Critical Role was a fortuitous half of a perfect storm; the easily streamable rules were the other half. It would be interesting to see what an alternative timeline looks like where Critical Role doesn’t exist.
WotC "D&D's Best Year Yet"
Critical Role was a fortuitous half of a perfect storm; the easily streamable rules were the other half. It would be interesting to see what an alternative timeline looks like where Critical Role doesn’t exist.
BryonD
Hero
I think you are 100% correct from looking at their marketing ("language") and their initial plan.
But I also think that the "luck" was a lot more on the bean counters side and it was much less so on the D&D design team side.
The things they were saying at the time were very focused around preserving the IP and brand value. They were talking about media and other tangent revenue streams. And they haven't stopped there now, but the game itself is much more relevant than the language at that time indicated. They made a really big deal about a very minimal release schedule and how this was a great thing for players. But now that the game is selling super hot, they don't seem to have a problem burdening their fanbase with a more aggressive release schedule.
IMO that was always a means to reduce investment in product that would result in a lower return (as opposed to just investing those dollars on more MtG or whatever else). The "good for the players" was just spin.And you are dead on about things like Critical Role. Though I'd expand that to simply the fact that culture has evolved past simply "geek chic" and into an age where it has stopped being "chic" and become commonplace and accepted. It went from mocked sub-culture to "cool but geeky" subculture to "just another thing". And that last step is big. And the iron became hot for the striking. (And I say this as someone who has long been on the record that the % of society who would ever want to sit at a table pretending to be an elf is pretty much a fixed value. That held true for quite a while. But now I'm wrong. The needle moved. It didn't move a ton relative to society as a whole. But it lurched relative to where the needle was. And that it awesome.)
So, yep, luck. And the changes in their language and behaviors now versus at release show that change in attitude.
But I don't think the design team ever really cared. I think that they were given reasonably free reign to create a solid, sustainable game that reconciled a range of playing styles. And they killed it. That part was not luck.
Yeah, I think folks fail to see the fact that the relationship is symbiotic - Before CR boosts D&D, D&D enabled CR to exist!
True, though CR started with Pathfinder IIRC — but PF wouldn’t exist without a D&D misstep, so in theory 5E’s success needed the PF/4E split! Depends on how far back we want to take it.
WIkipedia says: "In order to streamline gameplay for the show, the game's characters were converted from Pathfinder to Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition before the web series began airing on March 12, 2015."
Emphasis mine. So, the concept started in Pathfinder, but, rather as I noted - the show was enabled by the 5e rules.
Fair enough.
Oofta
Legend
An observation from an early 4E introduction podcast ... please ignore if you will interpret any negative comment about 4E as saying the version was "bad". Just because I ultimately decided it wasn't for me doesn't mean it was as bad game.
When 4E was first released they had a "demo game" that they recorded that you could watch. I remember watching (and being a complete geek being excited about the new release) and discussing with my wife.
We noticed something. It didn't show a game that we had always played. Where were the jokes, the RP, the fun that we had playing? It was people sitting there reading off their power card in response to something the DM did. That sense of spontaneity and improvisation was gone.
Now in part that was probably just not the best produced video they could have released. But if my only exposure to the game had been that video it would have turned me off. The game simply stuttered too much as people read the details of their card and took people out of the moment.
It still happens now and then in all games, but it was more pronounced in 4E which makes it less appealing for people who want a more story oriented game like CR. IMHO.
We noticed something. It didn't show a game that we had always played. Where were the jokes, the RP, the fun that we had playing? It was people sitting there reading off their power card in response to something the DM did. That sense of spontaneity and improvisation was gone.
Now in part that was probably just not the best produced video they could have released. But if my only exposure to the game had been that video it would have turned me off. The game simply stuttered too much as people read the details of their card and took people out of the moment.
It still happens now and then in all games, but it was more pronounced in 4E which makes it less appealing for people who want a more story oriented game like CR. IMHO.
Zardnaar
Legend
True but it's also things like property prices.
Older GenXers could buy houses at 3 years wages like my sisters first house.
Some boomers were able to buy houses with one years pay. One I knew worked a lot if overtime one year and bought one for cash up front. And that didn't require a millionaire type job.
Older boomers in the USA benefitted from the post war housing push.
My sisters first house was 3 years wages, ours was 5 years, now it's around 10-20 years wages. That's the average wage and most people don't get that average wage.
So sure you do get the odd zoomer in actech type job. That's not typical income though and gave you seen property prices in Seattle?
A $40000 house in the 80's can be a million dollar home now.
Average wage hasn't gone up by a factor of 20. My suburb they're about 10 times more expensive than the early 80s. Wages aren't 10 times higher.
Official figures also backs this up. Boomers on paper are worth more than Xers who are worth more than zoomers.
Not only have they had more time to collect assets they had it easier as well.
Here for example pre 1993 you got free university as well so if you graduated in say computing in the 80s no student loan and you got in on the ground floor with Microsoft/Apple or later Amazon/Google.
If you had money to invest late 90s Apple was in a lot of trouble then they invented the Ipod around 2001 iirc.
Some people also have grandfathered contracts from 80s and 90s or earlier where they get double time for overtime hours which new employees don't.
So do some zoomers have it good. Yes absolutely. If they had the equivalent position in the 80s (top 10% or whatever) you had it even easier.
There was no major sharemarket crash 1929-87 either.
Some people I met dropped out if school aged 15, got job had first home debt free aged 18.
Wanna drop out of school aged 15 now without being a kid genius? How many jobs can you work the weekend now and get $75 dollars an hour without a degree and without building cars?
That was one of my friends in 2000 who played D&D. You could work one season and gave house deposit or sod off to the UK.
Can't get that now unless you have an old contract from back then. That wasn't a tech job but a school dropout type job paying 1-2k a week 20 years ago.
How about a 250k job no degree required? Highest paid truck driver at my wife's work.
School dropout non tech job property investment portfolio by age 30. Age 50 now worth around 20 million last I heard.
That's what I meant.
Or farm worker owns million dollar boat, hovercraft and private wharf.
Higher wages, cheaper house prices, cheaper share prices, free tertiary education just by being born in say 1970. Doctor or dentist, student loan 0.
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Urriak Uruk
Gaming is fun, and fun is for everyone
I mean, of course. The oldest Gen Z is 24 (my age!) so it's not like your comparing apples to apples here.
Anyway, I'm trying to say that the comment of "My generation X is the one's of build and producers!" and "Gen Z is going to get their bubble popped!" seems to be a very restrictive POV (even though you admit the underlying reasons for those stereotypes).
I mean, I was raised in a world where 9/11 and the 2008 crisis were stuff built in to everyone's psyche. The idea that everything can "go to s**t" on a dime is not exactly shocking to me. And this crisis is going to have a much worse impact on older people whose retirement, home prices, and other savings are going to be driven into the dirt when they need it, while younger folks have a much longer time to recover.
But I digress. We are hear to discuss D&D, and this whole "generation talk" was spawned off a typo in an infographic.
I'll add that in business, the younger generation is sometimes in more demand because it is viewed that they have a longer product lifecycle, so I understand why D&D is so proudly showing off "Look how young our playerbase is!"
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