Cergorach
The Laughing One
While the Python crew might have said something about Python 4, Python 3.14 released a week ago, and the changes between 3.0 and 3.14 in 17 years have NOT been minor changes! And that would not have been the equivalent of errata or FAQ equivalents in TTRPGs. They are most certainly still developing Python with 'minor' releases, which will have the result that eventually the starting point will not be the equivalent of the endpoint by a large margin.
Ans something like Perl is maybe not the best example, just like Rust is not the best example. C++ is still going strong and C++26 is in preview (currently on C++23). So it really depends what you're looking at, sometimes you have popular systems that turn out to be fads, and we totally have equivalents in TTRPGs of those.
As for comics, remember the early 90s with Image getting onto the scene and Spawn? Spawn was the hot new thing (with so many others, like Witchblade), I still prefer Spawn over the main Marvel/DC comics, but it never became the Marvel/DC killer so many thought it would be...
D&D is still the titan gorilla in the TTRPG field, they shot themselves seriously in the foot by first not renewing the contract with Paizo and then doing what they did with D&D 4e. This resulted in Pathfinder 1e becoming bigger in at least the US retailer market then D&D 4e. But WotC/Hasbro turned that around with D&D 5e. And while WotC/Hasbro has been saying that D&D 5e 2024 isn't a new edition, it's a new edition. Was it as drastic a change from 3.5e to 4e and from 4e to 5e? No. But that's because 4e was too much of a drastic change that most of the fanbase didn't accept. If you leave out 4e, the changes to each edition of D&D haven't been that drastic.
Pathfinder was made as a haven for D&D fans, but that would only last until WotC/Hasbro would fix their D&D, and they did. That still left Pathfinder 1e with 9 years of products and support, PF2e started creating it's own niche, and only 5 years later did they do another edition, with the 'Remaster', not upgrading the major version number, but a new edition none the less, in the same style as D&D. It now has it's own solid niche.
In the last 25 years on Enworld, how many people have decried the D&D killers, and they all failed to achieve this 'dream'? Quite a bite and quite often. Many folks that swore of D&D in their teens came back to it in their later years. Sure, many folks left D&D behind and never looked back, but that also happened with RPGs in general. People that left have been replaced by new fans. 'New' systems show up every month, 'new' systems get abandoned every month, by people following the next fad, because the grass is always greener on the other side...
I absolutely toss in Draw Steel, Daggerheart and Nimble in that pile, popular fads with very little staying power. You might like them, good for you! But I don't see them being around much in 2035. The first two are leaning heavily on personalities for hype, the later is essentially what 20 years ago would have been a D20/OGL product and not many of those are still around... Only the occasional game sticks around, beyond it's hype, but often taking up only a small niche. A good example would be Mutants & Masterminds 4e (if Green Ronin survives the distribution apocalypse), a bad example would be Spycraft that didn't survive beyond it's 2nd Edition and Fantasycraft in 2010. None of the three mentioned systems won an Ennie, and looking back at those that did win, they are often either a D&D or PF title or some VERY good niche products or systems. And that is absolutely fine!
We still play D&D (5e 2024) after 35+ years of RPGs. Yes, I did consider Pf2e Remastered when 5e 2024 was announced, but we ultimately chose D&D. I still want to run 'Spire the City must fall', even though the last source book for that was published two years ago. As well as other niche products that go far beyond the D&D paradigm. Those RPGs are not new, they've always been around. And some of them were considered D&D killers, some have passed into obscurity, others are still around and fill their own niche. And old games can still be played, even if there's no support for them anymore and the the hype has passed. Old worlds can be played with new rules, new worlds can be played with old rules. We're spoiled for choice!
For us D&D is a comfortable and familiar space we come home to when we've either played something else or we've taken a (long) break from RPGs.
Ans something like Perl is maybe not the best example, just like Rust is not the best example. C++ is still going strong and C++26 is in preview (currently on C++23). So it really depends what you're looking at, sometimes you have popular systems that turn out to be fads, and we totally have equivalents in TTRPGs of those.
As for comics, remember the early 90s with Image getting onto the scene and Spawn? Spawn was the hot new thing (with so many others, like Witchblade), I still prefer Spawn over the main Marvel/DC comics, but it never became the Marvel/DC killer so many thought it would be...
D&D is still the titan gorilla in the TTRPG field, they shot themselves seriously in the foot by first not renewing the contract with Paizo and then doing what they did with D&D 4e. This resulted in Pathfinder 1e becoming bigger in at least the US retailer market then D&D 4e. But WotC/Hasbro turned that around with D&D 5e. And while WotC/Hasbro has been saying that D&D 5e 2024 isn't a new edition, it's a new edition. Was it as drastic a change from 3.5e to 4e and from 4e to 5e? No. But that's because 4e was too much of a drastic change that most of the fanbase didn't accept. If you leave out 4e, the changes to each edition of D&D haven't been that drastic.
Pathfinder was made as a haven for D&D fans, but that would only last until WotC/Hasbro would fix their D&D, and they did. That still left Pathfinder 1e with 9 years of products and support, PF2e started creating it's own niche, and only 5 years later did they do another edition, with the 'Remaster', not upgrading the major version number, but a new edition none the less, in the same style as D&D. It now has it's own solid niche.
In the last 25 years on Enworld, how many people have decried the D&D killers, and they all failed to achieve this 'dream'? Quite a bite and quite often. Many folks that swore of D&D in their teens came back to it in their later years. Sure, many folks left D&D behind and never looked back, but that also happened with RPGs in general. People that left have been replaced by new fans. 'New' systems show up every month, 'new' systems get abandoned every month, by people following the next fad, because the grass is always greener on the other side...
I absolutely toss in Draw Steel, Daggerheart and Nimble in that pile, popular fads with very little staying power. You might like them, good for you! But I don't see them being around much in 2035. The first two are leaning heavily on personalities for hype, the later is essentially what 20 years ago would have been a D20/OGL product and not many of those are still around... Only the occasional game sticks around, beyond it's hype, but often taking up only a small niche. A good example would be Mutants & Masterminds 4e (if Green Ronin survives the distribution apocalypse), a bad example would be Spycraft that didn't survive beyond it's 2nd Edition and Fantasycraft in 2010. None of the three mentioned systems won an Ennie, and looking back at those that did win, they are often either a D&D or PF title or some VERY good niche products or systems. And that is absolutely fine!
We still play D&D (5e 2024) after 35+ years of RPGs. Yes, I did consider Pf2e Remastered when 5e 2024 was announced, but we ultimately chose D&D. I still want to run 'Spire the City must fall', even though the last source book for that was published two years ago. As well as other niche products that go far beyond the D&D paradigm. Those RPGs are not new, they've always been around. And some of them were considered D&D killers, some have passed into obscurity, others are still around and fill their own niche. And old games can still be played, even if there's no support for them anymore and the the hype has passed. Old worlds can be played with new rules, new worlds can be played with old rules. We're spoiled for choice!
For us D&D is a comfortable and familiar space we come home to when we've either played something else or we've taken a (long) break from RPGs.
