I think that people are on the right track with suggestions of a setting that is not based on fantasy medieval Europe. However, thus far all of the settings like that have been developed by American developers for primarily American audiences. That's been the case for all of D&D's almost 40 years of existence.
There's a small audience for roleplaying games in the United States and there probably always will be. However, how much more of a thriving franchise would it be if it were trying to find the small potential audience for roleplaying out of 6.9 billion people rather than the small potential audience for roleplaying out of 300 million? This is not to say that there aren't people in other countries playing D&D, obviously there are and many of them might be here online. But it's never been developed specifically for those audiences.
This could result in new concepts and innovations in the game that would pay off here at home, as well. I think we can look to the popularity of Japanese culture in the US as a sign that there's a market for more globally oriented products here at home.
I would say, instead of developing a new Oriental Adventures for Western audiences, why not bring in someone from Asia to develop something for Asian audiences, that can either eventually or immediately be sold to American audiences as well? They keep trying to mine their audience from the same seam, and the ore is running out.
Maybe we as gamers, in order to find our games' future, have to decide that it shouldn't be for us. If they can find success among other populations, even as a temporary but profitable fad in a fickle culture like Japan, then that means there is more development for other stuff. It also gives us fresh ideas and content to use.
I would say that instead of trying to base the next setting on the mythos of another culture, have it developed and at least partially marketed for another culture. It might not be exactly the same game, but isn't that the point of continuing to develop the game? If we wanted it to say the same, we could keep playing what we already have.
There's a small audience for roleplaying games in the United States and there probably always will be. However, how much more of a thriving franchise would it be if it were trying to find the small potential audience for roleplaying out of 6.9 billion people rather than the small potential audience for roleplaying out of 300 million? This is not to say that there aren't people in other countries playing D&D, obviously there are and many of them might be here online. But it's never been developed specifically for those audiences.
This could result in new concepts and innovations in the game that would pay off here at home, as well. I think we can look to the popularity of Japanese culture in the US as a sign that there's a market for more globally oriented products here at home.
I would say, instead of developing a new Oriental Adventures for Western audiences, why not bring in someone from Asia to develop something for Asian audiences, that can either eventually or immediately be sold to American audiences as well? They keep trying to mine their audience from the same seam, and the ore is running out.
Maybe we as gamers, in order to find our games' future, have to decide that it shouldn't be for us. If they can find success among other populations, even as a temporary but profitable fad in a fickle culture like Japan, then that means there is more development for other stuff. It also gives us fresh ideas and content to use.
I would say that instead of trying to base the next setting on the mythos of another culture, have it developed and at least partially marketed for another culture. It might not be exactly the same game, but isn't that the point of continuing to develop the game? If we wanted it to say the same, we could keep playing what we already have.
