Henry
Autoexreginated
woodelf said:In response to which, i posit a couple related questions:
- if there were no longer D&D-branded products being published, but tons of D&D-compatible D20 System books, would D&D be "dead"?
- If there were no longer D&D RPG products being published, but tons of D&D-branded novels, computer games, card games, movies, a TV show or two, coming out on a regular basis, would D&D be "dead"?
In my opinion, Yes, and Yes.
Yes to the first, because the brand name is what is synonymous to the public; d20/OGL has such a smattering of the larger D&D market that were D&D brand name to die overnight, the public at large would think of it as "that game people used to play back in the 80's." Heck, the majority still do! Its current players would call it "that game that went out of business in 2005."
Yes to the second, because D&D is NOT a novel like, or a card game, or TV show. Even the general public knew this 20 years ago, because if it were merely some card game, it would not have stirred up such anti-D&D fervor. Parents and activists didn't know WHAT it was, they just knew it was something different.
D&D is not just "Eberron" or Forgotten Realms" - D&D incorporates those things, but it is not those things.