Alternate History: Magic The Gathering Never Exists. What Changes for D&D?

[Cthulhudrew]

My first thought is that something similar to what happened happens. TSR gets bought out by someone who wants to keep the D&D brand- because regardless of the poor business decisions that drove them to bankruptcy, D&D is a big name with a lot of recognition. Everyone knows D&D (regardless of what they may think of it- MADD), and it brings with it some major weight.

As to who would have bought it, and what they would have done with it? I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro had gotten their hands on it in any event, simply due to its association with games. Probably not right away, though. I suspect that whoever did take over the license would probably have kept going with it as is- not necessarily putting out a 3rd edition version (or, if they did, it would have been something quite different from what 3E is, and probably a lot more like 1/2 Editions). I'm assuming that whoever ended up getting the rights from TSR would probably have been diehards of the original D&D era, anyway.

 

[arscott]

Without the WotC buyout of TSR, the company flounders for a few more years until it goes bankrupt in 1998, and TSR's various Intellectual properties are sold off seperately.

Forgotten Realms is bought by a book publisher. FR novels continue to be released, but no further role-playing products are made. With no RPG support, interest in the novels gradually declines, and by 2007, only a single FR novel (A Drizzt Novel by RA Salvatore) is being released each year.

Dragonlance is bought by a company formed by Margret Weis and a few other TSR authors. They continue producing novels, while releasing a new edition of the Dragonlance RPG that remains fairly close to 2e D&D. They enjoy moderate success up through the present. They're generally regarded as the primary heirs of D&D.

Greyhawk is purchased by Avalon Hill, and Chainmail, their strategy boardgame is a best-seller. The following year, they release Greyhawk Adventures, and entirely new RPG co-designed by Gary Gygax. Although the game is marketed as a nostalgia product, it ends up being much closer to Lejendary Adventures than 1e D&D, and isn't sufficiently old-school enough to attract many customers.

Ravenloft is purchased by White Wolf. A messy lawsuit erupts between WW and the publisher that buys FR over the Realms-derived domains. The oft-delayed Storyteller version of Ravenloft is a commercial disaster, but is highly regarded by the few who purchase it. The use of Masque of Red Death elements in the New WoD released in 2004 is widely criticized, but lack of 3.0/3.5 D&D means that WoD fans are more receptive of the nWoD in general, resulting in better sales than it got in the real world.

Planescape is purchased by a pre-existing RPG publisher, and almost all of the planescape authors go to work for the new company. Monte Cook becomes the lead designer for a new Planescape RPG. In order to avoid the same sort of lawsuit that WW had to deal with, they change the focus of the new RPG to be less Planescape specific and more generic. The end result is something fairly similar to 3e, but less tied to pseudomedieval fantasy. It's released with a few separate settings, including a radically revised Planescape, and something akin to Dark•Matter. It's a huge short-term success, but it fizzles out after only two years.

Al-Qadim is bought by another RPG publisher. The release of Al-Qadim at GenCon 2001 gets minor publicity in the mainstream media following the Trade center attacks by Al-Quaeda the following month. The whole "RPG's are satanic" thing picks up somewhat, and the Al-Qadim game dies. However, the publicity eventually results in an overall net increase in RPG sales.

The remaining TSR properties change hands several times, but few products are made. Weis's company ends up with several of the minor settings, and begins releasing them in 2004 under a modified version of their new Dragonlance system. Gamma World is the best seller, though the Dragonlance rules are slightly clunky a Post-Apocalyptic game.

Games Workshop is releasing a new version of the Boot Hill RPG next month, alongside a new wild-west miniatures game. The minis look awesome (and totally out of my price range), and from what I've seen in previews, the RPG is going to be great too.

 

[airwalkrr]

While MtG was a phenomenon, that was only because WotC got to it first, not because they were the only people who ever had the ability to come up with it. Collectible stuff has been around for ages and it was inevitable that someone would eventually make games collectible. Given the rise in gaming in the 1990s, I imagine if WotC didn't come up with MtG, some other brand would have about the same time. In that event, whatever company THAT theoretical game spawned might have bought D&D and we'd still have a similar "collectible" mentality driving D&D development today.

Either way, I think D&D would still be in publishing and EGG would not return to it, instead continuing independent products like he is doing now.

 

[delericho]

With no-one able to swoop in with a rescue package, TSR becomes bankrupt in 1998. The various TSR properties are auctioned off, and fall into the hands of various video game producers. Since there's no money in pen-and-paper role-playing, no new edition is produced, and D&D lives on only as a logo on various video games.

Without TSR and D&D, the remaining role-playing companies soldier on for a few more years, but without much success. White Wolf does best out of this, with Exalted proving a hit. The nWoD is less of a hit, however, and eventually White Wolf drops out of the market. Some small press companies continue to exist, but to all intents and purposes, pen-and-paper role-playing is dead.

With the demise of TSR, most of the existing game stores start folding. By 2000, the number is well below 1,000 stores worldwide. By 2007, it's less than 100.

The D&D movie is released, and bombs. Those last few players who still enjoy the game see this as a double slap in the face - not only is it the critical disaster we've all seen, but it is also the last time the name D&D is remotely mainstream.

Magic: the Gathering saved roleplaying.

 

[Illirion]

Illirion never gets into gaming and just hangs around at home all day playing console games/MMORPGs .

Seriously, I owe almost all of my current friends and hobbies to magic: the gathering.

It's because I started playing magic that I found a lot of new friends. It's because I had nowhere to play magic with my friends that I went to hobbystores. It's because of hobbystores and some friends that I got into warhammer. It's because of warhammer that I went to stores that sold warhammer. It's because of the warhammer stores that I found out about D&D. The rest is history...

Cheers,
Illirion.

 

[delericho]

Alternatively, without Magic: the Gathering, TSR wouldn't have embarked on the truly disasterous Dragon Dice fiasco. Then, although the Random House hit was big, it didn't destroy the company.

AD&D Third edition hit in 1999, and revived the fortunes of the company. However, it is not the 3e we all know and, er, know. Instead, it was a direct outgrowth of the 2nd Edition + Skills & Powers ruleset, with vastly cleaned up and streamlined mechanics. There are two supported settings: Forgotten Realms and Planescape. There is no OGL and no d20. D&D minis do not exist in any recognisable form.

With a strong D&D on the market, plus White Wolf's Exalted and nWoD, but no d20 consolidating everything, lots of new companies crop up producing new and innovative games and systems. None of them is a breakout success, but many find their niche. The number of game stores does not increase, but the decline is stemmed somewhat.

The D&D movie is released, but bombs. Gamers everywhere see it as a slap in the face.

Magic: the Gathering destroyed roleplaying as we knew it.

 

[Trickstergod]

Magic was also a phenomenon because it actually had a solid rule-set and was generally a fun game. It also could stand on its own two legs because people played Magic to play Magic, rather then because the latest Star Wars movies were getting released or Pokemon was the current fad.

This is not the case with many other card games, many of which would never have come into existence without Magic (Vampire: the Eternal Struggle), or they relied on licensing (Decipher's Star Wars), or simply weren't good (Rage). There's also a question of whether the content helped or not: L5R is a very solid game that essentially stands on its own, in my opinion, and is mechanically distinct from Magic...but the Asiatic flavor to the game was a turn off to more than a few of my friends, whereas Magic definitely had a stronger Western appeal, at least at first. Even the stylistic aspects to a game can be a huge factor (and the success of licensed games, like Pokemon, attests to this).

No Magic likely means that, even if eventually some card game caught on, it might not have done so until, say, now. And I imagine it wouldn't have been as big.

With that said: no Wizards...no big company for D&D. Games Workshop or White Wolf or someone else might have picked it up, but they wouldn't have near the resources to devote to refurbishing it that Wizards of the Coast did. It would've been hedged into their pre-existing material in an effort to synergize sales a bit (Games Workshop) or would've had a 3rd edition pumped out without anywhere near the innovation of the current system and a number of rules creaks and leaks, though with an admittedly richer background than the current generic core (White Wolf).

Or perhaps some lesser company would've nabbed it and done wonders with the system. But that's iffy.

 

[arscott]

While MtG was a phenomenon, that was only because WotC got to it first, not because they were the only people who ever had the ability to come up with it. Collectible stuff has been around for ages and it was inevitable that someone would eventually make games collectible.

But it's a lot less likely that whichever company did eventually come up with a CCG would want to buy TSR. From what I've heard, the WotC bailout was as much about personal preference as it was about sound business choices.

 

[Drawmack]

(1999) The RPG publishers have a mass awakening almost equatable to a huge evolutionary step and realize that the average person does not go to book stores for games, but instead goes to game shops and toy stores for games. As such every RPG publisher comes out with a simplified version of their RPG similar to the D&D boxed set but they do not sell it in book stores instead they sell it in toy stores for abou the same price as the other games on the shelf.

The christmas season proves wonderful for the RPG market with these basic sets selling in the billions and sales making TSRs hayday look like kiddie land. Hasbro and Matel decide to cash in on this ride and throw millions of dollars into marketing their new RPGs based on popular movies. These RPGs do well and bring billions of new gamers to the market.

Eventually the buzz dies down, but the market is no longer in jeopardy as the move to selling in toy stores worked since your product is available where people go looking for your product. By today all toy stores world wide have large setions of RPG books. Even Disney has gotten in on the market releasing RPGs for the 7 - 12 age market and catching children prior to them playing the more advanced DnD style games.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

TSR struggles for a few years, releasing scads of Buck Rogers material, finally succumbing to bankruptcy in 1996.
West End Games, fueled by the interest in the re-release of the new Star Wars movies (which are actually good in this universe), takes over as leader of the RPG industry thanks to ties to licensed products.
With those licensing deals in mind, WEG snaps up the remanents of TSR. It builds a new ruleset that mixes D6 with old-style D&D, essentially coming up with d20, minus the tactical reliance. It then builds world books for all sorts of fantasy books and movies, culminating in the capture of a lucrative "Lord of the Rings" license.
Intrigued by WEG's success, Kenner (the licensor of Star Wars toys) buys WEG and starts building a miniatures game. The success of that game leads to the addition of miniatures rules in yet another new version of D&D, which now (in 2009) almost entirely matches what we have today (in 2007).