D&D 5E 5e and the Cheesecake Factory: Explaining Good Enough

[fearsomepirate]

I think D&D's success has been helt back for a long time by its nerd stigma, and lack of accessibility. I don't think 5e's success is a matter of it just appealing to a lot of people.

It already had the benefit of name recognition. Social media have rapidly changed the perception of D&D and removed the stigma, while lowering the barrier to entry by showing how it is played. Simultaneously, D&D itself has met the audience halfway, by removing a lot of its complexity and streamlining the rules, while increasing its social media presence.

So in a matter of speaking, D&D went surfing when the tides were right, and brought the right new surfboard. Now all it needs to do is ride the wave of success.

The exploding popularity of video games helped a lot too. Lots of people who have never played D&D have played Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Dragon Age, or Skyrim. "It's kind of like that, but with dice" is the easiest 1-sentence explanation I've ever given of DnD. And yes, I get the irony of telling people that "Dungeons & Dragons is kind of like Dragon Age."

 

[Imaculata]

And yes, I get the irony of telling people that "Dungeons & Dragons is kind of like Dragon Age."

And yet I think you're absolutely right. Videogames have absolutely made tabletop roleplaying a lot more appealing to people that already liked RPG videogames.

 

[prabe]

In PbtA's defense - that's kind of the point. It's not a diner, it's a pop-up celebrity chef restaurant that makes five versions of one dish, but dang if this isn't the best enchilada you've ever tasted. (Burritos are down the street).

I wasn't attempting to snark on the games. If the fact I don't care for them came through enough that you needed to defend them, I apologize.

 

[Campbell]

4e laser focused on dungeon crawls? I liked 4e, but it ain't no dungeon crawler brother.

 

[DND_Reborn]

It's the bard of DnD editions.

NO!!!!

If that was the case, I could never play 5E again... EVER.

Wait, maybe that wouldn't be too bad...

 

[see]

Seriously?

The popularity of 5th edition is trivially easy to explain. It's the edition that was designed by a public-test-and-reaction cycle. It turns out, astonishingly enough, that asking the public what it likes is better at figuring out what will be popular with the public than design methods that don't involve asking the public what they like.

 

[TerraDave]

I like the OP.

D&D offers a broader experience in that it 1) appeals to people looking for different things--more than just about any other game I can think of, 2) it is accessible, to the point where some of its conventions feel almost like training wheels or hand-holding and 3) it really accommodates groups in its core activities.

Lots of other games provide a narrower experience, are less accessible in terms of actually picking up and playing, and, crucially, GMing; and don't have characters, conflicts or activities that can accommodate 4-6 players as well.

Now, this just D&D.

Still doesn't answer why now. And its been different with this edition. It really has. I don't think it just the geek-cool thing. Some kind of geeky thing has been in since, well, the first time D&D was big. It also not just a fad, too many people would have played it a little and gotten over it, and that hasn't happened.

We may just have to accept that 5e does D&D really well.

 

[TheSword]

As always there are many factors resulting in its popularity. However when it comes to new players there are two that stand out.

- Preserving Nostalgia of 5e, where most essential concepts are the same as 2nd edition. It is familiar in a way that other systems aren’t. Stats, Classes, archetypes (basically kits), Monsters, Spells. All these things are largely the same. So when Johnny turns into John and has kids and they turn 10, the family sits down at the table and everyone wins. 5e has managed to be familiar and yet fresh. For anyone who likes Billions, It’s the ‘old recipe’ Yum Time Scrumpet, that Damian Lewis wants to share with his kids when he shows them what his paper route used to be. (For a lot of people 4e was a new recipe scrumpet)

- The rise of board games and card games. I’m not talking about uno or cluedo. I’m taking about complicated, strategic, part-roleplay board and card games that are easy to pick up, play for two hours and then put down. It has become socially acceptable for ‘cool’ people (I use that term loosely) to have Friday night be game night with half a dozen people round to play whatever games people have between them. Every film and book franchise has a board game spin off. Board Game Cafes are popping up everywhere quite unlike the traditional FLGS. Board games cost similar amounts to D&D and D&D even has its own popular versions - particularly Lords of Waterdeep. 5e is the perfect follow on from this. Where 4e mimicked the MMORPG to try and hit the mass market. 5e went for the board game - spell cards, starter sets, miniatures, and good campaign adventure books... everything you need to play. Pret a Manger.

So when you have older players returning to 5e to see what they’ve been missing - and liking the familiarity.

When you have twenty-thirty somethings picking it up out of game night.

...and you have young people picking it up from their parents. Then you have an absolutely massive market.

Add to that the fact that it is a genuinely fun game, able to hold the attention of new players AND game veterans. Then I think you have a winning formula. Other games just aren’t hitting those segments at the same time.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah. If I were designing my ideal TRPG, it wouldn't be D&D 5E--it probably wouldn't have much in common with D&D 5E--but the various convenience/familiarity aspects you call out are good reasons, and the game is good enough, and I refuse to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.

Yeah that's pretty much where I am.

5E is not the best at anything. I don't think it's even the best all-rounder (or even close). But it's something everyone I play with gets, that's easy enough to run, because even if it's actually not super-easy to write for, it has a ton of cool pre-written campaigns, and that, importantly, whilst the mechanics leave much to be desired in some ways, they tend to produce a result that is at least fun, not turgid or dull (unlike some RPGs). Maybe the skill system is too random (it is imho), and maybe binary isn't a great way to work, for example, but it's quick and you get a result and you move on.

It does mean my group keeps trying other games though, to see if they'll be a better fit.

 

[clearstream]

And that, in a nutshell, is the appeal of 5e. 5e is the Cheesecake Factory of TTRPGs.

I don't mean this to be either an insult (for those of you hate chain restaurants) or a compliment (mmm, I love me some Cheesecake Factory), but just a working descriptive theory. 5e has worked so well, has been so popular, not because it is great, but because it is so perfectly acceptable. Let me go through some of the various reasons, and then, since this is already too long, let other people rubbish the theory in the comments.

1. It's D&D. This goes without saying, but it has the brand. Everyone knows what D&D is. It's practically a synonym for the TTRPG hobby - seriously, if you have a friend who still doesn't know what TTRPGs are, you can always tell them that you are "playing D&D" and they will have an idea.

2. It uses all the old tropes. The six abilities. Saving throws. Classes (including the classics). Alignment. Fireball and magic missile. It's easy to bring players back when there is a certain level of comfort. No matter what edition was the last edition you played, from OD&D to 4e, you can make the leap to 5e.

3. It's got combat, and it's got the rest. Some people love combat, some people love the other pillars. It's always amazed me that there are people that play 5e and break out the minis and the battlemaps, and others that play it with few combats that are ToTM, and everyone in between.

4. It allows for optimization, and not worrying about it. D&D has a history of optimizers and rules lawyers, and 5e can certainly enable that. On the other hand, with bounded accuracy and attunement and other rules in 5e ... there is no pressing need to optimize.

5. At any given table, players can be both really engaged and ... not so much. One of the key features of D&D that has always been appealing (and often unremarked) is that it allows players to ... um ... check out a little. Some players don't like to have to be "always on" or telling their backstories or interacting with the environment or creating new narrative hooks for the group. They just want to be there, enjoy it, and doodle and occasionally interact. Why? I don't know, but there's usually one of them in every group ... Derek. D&D's mechanics allow for players to choose options that keep them from being the center of attention, if that's what they want.

6. The recurring event. D&D can always work as a one-shot, but it's best as a campaign; even the published adventures (Adventure Paths) acknowledge this. That's part of the charm, as well. Sure, there are many better TTRPGs in terms of one-shots (IMO) that don't require the prep and the setup time of D&D, but D&D has the standard "go out, adventure, kill stuff, get stuff, level, repeat" that is the basic pleasure loop of TTRPGs, and means that the same group can keep coming back for the same social event.

I could keep going on, but the idea generally holds. 5e isn't a great game in any given aspect; I would argue that there are other, better TTRPGs out there for many uses (and I'd even say that in terms of pure "D&D" some people might prefer other editions, or even clones). But when it comes to disparate groups of people getting together and finding that sweet spot of play, I am envious of the way that 5e always seems to be good enough for a critical mass of people to play.

I feel like people often undervalue the skill and resources of the D&D designers. The d20 mechanics are streamlined and robust. They're easy to pick up, while dealing with a great many situations at the table extremely well. Neo-Vancian magic - looking at the underlying mechanics, not the instantiation - improves meaningfully on Vancian magic. There is real finesse in the skills system. And there are simple, worthwhile details in the modelling of weapons and armor. The underlying maths provides an even keel for a good majority of uses.

Of course it also benefits from the lineage. The current game was built on the shoulders of the remarkable piece of work that was 3rd edition, and the worthwhile innovation that was 4th edition, and they in turn built on the versions before them. As you point out, many people are familiar with the concepts and see the game represented in a positive light. About the only degree to which I feel a sense of CF is where D&D defaults to a generic-fantasy setting. Although one also can see that the published settings have benefited from being able to draw from a wealth of creative effort.

I've played a lot of RPG systems and comparatively, D&D is a very high-quality product. As you say, some other systems can speak better to a specific narrative, e.g. CoC, Paranoia, Bushido, Lo5R, Shadowrun, Mouse Guard etc. Some speak quite well to a wide range of narratives, e.g. Savage Worlds, GURPS, FATE. Some better support a mode of play, e.g. Dungeon World, Burning Wheel. In its genre, D&D stands up extremely well against systems such as Earthdawn, RQ, WHFR.

Thus for me the CF argument misses the mark. I don't default to D&D, I choose it - because of the quality of the design work and how well it fits the purposes my group has. I imagine it is not your intent, but it seems very dismissive to suppose fans of D&D are settling for some kind of least-worst option.