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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadence" data-source="post: 9346108" data-attributes="member: 6701124">I wonder if Shakespeare and Tolkien have withstood the test of time in part because they are finite things.    Tolkien didn't continually try to turn out new stories - instead he constantly revised the ones he had that make up the Silmarillion whose only true form is sitting in Dream's library (and providing his son with lots of things to publish about the various versions).  Shakespeare's plays, for the most part, are separate unconnected things.   They weren't trying to stretch one thing out and keep it selling.On the other hand Marvel and DC Comics, Star Trek, etc... have been going on for decade after decade of new material and now involve massive amounts of it.  It feels like that brings the challenge of how to stay new and stay fresh. As I posted somewhere earlier, the Avengers started turning things over early in their existence with Cap's Kooky Quartet.  Thor, Iron Man, and Cap all got alternatives put in a couple decades later (Eric Masterson, Throgg, etc; Rhodey; US Agent).  Moving forward again, Bendis Disassembled the Avengers and laughed at the long time fans - and yet those that started within (say) 20 issues of when he came on board think he saved everything.I also note that Marvel, DC, and Star Trek have always tackled IRL issues of the day from racism to fascism to run-amok capitalism to alcohol abuse to government overreach to nationalism vs. patriotism to drug abuse to religious fanaticism. Without the change and the tackling hot issues, are all we left with giant cross-overs that blow up the world again and bigger universal threats that could beat the last one - and not much story?Is D&D kind of like these?  How much would it sell if it was Gary putting monthly updates of Greyhawk into Dragon Magazine?Finally, just like the old comics and old Star Trek episodes, the old campaign material is still out there for folks who want to work with it.  It just doesn't make the company who exists to sell it much money.</blockquote>

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