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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Geron Raveneye" data-source="post: 3925927" data-attributes="member: 2268">A few thoughts that went through my head while reading this thread...What is D&D, and how can you kill it? Is basic D&D dead? AD&D 1E? 2E? Or even OD&D (the "one true game" <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> )? I'd argue they are very much alive, since they all are still widely in use, and played by many groups. In the recent years, those editions even saw an increasing support for those older editions.Is TSR dead? Most certainly.People that are against change are not grognards, they simply are the conservative part of the D&D player community. Grognards are those who started with one of the earliest editions, played D&D for most of the intervening time, and to whom an older edition of the game is the most preferred one.What generational gap? Sure, there are younger players who aren't comfy playing with those 20 years older than them, or the other way around. There are obnoxious young punks playing with reminiscing old geezers on the other side. I have one group with people around my age (35), and one where the oldest is 7 years my junior, the youngest 15 years. And likewise have I played with people older than me. Generational gaps are all in the head, after all.Also, older players are pretty much what keeps the game going, especially with an edition that has pretty high (compared to the Red Box I started with at 14) entry requirements, financial as well as comprehensive ones. Often, it's an experienced player who brings new players in, shows them the ropes, and gives them a taste of the game. And I bet there's enough of us who are handing out roleplaying sets as gifts for christmas, birthdays, or any other opportunity, in order to get younger folks playing. I've made it a habit to keep a surplus copy of the Red Box Basic Set or two around, in case I see one of my younger relatives who might have an interest in it, or as a pressie to the kids of friends.So no, grognards aren't killing D&D. Neither is the endless debate, divergent opinions and sometimes the extreme positions of a few people (and compared to the "middle ground" the extreme sides are a few people). What would be killing D&D (in my opinion) is taking away its unique qualities. Slapping the brand name on any game engine doesn't automatically make it D&D, just like slapping the VW logo on the Smart wouldn't have made it the "New) Beetle.Arguably, those unique qualities are slightly different for each player, but even here, there is an overlap in many cases. We may differ in details, tastes and personal preferences, or the execution of the same rules, and for most of us D&D is something we recognize when we see (or play) it. And that recognition has been colored by how long we played it, how we played it, et. But killing monsters and taking their stuff may have been where D&D originated in, but it's by far not the exclusive attribute that separates D&D from, say, Shadowrun, Runequest, Tunnels & Trolls, GURPS, or any other RPG out there that deals with killing monsters and taking their stuff. D&D is special, which is why it was so damn successful for over 30 years, and why it hopefully will continue to be so for the next 30. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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