The Past & Future of D&D

MerricB · Oct 28, 2002

G'day folks!

Once upon a time, there was AD&D, and it was good. And it was immensely popular.

Later its popularity waned.

Why?

Now, asking on a forum like this will probably give me many, many answers.

Good. Throw them up! Let's have fun.

My personal opinion is this: D&D was a fad in the early days. Less concentrated than (say) Pokemon, spread over a longer period of time... but a fad, nonetheless.

(Compare sales of Magic: the Gathering over the years).

As a WAG, I would say that there was a spike in sales of the game when 2nd edition was released, just as there has been when the 'not entirely D&D' system of 3E was released.

Thus, comparisons between the best time of AD&D and today aren't particularly useful, due to the wildly varying natures of the market environment.

Anyone like to comment further?

Cheers!

hong · Oct 28, 2002

Prediction: The alignment wars will survive.

Dragongirl · Oct 28, 2002

D&D will always remain a small segment of society because it actually takes imagination to play. In this day of visual stimulation from video games and the mindlessness of TV most kids don't have the time or inspiration to get into D&D. Geesh, I sound 40 instead of 22.

Drawmack · Oct 28, 2002

When oe came out it was new and fresh. RPGs had not been seen before. As time went on other games came out. These other systems had different feels and were from different genres then the grand-daddy. It just stands to reason that some people who began with D&D moved into these other systems.

Then in the early 80's there was an antiD&D media blitz. Even though what the media was saying was negative, it got a lot of people interested in D&D just find out what the hullabaloo was about. This conicided with the release of 2nd edition which brought some previous players back to D&D to try out the new edition. Hence the golden age of D&D was spurned by people trying to get us not to play.

^pauses for a moment to revel in the irony of it all^

The current edition brought other role-players in and the media blitz in the game stores no doubt converted its share of CCG players to RPG players.

As far as the future D&D and certain things that it brings with it alignment wars, class wars, broken wars, etc. are here to stay.

johnsemlak · Oct 28, 2002

Does anybody know how sales of D&D products now compare with the heyday of ad&d/d&d in the 80's?

My assumption is it's bigger now, but I dunno.

RSKennan · Oct 28, 2002

Drawmack said:
Then in the early 80's there was an antiD&D media blitz. Even though what the media was saying was negative, it got a lot of people interested in D&D just find out what the hullabaloo was about. This conicided with the release of 2nd edition which brought some previous players back to D&D to try out the new edition. Hence the golden age of D&D was spurned by people trying to get us not to play.

^pauses for a moment to revel in the irony of it all^

I thought about all this awhile back with the release of the BOVD. It makes you wonder if Wizards isn't just trying to repeat history.
Maybe someone should tell the fundies about it....

mmadsen · Oct 28, 2002

D&D will always remain a small segment of society because it actually takes imagination to play.

Certainly, but the game could be made more playable "out of the box" (as we're discussing in Playing D&D without study or preparation.) Think about how easily you pick up the game learning from friends. Now compare that to all the stories of potential players poring over the books for weeks, not quite getting it, and only playing the game years later when someone showed them how. Even smart people who go on to be great players/DMs often don't "get" D&D at first.

mmadsen · Oct 28, 2002

Then in the early 80's there was an antiD&D media blitz. Even though what the media was saying was negative, it got a lot of people interested in D&D just find out what the hullabaloo was about. This conicided with the release of 2nd edition which brought some previous players back to D&D to try out the new edition.

Didn't second edition come out in 1989? The anti-D&D movement came about in the early 1980's, in first edition's heyday, even before Unearthed Arcana.

Krug · Oct 28, 2002

I think future versions of D&D would be more 'computer' like. I was playing Neverwinter Nights and thought that it definitely lagged behind Diablo 2 in playability. I could foresee two versions of D&D; one quite similar to the one we have now, and another that's stripped down or modified, with rules more suited for computers and possibly, MMORPGs.

johnsemlak · Oct 28, 2002

what are MMORPGs?

The Past & Future of D&D

MerricB

Eternal Optimist

hong

WotC's bitch

Dragongirl

First Post

Drawmack

First Post

johnsemlak

First Post

RSKennan

Explorer

mmadsen

First Post

mmadsen

First Post

Krug

Newshound

johnsemlak

First Post

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