Dragon Con: A Sight of the Schism in action

[Mark]

I'm going with the theory that RPGA D&D is most of the D&D being played at game conventions these days.

Maybe most of the current edition, anyway, as I have seen much of PF, 3.5, 1E and even some (O)D&D being played at the shows I attend. Can't say I see much, if any, 2E, FWIW. I know of at least a couple of 4E games that were run at Gencon but off the books, so to speak (just check the EN World Gencon forum for details). I wonder if 4E inspires more people to play than to run games, as far as that goes. Is running 4E for strangers not as rewarding as elsewise, perhaps?

 

[amysrevenge]

But I do remember a time when RPGA supported more than just the most recent edition of D&D and not just with living campaigns. Has its focus really narrowed to just 4e D&D now?

Other than the turnover time between August 2000 and the Living City conversion that was a short time later (where Living City still ran under 2E rules for a while after the publication of 3E) I don't remember a lot of older edition play. Even Classics were 3E almost right from then, if I recall correctly.

The focus has narrowed though, that's for sure. There was a period in the early part of the decade where there were half a dozen or so official RPGA living campaigns, some for non-WotC games even (but none for earlier editions of D&D). Those games gradually were dropped from the roster over the past several years (at the end of 3.x Living Greyhawk was about all that was left), and now LFR is pretty much the only RPGA game in town (other than one-shot PH/DMG/MM gamedays and Delves).

 

[BlightCrawler]

Anyway, despite being a 1E guy myself, my gut says Dragoncon probably isn't the best measure of what's happening at regular game conventions (where the RPGA no doubt picks up the slack a good representation of D&D gaming. The gamer contingent there probably skews older, crankier, and more resistant to change than other conventions.

Yeah. I know a bunch of people who go to DragonCon. None of them play table top RPGs of any kind. DragonCon doesn't strike me as a big gaming culture convention.

The gaming focused cons out here at almost 100% 4E. There are a few 3.X/d20 games, and even most of those are actually OGL instead. Pathfinder might change things, I didn't go to any labor day cons, so I'm not sure. But you are had pressed to find D&D that's not 4E.

 

[Mark]

The gaming focused cons out here at almost 100% 4E.

Where and which ones, please?


(Funny sig. )

 

[Dannager]

I think it's a mistake to imagine that what goes on at DragonCon (or even GenCon or PAX) is anywhere near representative of the D&D or tabletop player base at large.

Someone mentioned that they're surprised that the schism reaches beyond those on messageboards. The reality is that the ones posting on messageboards are probably the same ones griping about it in real life at conventions. The vast majority of people are just playing the game they enjoy.

 

[Mark]

I think it's a mistake to imagine that what goes on at DragonCon (or even GenCon or PAX) is anywhere near representative of the D&D or tabletop player base at large.

Someone mentioned that they're surprised that the schism reaches beyond those on messageboards. The reality is that the ones posting on messageboards are probably the same ones griping about it in real life at conventions. The vast majority of people are just playing the game they enjoy.

This sort of dismissal surprises me. When I see people post that what happens on messageboards is not representative and what happens at conventions and gamedays is not representative and what happens at gamestores is not representative and then theorize that there are vast numbers of people who there is no way to poll and no way to be sure even exist in any substantial number with a specific viewpoint, I have to be skeptical. I mean, if you want to believe it, more power to you, but it doesn't even rise to the level of insufficient data. The fact of the matter is that people on messageboards, at convention and gmedays, and in gamestores are precisely representative of what they play and think. They just happen to be people who you can actually count and poll.

 

[Rechan]

You guys must not watch general human behavior very much. The "edition wars" have nothing on politics, religion, race, illegals, etc... rage.

Everyone is pretty tame about the edition wars in comparison to all of that "rage".

That's because the moderators keep people in line here.

I have no doubt that if there was not a strong presence from the moderators, that the edition wars would be brutal.

 

[Primal]

Wow, I've never heard gamers attending a con being that impolite and rude... in a situation like this, I'd probably ask such people to back off and go play their own favorite system. Sorry to hear that something like this has happened more than once...

I may prefer 3E and PF RPG over 4E, but if I were attending a con, I might very well sit down and play it. Like Henry, I see cons as excellent opportunities to try out new RPGs.

 

[Treebore]

That's because the moderators keep people in line here.

I have no doubt that if there was not a strong presence from the moderators, that the edition wars would be brutal.

I'm not so sure of that. I no longer hang out on Circus M. or RPG.net, or the WOTC boards, but I used to, and all of that stuff is tame in comparison to what I have seen on other topics.

Plus at my LGS 4E is "the" game of choice, and I have talked to a fair number of people about the pro's and con's of 4E and we may have had strains of frustration in our voices, but no one has yet to get "rude".

Talk about the other topics and disagree with them and they quickly go off the deep end. Except for a few groups of people I have met, we talk about anything and we stay civil with each other, even though we often completely disagree, especially with regards to religion. These are not message boards either, they are face to face conversations.

So the degree of "rudeness" is totally dependent upon the individual, not what "social group" they belong to. Unless you want to talk "mob mentality", but I doubt that applies here.

 

[Shemeska]

Unless everybody outside my Michigan/Ohio/Indiana turf is seeing something radically different, I'm going with the theory that RPGA D&D is most of the D&D being played at game conventions these days.

For 4e maybe, but even then I'd need to be convinced. Unless I specifically hit WotC's site I don't see much about the RPGA online, and at least in my experience if you aren't already a member involved with them, it doesn't seem to have all that much visibility. Not being a member, quite literally I never saw them at GenCon - they were holed up in a big room somewhere, but I never saw it.

Branching off of that, the RPGA from my exposure seems, I dunno how best to put this, but... incredibly insular? But that's perhaps less the RPGA and just how it feels like WotC has promoted 4e lately, which as a whole feels distinctly excluding of anything but 4e as a viable style of D&D, be it the 4e exclusivity of the RPGA, the renaming of WotC's own forums as the "4e Forums", the DDI adverts to "play the game the way -we- play the game", and a general feel of 'you're either with us or you're against us'. Just doesn't feel exactly very big-tent and inclusive or different styles of play, different editions, etc.