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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robertsconley" data-source="post: 9373026" data-attributes="member: 13383">Any particular group of hobbyists is relatively small compared to the D&D 5e hobby. My point is that today, OD&D hobbyists are equal to that of any other mid-tier RPG. The vast majority of folks are not interested in Shadowdark, Fate, The Fantasy Trip, Savage World, or the 2d20 system. But so what? Each of those has a dedicated community of hobbyists and a niche of the industry providing support.  Based on your thesis, am I to conclude that it is your advice to consider those niches to have little intrinsic value? Especially the ones that are little changed from how they were first presented in the late 70s and early 80s and still are actively supported.That your choice and a reasonable one for you given your interests.Again entertainment and leisure are subjective. There is enough interest in OD&D 'as is' to form a mid-tier hobby niche. They have the most fun using the original rules not something that replicates the style. As a side note what generally happens to RPGs that attempt to do this and are successful they form their own niche that co-exists with the hobbyist who are fans of the original. The only thing that makes OD&D different from most RPGs is the IP situation. OD&D is out of print, but thanks to a clever hack of various SRDs under open licenses, people found that they can support these editions as if they are still in print, including making close clones. This is why OD&D hobby is the size of mid-tier RPG today.In terms of mechanics, OD&D 3 LBBs have several differences compared to subsequent editions. But  OD&D+Greyhawk, Holmes Basic, B/X Basic/Expert, and D&D BEMCI are effectively the same system and interchangeable. Likewise, AD&D 1e has a difference but is still a hop and a skip from OD&D + Greyhawk.  Each of the major iterations of classic editions, including OD&D 3 LBBs,  has a mid-tier hobby niche as their fans, along with a supporting industry niche. In fact, has grown faster in the past five years than in the previous 15 because minimalist RPGs are a "thing" now. For exampleSwords & Wizardry White Box, Platinum seller. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/146506/white-box-omnibus-swords-wizardry[/URL]However, of all the classic editions, the Moldavy/Cook B/X edition enjoys the most support. Given how closely related they are, it is not a zero-sum situation either. Anytime there is a discussion on how relevant OD&D or any of the classic editions is, people have doubts. Yet here we are 20 years later, and the OSR is what it is, with more stuff being written all the time for one of the classic editions, including OD&D. There are More accounts of people playing the various classic editions, including OD&D. There is More streaming, and so on.  And this is in addition to all the other near clones, a systems that focuses on emulating the feel with different mechanics. Systems that do very different genres or settings with the original mechanics, and so on.As for figuring it out, go look at the metal levels on DriveThru. Click on the various OSR related categories and track their total number of titles. Also I will add one thing that is NOT special about OD&D or the OSR. The fact that technology and the internet dropped the barrier to entry for people interested in sharing or publishing their stuff for the RPG industry. This has a resulted in a boom in actual players and support for system across the board. The OSR is just one example of many in 2024.</blockquote>

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