D&D: Is this the Golden Age?

[Morrus]

I've heard rumours that Hasbro have realised that D&D has a 90% brand awareness in the US, and have realised they should be making the most of it. Apparently a 3-5 year strategy is being discussed right now.

Also, there's those TV shows which are still in the pipeline.

 

[Chromnos]

Man Chromnos, that analogy almost bought a tear to my eye.

Well shucks.

You guys may be right. I may be seeing through the rose colored glasses of youth. But where are the days when you could walk into any supermarket, or any toy store, or any hobby shop and see a Dieties and Demigods or a Players Handbook or watch a movie as mainstream as ET and find D&D as part of the story line?

I remember D&D before the bible thumpers got their self righteous paws on it and started accusing us of being demon worshippers, child killers or the criminally insane. There was a time period probably from 1978-1984 where it was all in the open. It was mainstream. Not just fantasy novels which always go through popularity cycles (CS Lewis, Madeline Lingle, and Susan Cooper all being the J.K. Rowlings of their day) but the D&D game in all its unbridled strangeness. I remember when every kid wanted to play it, when it was cooler than video games, sweeter than popsickles.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the game is coming back and that this is the beginning of a new golden age. That people won't see the game as just a pass-time of geeks but rather for what it really is- an active and very entertaining exercise for the imagination.

Me- I won't think it's another golden age until I see a damn Legends and Lore or a PH in a Giant, or a Fresh Fields, or even a Wal Mart.

-C

 

[Lord Ben]

Well, Neverwinter is in the computer stores. That says D&D. I think it's raising in popularity, I started playing about two years ago. I've gotten a good 10 friends playing, and one of those 10 started his own group and has 5 more playing. That's 16 new players in 2 years because some guy wasn't as ashamed to talk about it at work with me and get me interested as he would have been in the mid 80's. He was yaking, I knew D&D was fun and I'd played computer RPG's so I tried it and loved it.

Invite new players from work, invite friends of friends, etc. New players don't usually go to the nearest comic book shop and read postings, you need to seek them out yourself.

 

[Wiley]

I think that if D&D is going to stay around for a while, it's going to need some "tune-ups" here and there.

I think it's just the idea that corporate marketing executives and accountants are in control of the product, and not the fans, but this just an opinion.

 

[Lizard]

I'd say that, for D&D, this is the gilded age. Big company moves in takes over and, for the first time since I fell in love with this game at the age of eight, all I hear about is corporate downsizing, magazine sell-offs and outsourcing.

That's because you were eight.

It's ALWAYS been a business, and it's always been a pretty nasty, mean-spirited business. The reason there was ever an "ADVANCED" Dunegons&Dragons has nothing to do with rules, and everything to do with trademark, copyright, and credit where it's due.

 

[dagger]

What kind of tune ups?

I think that if D&D is going to stay around for a while, it's going to need some "tune-ups" here and there.

I think it's just the idea that corporate marketing executives and accountants are in control of the product, and not the fans, but this just an opinion.

 

[Chromnos]

That's because you were eight.

It's ALWAYS been a business, and it's always been a pretty nasty, mean-spirited business. The reason there was ever an "ADVANCED" Dunegons&Dragons has nothing to do with rules, and everything to do with trademark, copyright, and credit where it's due.

Yeah, tell me about it, I work for the publishing business. As a matter of curiosity, what happened that caused the reshuffle to Advanced D&D?

-C

 

[Sulimo]

Naah. The Golden Age was back about 20 years ago...

As for a golden age of roleplaying generally, its not now either - it was probably back in the 80's when there dozens of rpgs successful to one degreee or another. Now there's only a handful.

A bit like the computer industry really...it also had a golden age in the 80's imo.

 

[Lizard]

Yeah, tell me about it, I work for the publishing business. As a matter of curiosity, what happened that caused the reshuffle to Advanced D&D?

-C

Why not ask me who really shot Kennedy?

As I understand it, it went roughly like this:

Dave Arneson wanted part of the profits from D&D, which he was co-creator of.

Gygax created "Advanced" Dungeons&Dragons, claiming it was a wholly new game, which Arneson had no part in creating, and thus, didn't get any of the profits from.

Naturally, all those involved have their own 'spin' on events.

 

[rounser]

A theory:

Dragon magazine records the zeitgeist of the D&D game. Find it's glory years and you'll probably find the golden age of D&D. What does the contents of the magazine suggest about the nature of the game, it's designers and players now? (That's a question, not a suggestion that it's a golden age or not, one way or the other.)