D&D 5E Are we at, or close, to peak D&D? Again?

[Parmandur]

Although us 46+ Y.Os apparently get made into Soylent Green. At least there's always Carousel. :/

Greg Tito from WotC clarified later that it should read "40+" not "40-45." So 8-12 year old players outnumber all Gen Xers and Boomers combined

 

[Zardnaar]

There was a warehouse stocked with AD&D 1e books when WotC bought them. Just sitting there costing them rent.

I think they had some OD&D in said warehouse.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I'm thinking A. Not nearly as much as the OP suggests, but I do think D&D is gradually and steadily increasing in popularity, and may continue to do so for some time. It will become just one more popular game out of a slew of games people play for fun, like Charades, Monopoly and Beer Pong.

 

[darjr]

Before COVID I was shocked how many new people kept showing up at the store looking to get into a game. I started Wednesday night at a new local store to help them get off the ground and after a year I had to “retire” so they could give the space to a new WILLING DM. It eventually spilled over to every single night of the week. That store even delayed doing Friday Night Magic till they could figure out what to do with all the tables of Friday night D&D, for years. And these folks spent a ton of money in the store, many also became Omni gamers, board and card and miniature.
I ran a Tour of Annihilation at each local store for ten days straight and I still get requests to do it again. TEN stores, in Omaha! And I even managed to miss two!

I think today’s “gradual” growth of players would have thrilled WoTC in the 3e Era, or TSR.

Even now I get a steady stream of brand new players looking for games. Players who’ve never touched a d20 ever before. This new normal is so weird for me I often find myself wondering, what the heck happened? Was it something in the water?

 

[Parmandur]

I'm thinking A. Not nearly as much as the OP suggests, but I do think D&D is gradually and steadily increasing in popularity, and may continue to do so for some time. It will become just one more popular game out of a slew of games people play for fun, like Charades, Monopoly and Beer Pong.

Yeah, I expect at a certain point the growth curve will level out, but it seems that the game has hit a critical mass of cultural normalcy.

 

[Parmandur]

Before COVID I was shocked how many new people kept showing up at the store looking to get into a game. I started Wednesday night at a new local store to help them get off the ground and after a year I had to “retire” so they could give the space to a new WILLING DM. It eventually spilled over to every single night of the week. That store even delayed doing Friday Night Magic till they could figure out what to do with all the tables of Friday night D&D, for years. And these folks spent a ton of money in the store, many also became Omni gamers, board and card and miniature.
I ran a Tour of Annihilation at each local store for ten days straight and I still get requests to do it again. TEN stores, in Omaha! And I even managed to miss two!

I think today’s “gradual” growth of players would have thrilled WoTC in the 3e Era, or TSR.

Even now I get a steady stream of brand new players looking for games. Players who’ve never touched a d20 ever before. This new normal is so weird for me I often find myself wondering, what the heck happened? Was it something in the water?

Dude, that's awesome. I've never really been plugged into organized play, but I love that it is healthy.

 

[Hussar]

A lot of new GMs assume WOTC stuff must be better than whatever they can come up with themselves. Or even that playing D&D means playing published adventures.

Frankly,it probably is.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Frankly,it probably is.

Yeah, but is it better than what they'd come up with in a year or three if they kept practicing and learning and stuff (esp. with the resources we have access to today), at least for their own specific group? I doubt it. But certainly both WotC and Paizo would be very happy if people just bought and played the official APs for their system and didn't bother trying to make their own.

 

[Older Beholder]

If they make good on the promise of three classic settings this year, and follow Ravenloft with Planescape, Darksun or Spelljammer it'll be pretty close to my idea of peak. If by peak you mean 'this will be hard to top'

 

[Ogre Mage]

While D&D could get even more popular than its current boom, a slump will eventually come. As a mid-40s gamer I've seen both boom and slump periods for D&D before. I expect I will see at least one more slump and one more D&D renaissance in my lifetime.