D&D General Why grognards still matter

[Thomas Shey]

A

And I said the sum total of all those old timers may not add up to enough to be catered to. But per capita, the old timers are likely crushing most other age categories.

That may be true, but unless there's enough of them, that's largely irrelevant. If Group A spends X10 and Group B Spends X, if Group B is 50 times as large as Group A, you still don't much care about Group A. Given all evidence is that the modern market for D&D is larger than it was decades ago, and some of that old market has either left gaming or changed systems, it seems unlikely the grog market is such that its much relevant to WOTC except in a PR sense.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

then we will spend a lot

Why? You don’t need to pay to play D&D. This is WotCs big problem really. You only need a set of core rules at most, and you can play as much as you like. Added to that, experienced players will have learned to make whatever they need themselves.

I’ve been playing for 43 years. I only buy the odd thing occasionally, despite playing regularly.

 

[Ath'kethin]

you cannot defend my grandmaster grognard d20 with 0-9 twice which I inked in Aug 29,1980. My the power of my d20 i will defeat your ducky d20.

My ducky dice will take all comers. Bring it on.

(for the record, I'm a Companion by the OP's most excellent ranking system; started my TTRPG career with Earthdawn 1st Edition ca. 1993, began playing D&D with 2nd Edition - Dark Sun, to be exact - a few months later, and never looked back)

 

[Emerikol]

A


That may be true, but unless there's enough of them, that's largely irrelevant. If Group A spends X10 and Group B Spends X, if Group B is 50 times as large as Group A, you still don't much care about Group A. Given all evidence is that the modern market for D&D is larger than it was decades ago, and some of that old market has either left gaming or changed systems, it seems unlikely the grog market is such that its much relevant to WOTC except in a PR sense.

I don't mean to be mean but honestly I just said that and you respond as if I am disagreeing. It's like you want to argue for no good reason.

And I suspect that it's somewhere in between but we neither one have an measuring instrument that would give us the answer to that question.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

My ducky dice will take all comers. Bring it on.

You're floating those before you use them at my table.

 

[Stormonu]

I know everyone wants to believe they matter, their takes are useful and important, and their $50 purchase, or not, has some impact. But, sorry, you are not important. YOU and people like you, don’t matter. No matter who YOU are. 50k organized grognards don’t matter for a book selling 1MM copies. Your hot take on a Star Wars forum isn’t gonna change the franchise, even if that take gets hundreds of up votes. not how the world works.

But while your forum posts won’t change the Marvel universe, you can do whatever you want in your DnD home game, you can make all your ideas matter in the only place they do, in the game you’re playing.

Edit, not saying you can’t start a revolution or influence people around you, just saying, you’re not gonna pick the next president. People want the big effect because they’re right on the internet or something. Uh no, but you can help the people around you to better understand things.

The reverse is also true. WotC, Marvel & Disney can pump as much money into marketing, books and whatnot as they want, but they aren't important to me. There is no reason to support them if they don't produce what I want. And I'm not falling for the "if you don't buy what they're peddling, they'll go under and you'll get nothing." I have all that I need, and don't need to buy inferior product to keep THEM afloat.

 

[Emerikol]

Why? You don’t need to pay to play D&D. This is WotCs big problem really. You only need a set of core rules at most, and you can play as much as you like. Added to that, experienced players will have learned to make whatever they need themselves.

I’ve been playing for 43 years. I only buy the odd thing occasionally, despite playing regularly.

Who knows but I own all the 1e D&D stuff. I own almost all the old DCC module line. I've been into GURPS lately and have bought a good bit there. If I like something I invest in it.

You are right though that if all game companies vanished tomorrow I doubt it would affect my own amount of playing all that much.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

A


That may be true, but unless there's enough of them, that's largely irrelevant. If Group A spends X10 and Group B Spends X, if Group B is 50 times as large as Group A, you still don't much care about Group A. Given all evidence is that the modern market for D&D is larger than it was decades ago, and some of that old market has either left gaming or changed systems, it seems unlikely the grog market is such that its much relevant to WOTC except in a PR sense.

It is more complicated than that.
If all group B buys is the PHB and XGtE, and group A buys everything you sell then group A becomes a lot more valuable. Unless all you want to sell is a small part of your catalog.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I don't mean to be mean but honestly I just said that and you respond as if I am disagreeing. It's like you want to argue for no good reason.

Then I either misunderstood your or conflated your argument with someone else's. In either case, I apologize.

 

[Thomas Shey]

It is more complicated than that.
If all group B buys is the PHB and XGtE, and group A buys everything you sell then group A becomes a lot more valuable. Unless all you want to sell is a small part of your catalog.

I'll give you there's some complication there, but that's more a case of managing your product line than really changing my position. I'd be really surprised if WOTC produces as many DMGs as they do PHBs. Because in the end, its cost output to earnings input, so if you're trying to sell a bunch of books that aren't going to be bought, even if they support the overall line, you produce less of those down to the amount you feel needed to do that support, you don't just fish around for people to buy books that the majority of the market is probably not going to buy.