"How 'Dungeons' Changed the World" (Boston Globe Editorial)

[painandgreed]

The game and genre doesn't have the visceral NEWNESS it once did, and i miss that, but now i can afford craploads of books!

Everynow and then, it does for me. I havn't played since college but had decided to get back into it with 3.5. i waited for the 3.5 books to come out, arranged to DM a "hack and slash, all night game with pizza and soft drinks" etc. After they came out, I went to pick up the core 3.5 books. I'm now and adult with a good job; buying them is a large purchase but nothing have to worry about. I browsed through all the books, picked them up, and got the largest rush of nostalgia. Back in high school, getting a new module or bookm was something that happened for Christmas or my birthday. Each purchase was special. For an instant, when I picked up those books and realized that I could buy whatever I wanted, I got a rush of that feeling all over again and it felt so good that I spent another $100 on more D&D books. Just because I could.

 

[Henry]

For an instant, when I picked up those books and realized that I could buy whatever I wanted, I got a rush of that feeling all over again and it felt so good that I spent another $100 on more D&D books. Just because I could.

No pain, and sometimes greed is good.

 

[CarlZog]

I think the Globe's column was right about the ways in which D&D has continued to quietly shape the cultural landscape over the years. Now, we're reaching a point where the game is sort of coming out of hiding to take credit for all its good deeds.

I think part of the way 3e/d20 has revitalized the hobby has been in introducing the the game, and tabletop RPGs in general, to an older aged, broader demographic of people.

It helps that computer rpgs, the stepchild of D&D, have gone mainstream. No one blinks an eye if you're playing Morrowind on your Xbox. I think a lot of gamers who started on the computer are now coming to the table.

It also helps that those of us weaned on 1e in the late 70s and early 80s are reaching middle age and finding ourselves drawn back to the game. I don't know how many times I've heard late-30s/early-40s folk say they've recently started playing again for the first time since college. Forget sports cars and trophy wives; D&D is the new mid-life crisis symbol!

Anyway, all this is leading to the game slowly coming into mainstream acceptance in a way that I don't it ever even did at the height of the fad in the early 80s.

And, if anything, the publication of "D&D for Dummies" has to be the closing argument that D&D is finally reaching some level of mainstream acceptance.

Carl

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I hope this points to maybe a larger, more subtle period of stable and substantial growth for D&D and gaming in general, rather than the early 80's over-hyped "explosion." People talk about how D&D was SOOOO huge in the 80s, and then collapsed. I think it can make a very solid comeback because I'm thinking of something else that had a huge explosion in the 80s, collapsed and then went on to bigger and better things.

A Flock of Seagulls.

No, actually, video games.