And now, on the topic of this alternate history...
TSR hums along steadily through the early 90s, despite signs elsewhere in the RPG market that things are slowing. The vast number of products for 2nd Edition AD&D have split their market base, and the vast majority of customers cannot buy all the things they are interested in- so they instead content themselves with specializing in favorite product lines and getting what they can. This remains true of publishers of alternate roleplaying games as well as TSR, and a few small companies go out of business while one or two others remain on the scene. To the average gamer, none of this is visible until the new issue of Dragon (and/or Dungeon) inexplicably fails to arrive on time in March of 1999. When a month goes by with no word or reason for the failure of the issue to show up, coupled with even longer delays preventing the most recently announced D&D products from arriving on the shelves of the FLGS's, gamers everywhere- even those who stick to White Wolf or other non-TSR games- feel a dark mood descend upon the hobby. A scent of doom is in the air.
Meanwhile, rewinding to 1995, the Internet revolution has begun, and suddenly online newsgroups, email lists, and the occasional new-fangled "message board" forum on the World Wide Web allow gamers to find each other like never before. The MUD phenomenon ensures that a few people take it upon themselves to become pioneers in the arena of online gaming, by running the first chat games in special IRC chatrooms. A few years later, these online groups allow the news and rumors about the mysterious stoppage of TSR product to spread like wildfire. Gradually, through leaks in various recently-canned employees among other things, the truth emerges: TSR, the 800-pound gorilla in the gaming market, is dying. The core of the hobby will soon be gone. As if to sound the death knell, Gen Con 1999 never happens- without TSR's capital, the other game companies are unable to muster enough coordination and resources to put the show on.
But then a miracle occurs. The Internet revolution has led to another advance, coming along on its own without regard to the real-world hobbygame market, and out of the blue a video-game company- no doubt with an owner nostalgic for the game that got him into his profession in the first place, sitting around that dining-room table back in the 80s dreaming of wizards and demons and trap-filled dungeons- buys out TSR whole hog. Speculation online is rampant, but it is several months before the truth emerges: Origin, the makers of the first MMORPG, have seen the rise of competitors cutting into their market share in the new marketplace, and sensed an opportunity in TSR. Issues of Dragon and Dungeon go out to customers again, carrying news of the change, while gamers everywhere wait with baited breath for the next shoe to drop.
Ultima Online upgrades are put on hold, except for bug fixes and general server maintenance, as nearly all the company's development talent and expertise is put towards a new goal: leveraging the company's new license, the granddaddy of all RPGs including computer ones. Surviving TSR staff members are brought in to merge their design with computer design, and a new game takes shape. By the end of 2000, announcements and advertisements make clear the fact that there will no longer be Dungeons and Dragons books produced: a new edition of the game is soon to arrive, and it will be entirely online. D&D 3rd Edition will take the best ideas from the previous versions of D&D, online MUDs, and Origin's own experiences with Ultima Online and make a new game.
With lower subscription fees than other MMORPGs, and an innovative model allowing special "Dungeon Master" players who pay a premium subscription price to run their own local servers, D&D 3rd Edition takes the gaming world by storm in 2001. The game system closely resembles the d20 we know in our history, except that Vancian magic is replaced with a mana system, and warriors from the start more closely resemble Tome of Battle characters- with special manuevers and feats that can only be learned after certain minimum levels. Although gamers grumble about having to pay subscription fees to use the latest edition of the game, and grognards loudly proclaim that they're sticking to the traditional ways of pencil/paper/dice, the new edition proves so successful that the "official strategy guides" the company releases a few months later prove to be core rulebooks in disguise- so the gamers can have their cake and eat it, too, in a way.
In 2001, the release of the first Lord of the Rings movie- which, astoundingly, is actually good- paves the way for Origin to acquire the license to produce an online version of it, using their own D&D 3rd Edition system; though the game ultimately takes a year and a half more to develop and release, the timing (being right at the end of Two Towers's run in theaters and the start of real hype for return of the King) is quite fortuitous, and the new world draws in millions of new players. By the time Return of the King rolls into theaters, White Wolf announces a partnership with Bioware to develop a MMO "edition" of Vampire and the World of Darkness. Meanwhile, Origin uses the momentum to develop D&D 4th Edition, which will be released simultaneously with the addition of Return of the King data into the wildly popular Middle Earth setting.
By 2007, D&D 4.0 (as most gamers call it) has been on the market long enough for people to start rumors about what 5th Edition will bring- everybody knows it's coming soon, though it hasn't been announced yet. Tabletop games have slowly been dying a quiet death in the background, as company after company tries to port their tabletop system to an online form, but those who play online seem to care little for their loss- the game has simply moved to a new medium in their view.
TSR hums along steadily through the early 90s, despite signs elsewhere in the RPG market that things are slowing. The vast number of products for 2nd Edition AD&D have split their market base, and the vast majority of customers cannot buy all the things they are interested in- so they instead content themselves with specializing in favorite product lines and getting what they can. This remains true of publishers of alternate roleplaying games as well as TSR, and a few small companies go out of business while one or two others remain on the scene. To the average gamer, none of this is visible until the new issue of Dragon (and/or Dungeon) inexplicably fails to arrive on time in March of 1999. When a month goes by with no word or reason for the failure of the issue to show up, coupled with even longer delays preventing the most recently announced D&D products from arriving on the shelves of the FLGS's, gamers everywhere- even those who stick to White Wolf or other non-TSR games- feel a dark mood descend upon the hobby. A scent of doom is in the air.
Meanwhile, rewinding to 1995, the Internet revolution has begun, and suddenly online newsgroups, email lists, and the occasional new-fangled "message board" forum on the World Wide Web allow gamers to find each other like never before. The MUD phenomenon ensures that a few people take it upon themselves to become pioneers in the arena of online gaming, by running the first chat games in special IRC chatrooms. A few years later, these online groups allow the news and rumors about the mysterious stoppage of TSR product to spread like wildfire. Gradually, through leaks in various recently-canned employees among other things, the truth emerges: TSR, the 800-pound gorilla in the gaming market, is dying. The core of the hobby will soon be gone. As if to sound the death knell, Gen Con 1999 never happens- without TSR's capital, the other game companies are unable to muster enough coordination and resources to put the show on.
But then a miracle occurs. The Internet revolution has led to another advance, coming along on its own without regard to the real-world hobbygame market, and out of the blue a video-game company- no doubt with an owner nostalgic for the game that got him into his profession in the first place, sitting around that dining-room table back in the 80s dreaming of wizards and demons and trap-filled dungeons- buys out TSR whole hog. Speculation online is rampant, but it is several months before the truth emerges: Origin, the makers of the first MMORPG, have seen the rise of competitors cutting into their market share in the new marketplace, and sensed an opportunity in TSR. Issues of Dragon and Dungeon go out to customers again, carrying news of the change, while gamers everywhere wait with baited breath for the next shoe to drop.
Ultima Online upgrades are put on hold, except for bug fixes and general server maintenance, as nearly all the company's development talent and expertise is put towards a new goal: leveraging the company's new license, the granddaddy of all RPGs including computer ones. Surviving TSR staff members are brought in to merge their design with computer design, and a new game takes shape. By the end of 2000, announcements and advertisements make clear the fact that there will no longer be Dungeons and Dragons books produced: a new edition of the game is soon to arrive, and it will be entirely online. D&D 3rd Edition will take the best ideas from the previous versions of D&D, online MUDs, and Origin's own experiences with Ultima Online and make a new game.
With lower subscription fees than other MMORPGs, and an innovative model allowing special "Dungeon Master" players who pay a premium subscription price to run their own local servers, D&D 3rd Edition takes the gaming world by storm in 2001. The game system closely resembles the d20 we know in our history, except that Vancian magic is replaced with a mana system, and warriors from the start more closely resemble Tome of Battle characters- with special manuevers and feats that can only be learned after certain minimum levels. Although gamers grumble about having to pay subscription fees to use the latest edition of the game, and grognards loudly proclaim that they're sticking to the traditional ways of pencil/paper/dice, the new edition proves so successful that the "official strategy guides" the company releases a few months later prove to be core rulebooks in disguise- so the gamers can have their cake and eat it, too, in a way.
In 2001, the release of the first Lord of the Rings movie- which, astoundingly, is actually good- paves the way for Origin to acquire the license to produce an online version of it, using their own D&D 3rd Edition system; though the game ultimately takes a year and a half more to develop and release, the timing (being right at the end of Two Towers's run in theaters and the start of real hype for return of the King) is quite fortuitous, and the new world draws in millions of new players. By the time Return of the King rolls into theaters, White Wolf announces a partnership with Bioware to develop a MMO "edition" of Vampire and the World of Darkness. Meanwhile, Origin uses the momentum to develop D&D 4th Edition, which will be released simultaneously with the addition of Return of the King data into the wildly popular Middle Earth setting.
By 2007, D&D 4.0 (as most gamers call it) has been on the market long enough for people to start rumors about what 5th Edition will bring- everybody knows it's coming soon, though it hasn't been announced yet. Tabletop games have slowly been dying a quiet death in the background, as company after company tries to port their tabletop system to an online form, but those who play online seem to care little for their loss- the game has simply moved to a new medium in their view.
Last edited:
