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

[prosfilaes]

But without D&D around, many of the surviving FLGS will close up, which in turn will leave the mid-tier game producers with no great outlet for their products. Online sales are fine, once people know they want your stuff, but you need something to drum up that initial enthusiasm.

Pandemonium, in Boston, had one or two solid bookcases of D&D, last time I looked, but they also had four bookcases of other RPG stuff, a floor of sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks, and a strong collection of miniatures and board games and M:tG. Little Shop of Magic, in Vegas, has a bookcase of D&D, a bookcase of Pathfinder, and one of other RPGs, along with a wall of miniatures, a large collection of board games, and M:tG. Even the death of D&D and all those players just disappearing still is unlikely to kill either of those FLGS. They're game stores, not RPG stores.

 

[Argyle King]

A recent game informer had an article on how tabletop gaming was showing signs of having grown in popularity during the past few years. The fact that a magazine which typically focuses on electronic gaming (XBox, PS3, etc) even had an article about tabletop gaming at all came as something of a surprise to me.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Why is innovation being conflated with "changes that I like"? I mean, 3e was hugely innovative for D&D.

Note those words "For D&D". I can think of very little actual innovation in 3.0 - it reads to me like someone was taking a lot of design principles from games like GURPS and Runequest and putting D&D onto an engine based on those sort of principles. Calling it innovative is like calling a computer game innovative because it upgraded from the Doom engine to the Quake one and then reimplemented the game based on that.

4e's biggest innovation was breaking out of the turn sequence.

I consider that to be one of three factors that if they weren't actual innovations certainly were very obscure before 4e.

One was out of turn actions in a turn based game.

One was the kinaesthetic nature of the battle. The only game I can think of that comes close in this respect is Privateer Press's Warmachine/Hordes - and that's a tabletop wargame.

And the third was the Defender role. The actual ability to make someone so badas that no one dares turn their back on them, and to do it without mind control mechanics.

 

[Desdichado]

Innovation is nice. Being new is nice. But it's not all that. It's just a thing. Personally, I've long since abandoned caring about system much for its own sake. If something is going to be new and also spark my interest in purchasing it, it can't just be new, or even innovative. It has to offer me somtehing substantially better than what I've already got.

Now I'm not saying that 5e, or anything else, does or does not do that. I'm just saying that I don't see what the weird bias towards "throw everything out because something new is in the building!" comes from.

That said, there's much more innovation and much more diversity in print and readily available today than ever at any point in the industry ever. And I don't care if old stuff is "piled up" or whatever; it's available too, which increases the diversity of stuff that's available. If you can't find a system that you like, it's not that you're not trying hard enough--it's that you're trying too hard to not like anything. There's just no pleasing you.

 

[Desdichado]

Pandemonium, in Boston, had one or two solid bookcases of D&D, last time I looked, but they also had four bookcases of other RPG stuff, a floor of sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks, and a strong collection of miniatures and board games and M:tG. Little Shop of Magic, in Vegas, has a bookcase of D&D, a bookcase of Pathfinder, and one of other RPGs, along with a wall of miniatures, a large collection of board games, and M:tG. Even the death of D&D and all those players just disappearing still is unlikely to kill either of those FLGS. They're game stores, not RPG stores.

My local game store is basically a miniatures store, with cards too. There's a small room off to the side with all the RPG stuff, which is about equally split between Pathfinder, D&D, and "other stuff" including tons of 40k Heresy, mostly. Anything indie, or smaller than those titles, just isn't in stock at all.

And D&D is such a small portion of their stock, and is tucked in a small out of the way corner of the store, that it's impossible to think of it keeping anything about that store afloat. Frankly, it's not even keeping the little RPG room of the store afloat. I think there's a good deal more space and action devoted to Paizo than to D&D.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I think we are seeing a Renassiance, we are seeing the use of the current technoligies to create a cultral movement in table top gaming. Publishers are using those tools to expand and promote change in the industry.

Yes, maybe it is the "Indy Gaming Age", but there is a lot going on at this time; Monty getting 500000$ in a Kick Starter is only one. Take a look at the Kick Starter programs, support is to be had.

Number of gamers; not seeing hard numbers in sales, it hard to say. But GenCon has been growing, 30% growth in the last few years, someone is gaming. Plus, it is hard times and I like to think America is embracing game night. This site has 133477 gamers and yet some don't even know it is here and keep to product sites!

Yes, we are in a Renassiance; a cultral movement of learning and change is hitting the gaming industry, just how long will it last?

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Personally I'm seeing alot more talk about boardgames and miniatures games than RPG's. That's because boardgames are alot more socially acceptable than RPG's out in the world. When people cite the numbers at GenCon they understand that there's a huge contingent of people who play games other than RPG's there right?

 

[Cam Banks]

I tell you what, it's sure looking good on this corner of the industry. I have to say, I've not been as excited by the breadth, quality, and enthusiasm shown by publishers, designers, and fans at this point in time as I have for longer than I remember.

If you're a pure D&D player, and you're looking ahead into this "dry spell" of no new edition until the playtesting of D&D Next is over; or if you're frustrated by the lack of gamers in your area; or that your local gaming store only stocks miniatures and a few gaming books circa 2006; or you've just got into gaming with 4th edition D&D and suddenly everything looks shaky...

I say, get online, go out there, connect, review sites other than the ones you're seeing doom and gloom from. Check out stores like EndGame in Oakland CA, or the Source Comics & Games in Roseville, MN, or any of hundreds of fantastic, thriving stores along the East Coast or in the Pacific Northwest or Chicagoland.

This hobby is growing again, it's reaching out across the divides of geekdom, embracing new players, rewarding long-term gamers, reviving old school and introducing them to new school. It's awesome.

Cheers,
Cam