D&D 5E A new Golden Age for D&D

[Mistwell]

Negativity may be par for the course on the internet but it is still of some concern.

I disagree. In fact, I think your sentence is internally inconsistent. If negativity is par for the course on the internet in a disproportionate manner relative to non-internet discourse (and I think it is), then it's not reason for any concern. There are people who are negative no matter what, or who have issues with WOTC and therefore anything they publish, or who are very invested in competing games and therefore see it as part of their duty to fight the battle against the competitors of their favorite games, etc.. None of those are reasons for any concern - they are not meaningful for 5e's success or failure in any way. They are static - something there no matter how 5e does.

 

[graves3141]

It would be nice if were were in a "golden age" of D&D but I don't personally see it. If anything, the table top version of D&D is in decline. Very few products released and not much support for the game, at least right now... I hope it picks up in the future but I'm really skeptical. WotC is so tight lipped about their strategy, it's hard to gauge anything right now about what the future might hold.

The golden age was probably in the 2E - 3E era. The excitement that came with the release of 3E was almost tangible. People online were converting monsters and adventures rapidly and there was a feeling that the game had been invigorated. 5E is a great set of rules but I don't see that happening these days. Sure, there are fans but I feel like the base is much smaller these days.

 

[lumenbeing]

Here. Here! Thank you for having the bravery to be positive. I personally agree with you 100% and I sick to death of people complaining and bitching. When I was DMing at the game store this past Wednesday, the owner announced to all the players that there was a D&D movie coming out. Collectively everyone started in with "That's gonna suck" and "Please no" As if they are so afraid of the movie not being good that they feel compelled to belittle it before they even know the facts about it. The fact is the Warner Bros is not ing around. They weren't ing around with LotR, or Harry Potter, or The Hobbit, and the aren't ing around with D&D. Fantasy is HOT! They need a fantasy franchise with a recognizable name and unlimited sequel potential.
Whether you call it a golden age or not, D&D is becoming main stream and probably in a bigger broader way than ever before. It's part of a much larger embracing of nerd culture that includes the big screen Marvel machine. It's also part of the mega popularity of games in general, from Angry Birds to Settlers of Catan.
5e may be the most assessable edition EVER. And at a time when Facebook and smartphones cause us to become more isolated, more and more new players are discovering the joys of real human interaction around the dinner table, rolling dice and drinking long into the night.
The new players at my home table are lawyers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, designers... Nerds who have made it and are now realizing that it's fine to let their inner geek out. We are having a blast.
My theory is that the ones complaining and being pessimistic are the other geeks who never made it, for whom "The Hobby" is their entire life, still living in their parents' basement, deathly afraid that pop culture will steal from them that last bastion of deep geekdom. So they cling to that by-gone Golden Age of (insert their favorite edition) when the hobby was theirs and theirs alone. Forget that noise. We won! Victory! Enjoy it.

 

[TarionzCousin]

If this isn't the golden age, then how do you explain this?

 

[graves3141]

When I was DMing at the game store this past Wednesday, the owner announced to all the players that there was a D&D movie coming out. Collectively everyone started in with "That's gonna suck" and "Please no" As if they are so afraid of the movie not being good that they feel compelled to belittle it before they even know the facts about it.

Can you really blame them for being pessimistic? The last D&D movies were mediocre at best.

 

[Jester David]

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[Agamon]

Man, seems like in every thread I enter, the "lack of content" dead horse continues to get whipped.

Anyhoo, not sure about a D&D golden age, per se, but I can see it for RPGs, in general. The rise of the pdf has made the previous "underground" scene a lot more available.

 

[lumenbeing]

Can you really blame them for being pessimistic? The last D&D movies were mediocre at best.

You are being generous with "mediocre at best" but I'm talking about optimism vs pessimism. How good a movie turns out has everything to do with who makes it, not what has been done before by some no name production company on a $25000 budget. Hasbro sued Sweetpea to get out of their prior agreement on the premise that the movies they made weren't even really movies. I agree with Hasbro. Those pieces of don't count. Warner Bros is an entirely different ballgame. We have every reason to be optimistic about the future of D&D on the big screen. And we have every reason to be optimistic about the state of the hobby right now.

 

[Queer Venger]

What evidence is there that shows there are more players now than there were in the past?

sales, reviews, media articles; Im not going to google-fu for you. Also online table-top services like Roll20, among some

I disagree. In fact, I think your sentence is internally inconsistent. If negativity is par for the course on the internet in a disproportionate manner relative to non-internet discourse (and I think it is), then it's not reason for any concern. There are people who are negative no matter what, or who have issues with WOTC and therefore anything they publish, or who are very invested in competing games and therefore see it as part of their duty to fight the battle against the competitors of their favorite games, etc.. None of those are reasons for any concern - they are not meaningful for 5e's success or failure in any way. They are static - something there no matter how 5e does.

Brilliant rebuttal Mistwell, couldn't agree with you more

 

[Queer Venger]

Can you really blame them for being pessimistic? The last D&D movies were mediocre at best.

Pessimism is expected, particularly when the one you mention had an oscar winning actor in it. That said, the fantasy film genre is on an upswing, (LotR, Hobbit, Warcraft) and TV shows like GOT. We can now be optimistic because technology can produce the film we want, and the studio delivering the D&D movie has a proven track re-cord of delivering box-office gold. Pessimism is a downer, why not try optimism?

I sympathize with you [MENTION=59082]Mercurius[/MENTION]. You have a content need that isn't well being filled, or at least not by official content.
But creating a new thread on the subject every two weeks does nothing. The hundred or so 5e posters at ENWorld have no power to change this, and WotC is likely well aware of the desires for more content by a section of their fanbase.

Good catch Jester, I was wondering the same thing.