D&D General “Folk” D&D vs. “Official” D&D

[Umbran]

I think the fear is the increased monetization will either be the wotc bison eating as many niches as it can, changing the beast into something that kills the tabletop plains or it will inadvisedly kill the d&D bison thus hurling the plains in the chaos.

I can't speak to people's fears.

I can speak to how there's rather more to it than WotC being a parasite. Even those who don't play WotC's games actually get value out of its presence in the community, and WotC gets value out of there being other games in the world.

 

[MichaelSomething]

People are free to leave WOTC's domain and play their own game. Good luck finding players.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I do appreciate his optimism that "folk dnd" as he puts it is resilient even if the popularity in official dnd comes and goes

He's an OSR guy, which is a scene that was basically willed into existence early in the 21st century, despite a thundering lack of interest from even the companies still publishing retro games, like Tunnels & Trolls.

Google Plus is sort of like Numenor nowadays --a fabulous place forever lost beneath the waves -- but it really was a thriving community where the old school community bounced ideas off each other so enthusiastically that whole companies rose up out of it, to say nothing of endless games, supplements and settings.

If all of those disappeared again, which could definitely happen (most of the people behind them are a long way from their Stranger Things days), it'd definitely be possible for another online community to arise to recreate the scene again. Probably TikTok or a resurgent Tumblr (which appears to be happening, against all odds).

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think most people outside of a very specific group of people on messageboards and social media even notice what the official D&D is.
My group of teenagers pull out all kinds of homebrew, have random species printed out from Reddit, don't know what the current adventure line is (Spelljammer?), haven't heard of OneD&D, and haven't the foggiest idea when I pull out an old houserule from 2nd edition.
This sentiment also carries over to the group I've DMed at the local library, the massive school D&D clubs.
In my view, the upcoming generation of players could care less if it's an "official game." They want what's cool, what they find online. D&D is no longer a monolith.

Yeah. I have friends and coworkers who get a lot of stuff off sources like the dnd5e wikidot and have expressed having no idea what content is “official” and what isn’t.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I can't speak to people's fears.

I can speak to how there's rather more to it than WotC being a parasite. Even those who don't play WotC's games actually get value out of its presence in the community, and WotC gets value out of there being other games in the world.

the problem is we only have words and those can feed fear like few things.

People are free to leave WOTC's domain and play their own game. Good luck finding players.

if it is sufficiently unpopular then an exodus is likely meaning that will stop being a problem.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's nice being Folk.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

"Kickstarters and livestreams can advertise your game to millions of people."

In theory. In practice, this isn't how those platforms typically perform.

Layout software is great... if you already have layout and visual design chops. And the game design advice you get on forums on the internet is usually going to be filled with disparate, conflicting voices, and worth what you pay for it.

This comes off to me kind of like, "If you move to New York, you'll be discovered and make it big on Broadway!" It makes a nice story, but doesn't really work out in reality except for one or two people.

Yeah, he has a platform and his stuff -- Maze Rats and Knave among them -- has been really successful, but without his subscribers, would they be? Maybe, maybe not.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Corporations are bad because they want to make a profit vibe. Buy these t-shirts from my sponsor!

The word "irony" pops to mind.

As D&D YouTubers go, he's very good, but he definitely isn't still the scrappy underdog/outsider he thinks he is.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have. And apparently Gygax agreed to some degree for some period of time.

Gygax was saying this -- in the Dragon, memorably -- at a time that he was big mad that Role Aids was doing D&D stuff and somehow saw their modest output as an existential threat to TSR. Which is ironic, since by that point, Gygax and his folks were on their way to being the existential threat.

But according to Art & Arcana, if I remember correctly, in-house, he was singing a different tune. (If it wasn't Art & Arcana, it was a later interview with one of Gygax's peers.)

 

[Umbran]

the problem is we only have words and those can feed fear like few things.

I don't understand how that links to anything I was saying. Sorry, but you've gone over my head.