or 'Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil'. For any other 'golden age' you could name, there would be what? When people talk about experiences in classic encounters, what could you name for anything outside of The Golden Age encounters that could be anything like a shared experience or for that matter 'classic'? Nothing since then has been nearly as iconic.
4) If you took a survey of the sort of people that hang out at EnWorld, I think you'd find a disproportionate number are of the age to have been forged in the '80's.

 

[ggroy]

What do you think? Were the 80s the Golden Age or a Golden Age?

Define "Golden Age".

(Otherwise the question is ill defined).