D&D General D&D's Utter Dominance Is Good or Bad Because...

[Lalato]

I guess I'm heartened by the fact that people who had decent success creating for 5e D&D... are now also finding success creating their own systems and offshoots. Sure, some of that was precipitated by the recent OGL kerfuffle... but we're seeing some very cool things pop up.

 

[MichaelSomething]

But the best way to get a game into view is probably at conventions, and having enough referees and tables to introduce new games. It'd be interesting to see some conventions spring up that feature non-D&D games (or at least a smaller percentage of D&D games) and market itself as "genre-expanding roleplaying" similar to a college radio station.

Some gaming conventions do have areas devoted to non D&D TTRPGs. Games on Demand is at PAX East and Unplugged and all they do is run indie TTRPGs.

We also had an online event in February where you could have tried all sorts of different TTRPGs. We had a thread here on Enworld! Why didn't you check it out???

 

[Wolfpack48]

Is it possible to lament the loss of something you miss without being immediately told that it's loss was inevitable and it wasn't really that great anyway? I just miss Dragon Magazine.

I would always sub for these magazines though it was nice to see them in the hobby store. I’d think that there are enough people in the hobby to sustain a mailed zine if the economics were carefully researched.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Some gaming conventions do have areas devoted to non D&D TTRPGs. Games on Demand is at PAX East and Unplugged and all they do is run indie TTRPGs.

We also had an online event in February where you could have tried all sorts of different TTRPGs. We had a thread here on Enworld! Why didn't you check it out???

Some pretty big IRL things for me personally over the last year kept me away But I’m glad these things are happening.

 

[Reynard]

Some pretty big IRL things for me personally over the last year kept me away But I’m glad these things are happening.

In another year when my personal and professional responsibilities relax a bit, I want to figure out how to organize a monthly or bimonthly game day intended to showcase very cool but lesser known games.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Is it possible to lament the loss of something you miss without being immediately told that it's loss was inevitable and it wasn't really that great anyway? I just miss Dragon Magazine.

Your second interpretation is in no way anything I said; my comment that gaming magazines were hard to make work economically even when magazines were still easier to work economically. I'm not sure it was inevitable that they'd fail out, but its certainly hard to see how they'd continue to exist when more general interest magazines often can't make a go of it; whether that was inevitable is more debatable..

 

[Reynard]

Another consequence of D&D being dominant acurred to me this morning: because people treat D&D and RPGs synonymously, they assume that the history of D&D is the history of the hobby. That is too bad. There is so much more to the development of the hobby over time, and D&D has hardly ever been a leader in innovation, even if has usually been a leader in sales.

For those interested, I heartily recommend Shannon Applecline's Designers and Dragons series of books. There is a ton of great historical information and just interesting anecdotes in those books. The audio versions are even well done, if you, like me, are stuck in the car a lot.

 

[Hussar]

Another consequence of D&D being dominant acurred to me this morning: because people treat D&D and RPGs synonymously, they assume that the history of D&D is the history of the hobby. That is too bad. There is so much more to the development of the hobby over time, and D&D has hardly ever been a leader in innovation, even if has usually been a leader in sales.

For those interested, I heartily recommend Shannon Applecline's Designers and Dragons series of books. There is a ton of great historical information and just interesting anecdotes in those books. The audio versions are even well done, if you, like me, are stuck in the car a lot.

Now, this I will agree with. D&D has almost always been lagging when it comes to innovation in the hobby. Mostly because the first twenty years or so of the game, it barely changed at all. Most of the new ideas in RPG's were being developed in reaction to D&D. Whether you want to look at the early days of GURPS or Harn with its much stronger simulation bent or Vampire with it's forays into more story driven play, newer ideas tended to percolate and develop away from D&D and then get incorporated into D&D some time later.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Now, this I will agree with. D&D has almost always been lagging when it comes to innovation in the hobby. Mostly because the first twenty years or so of the game, it barely changed at all. Most of the new ideas in RPG's were being developed in reaction to D&D. Whether you want to look at the early days of GURPS or Harn with its much stronger simulation bent or Vampire with it's forays into more story driven play, newer ideas tended to percolate and develop away from D&D and then get incorporated into D&D some time later.

Though part of this is that, once established, games in general tend to be hesitant to change in really substantial ways, often for the simple reason its often greeted with hostility by extent fan bases. This isn't universal, but its pretty common.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Though part of this is that, once established, games in general tend to be hesitant to change in really substantial ways, often for the simple reason its often greeted with hostility by extent fan bases. This isn't universal, but its pretty common.

As a veteran of Enworld's edition wars, I can vouch for your statement.