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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6352917" data-attributes="member: 996">In the absence of the kind of business disasters that sunk 2e and 4e, and in the absence of unrelenting nerdrage, all D&amp;D /needs/ is the name.&nbsp; Take away the name and you have another D&amp;D rip-off.&nbsp; Keep the name and you have the virtually-guaranteed #1 RPG.&nbsp; Because, outside our miniscule hobby, it's the only RPG anyone's ever heard of, so it's where the new folks all start.By definition, virtually everyone who plays RPGs played D&amp;D first - and didn't hate it enough to run screaming into the night and never game again.&nbsp; (Disclaimer:&nbsp; yes, in the second half of the 90s, a lot of folks came to the hobby via LARPs, instead, I'll grant the existence of that cohort, but they're not a huge segment of the hobby.)How can a game /not/ be #1 when it's the gatekeeper to the industry?The only way D&amp;D has managed to fall out of the top spot in the past is by simply not putting out product.&nbsp; At the end of the 90s, TSR outright failed.&nbsp; In 2011, after the flurry of Essentials books, WotC dropped the pace of publication to a trickle, and Pathfinder - also, in essence, trading on the D&amp;D name via the untrademarkable &quot;3.5&quot; splashed on it's ads - edged ahead.&nbsp; In 2012, WotC stopped putting out any new books for post-Essentials D&amp;D, and a non-D&amp;D game or two finally pulled ahead of it.Unless WotC willfully stops printing books at some point, 5e would have a tough time sitting anywhere but the #1 spot.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6352917, member: 996"] In the absence of the kind of business disasters that sunk 2e and 4e, and in the absence of unrelenting nerdrage, all D&D /needs/ is the name. Take away the name and you have another D&D rip-off. Keep the name and you have the virtually-guaranteed #1 RPG. Because, outside our miniscule hobby, it's the only RPG anyone's ever heard of, so it's where the new folks all start. By definition, virtually everyone who plays RPGs played D&D first - and didn't hate it enough to run screaming into the night and never game again. (Disclaimer: yes, in the second half of the 90s, a lot of folks came to the hobby via LARPs, instead, I'll grant the existence of that cohort, but they're not a huge segment of the hobby.) How can a game /not/ be #1 when it's the gatekeeper to the industry? The only way D&D has managed to fall out of the top spot in the past is by simply not putting out product. At the end of the 90s, TSR outright failed. In 2011, after the flurry of Essentials books, WotC dropped the pace of publication to a trickle, and Pathfinder - also, in essence, trading on the D&D name via the untrademarkable "3.5" splashed on it's ads - edged ahead. In 2012, WotC stopped putting out any new books for post-Essentials D&D, and a non-D&D game or two finally pulled ahead of it. Unless WotC willfully stops printing books at some point, 5e would have a tough time sitting anywhere but the #1 spot. [/QUOTE]

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