Are we looking at an RPG Renassiance (moved to Tabletop Gaming)

[Ahnehnois]

I don't know about a Renaissance, but with PF, a new set of licensed games, and some innovation in the market, we may reach the point where an rpg other than D&D is actually recognizable to a significant number of people, and where the rpg hobby is no longer defined by D&D. That might be better than a Renaissance.

 

[GreyICE]

Funnily enough (or not, what do I know?), my answer would be "Final Fantasy".

Interesting.

A wizard has granted you a wish, but a very limited one. You may gain a sum of money equal to the profits from the next major thing from a franchise. Do you want:

Final Fantasy 14
Call of Duty ((Whatever, no idea what they're on here))
the next Bond Movie
D&D Next

See you'd be crazy to pick D&D Next, regardless of the quality of these various things. Whereas you could probably legitimately throw AD&D 1E in there as something that you might consider, adjusted for today's money of course.

The hobby is just very niche. It has a strong and active niche, but it's just a niche, and it's not breaking out of it.

If it's any consolation, wargaming with miniatures is in an even smaller niche

 

[Evenglare]

It's weird OP, with the advent of thing like kickstarter and widespread RPGs now like pathfinder, D&D and others there are a lot more players I think. However the fanbase is more divided than ever, D&D cant stick with a freaking edition, and all these other indie rpgs are coming out ... it's just a lot of choices which is good and bad I guess .

 

[amerigoV]

Savage Worlds is... it's a thing, I suppose.

Heh - its "The Thing"

Just ask yourself, which of these franchises is out of place: "Call of Duty," "Final Fantasy," "James Bond," "Harry Potter," "Dungeons and Dragons."

Yuuuppppp.

You forgot Pong, which also kicked everybody's butt for awhile. There has always been alternatives and PnP RPGs has always been a niche.

But perhaps we are just fussing over definitions. Is PnP games, specifically D&D, a huge Cultural Thing right now? No. Will it ever be again? Doubt it. But the quality of material that is available, the easy of finding players, and the social acceptance of PnP RPGs has never been higher IME.

Heck, if I wander into my main work office (it tend to work remotely) half the time I'll get wrapped up into a gaming conversation that ranges from PnP to video games - that is started by the "kids" half my age (BTW: "get off my lawn you dang kids!"). Back when I started in the work world that was one of those things you did not talk about unless someone mentioned they like LoTR (dead tree versions) or Conan movies (for all you WoW haters, I attribute much of this acceptance to its popularity, but that is a whole separate topic). Even then, you talked about it in hushed tones.

So maybe I am off my rocker and the whole thing collapses tomorrow. Its does not bother me - I know it will continue for me. I have two little ones that I have already been stating up their plastic toys for gaming. And they will play if they ever want money for college, I'll tell you that right now!

Point blank - I'll take now over when D&D was a Cultural Thing any day.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It can be a cultural thing again. We only have to define ourselves as "99% (in Lair-) ers"

 

[OnlineDM]

Its a shame that the virtual table died, it was designed to address that.

There are still plenty of great virtual tables out there. I personally love MapTool - and it's free! I've blogged about using it to play D&D4e for years, and it's all set for D&D Next as well.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Interesting.

A wizard has granted you a wish, but a very limited one. You may gain a sum of money equal to the profits from the next major thing from a franchise. Do you want:

Final Fantasy 14
Call of Duty ((Whatever, no idea what they're on here))
the next Bond Movie
D&D Next

See you'd be crazy to pick D&D Next, regardless of the quality of these various things. Whereas you could probably legitimately throw AD&D 1E in there as something that you might consider, adjusted for today's money of course.

The hobby is just very niche. It has a strong and active niche, but it's just a niche, and it's not breaking out of it.

If it's any consolation, wargaming with miniatures is in an even smaller niche

But movies and video games take hundreds of people and millions of dollars to make. D&D can rock with a small team behind the wheel.

Also, movies and modern games cost probably $10 per hour of content, versus $20 for unlimited gaming from D&D - a great bargain for us fans but hardly a moneymaker for WOTC.

 

[vagabundo]

The only way to break out of the niche is to fund a DND cartoon again. Show some kids playing the red box at the start and get sucked into the fantasy realm. Play that on Nick or CN for a few years and you'll get new players and groups; fresh blood.

DND needs a kick start that can keep it going again for another three decades.

 

[Yora]

The only change I see is that WotC dropped a line of D&D products that the market didn't want and seems to be starting a new one that so far seems to be regarded as quite promising by a large segment of RPG fans who make their oppinions known.
Regarding other RPGs, I don't really notice any change.

 

[Evenglare]

The only change I see is that WotC dropped a line of D&D products that the market didn't want and seems to be starting a new one that so far seems to be regarded as quite promising by a large segment of RPG fans who make their oppinions known.
Regarding other RPGs, I don't really notice any change.

See I don't really know if that's why 4th edition stopped. I'm not saying it wasnt because of sails but it doesnt seem to me that way. I dont KNOW the sales of 4th edition, but it seems to me a case of ADD, where you want to show off this new thing you had made before completeing an edition. (DMG 3 ANYONE !?)

It's just frusterating to have to buy a COMPLETELY new game every time because wizards can't commit to something. Every other RPG i have personally experienced , when they started talking about new editions (GURPS or Savage worlds for example) they do minor rules tweaks , so you can still use all of your old material with a very tiny amount of conversion. They don't chance the core structure of a game unlike wizards where you pretty much have to relearn everything. Sure you may be familiar with SOME aspects, but the agme is still fundamentally different and that's what pisses me off.

Especially since all of this stuff they are promising is essentially what they were promising with 4th edition. (They want to fix the rules and exploits.) It's the exact asme thing they are saying this time and I'm tired of it honstly . You know 5th edition may be fantastic or not, either way STICK WITH YOUR CONVICTIONS DAMNIT . If it's the last incarnation for D&D keep it that way ! I'm tired of buying the latest rule system to run my campaign in . (I'm aware that I don't HAVE to use it, but honestly people like new and shiny things.