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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JEB" data-source="post: 8199274" data-attributes="member: 10148">A quibble: The Colour of Magic sold 20 million copies since it was published in 1983 - nearly 40 years ago. Whereas the 2-9 million number for D&D players (which I'm guessing is more an estimate, based on the huge range) was just a snapshot in the 1980s. Not really a fair comparison; you would need sales of Colour of Magic from just the 1970s-1980s.And I'll reiterate, just because Pratchett didn't slavishly copy D&D elements into his novels doesn't mean that D&D wasn't an influence, both on things he put into his work, and on the fantasy literature market that gave his novels a chance.Now, that said, Pratchett's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carpet_People" target="_blank">first fantasy novel</a> was actually published in 1971, and it's clearly a Discworld precursor. So many of his ideas are clearly not owed to D&D. On the other hand, said first novel didn't make a big impact, and it was five more years before his next novel, and 12 more years before he ventured into fantasy again. And D&D popped up in the middle of that span.To be clear, I'm not trying to suggest that Pratchett was some hack who wouldn't amount to anything without D&D. That would be silly. The point I'm trying to make is, you need to be very picky about what fantasy influences there might have been on D&D in this alternate timeline. It really should only be ones that are far removed from D&D and its tropes, the sorts that could stand alone without any impact from D&D. Anything that could have owed something to D&D is at risk of either not existing, or looking rather different.Yeah, alchemy and elemental magic certainly seem likely as sorts of magic in this alt-D&D. I also stand by my earlier assertion that psionics/telepathy/etc. would have a prominent role, since the first RPGs would likely bring in SF tropes.Oh, I do think CCGs are still possible. As noted, Richard Garfield would still have Cosmic Encounter as a possible inspiration for the CCG. (Though there is the question of where they'd market such a game, as CCGs initially relied on the D&D/RPG community for their early spread.) Whether we get a Pokémon CCG, harder to say, as there are a number of complications (what's the CCG market like in 1996 Japan in this timeline? is Wizards of the Coast big enough to market the CCG in the west? is there a market for a monster-collecting CCG in the same way there is a monster battling game?).Not to get off-topic, but I played the similar Battle Chess back in the day. (Though I've also played the NES version of Archon. I like it but it kicks my butt.)In any case, we haven't even seen a chess-based RPG in our history (that I'm aware of), so I dunno if it would be an influence on this alt-D&D. (Though now I'd like to see someone try making an RPG like that...)EDIT: Wait, were you suggesting chess, or chess games, could have inspired monster battles in Pokémon? I suppose it's possible, but despite Archon and Battle Chess being a thing, neither seemed to be massively influential in the way that D&D-style RPGs (and later, JRPGs) were on the Japanese video game industry. But who knows, maybe it was D&D-style RPGs that kept such mechanics from getting a shot.</blockquote>

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