If Wizards of the Coast went out of business

[pawsplay]

That's what many people tell from anecdotal experience, but the numbers say something else entirely. D&D is the 10,000 lbs dragon that dominates the industry - all other games are a long, long way off in their sales numbers. Sure, some people might have started with other games - I started with Shadowrun, too - but they all probably did it with experienced game masters who cut their teeth on other games, and probably some incarnation of D&D as well. Only D&D is sold widely in mainstream bookstores, and thus D&D forms the backbone of the entire gaming industry. If you cut it out, the rest will crumble.

I notice that Vampire: The Masquerade seems to have run from 1991 to 2004. It was in 1996 that TSR stumbled so severely.

I rather suspect that D&D sales have more to do with D&D than sales than the general health of the industry.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I notice that Vampire: The Masquerade seems to have run from 1991 to 2004. It was in 1996 that TSR stumbled so severely.

I rather suspect that D&D sales have more to do with D&D than sales than the general health of the industry.

That was entirely the result of bad internal management decisions, as far as I know. The AD&D core rules still sold well - it was the multitude of worlds, supplements, and novels that sold badly and which caused trouble for TSR.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

The fan groups would be pretty much the only ones left - they and the ebook publishers. The entire print publishing category among RPGs would pretty much collapse, or be limited to Print On Delivery runs.

Yeah, could be so. :shrugs: I'd still be gaming.

 

[F5]

Without Wizards publishing D&D material, we won't have a canonical source of "real" D&D, but D&D won't go away. It will change, the business of publishing RPG books may evolve-or-die, but D&D will still be around. We have the OGL, and a robust internet community...we didn't have these things when TSR went under.

Without WotC (or some 3rd party successor who buys the lisence) driving the business needs of the brand, I see a "wikification" of D&D...over the course of several years, people will post their own versions of the OGL rules online, and gradually one or more will come to be seen as "official". Basically, whichever one(s) the online community likes best. In the absence of a company that needs to make a profit, D&D doesn't NEED to publish books in order to survive.

I doubt it would come to that...there's too much value to the D&D brand in the form of computer games and whatnot for Hasbro to let it lie completely. It may not come in a brown hardcover with a gem-covered sword design on the front, and it may not have the brand or the logo, but people will still play, and they'll still call it "D&D".

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Yeah, could be so. :shrugs: I'd still be gaming.

But with whom?

 

[diaglo]

But with whom?

with whomever i can teach OD&D(1974)

 

[TheYeti1775]

with whomever i can teach OD&D(1974)

Already know, and have the books.
Going to Georgia would be the only time the wife would let me move her for 'gaming' reasons. She's from South Ga, and we have friends all over the state.

 

[Ghendar]

But with whom?

The same people we're gaming with now?
Just because WotC went belly up doesn't mean that 95% of the gamer base would vanish.

Not to mention there is so much 3.0/3.5 material out there to keep ANYONE gaming for years.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

WWithout WotC (or some 3rd party successor who buys the lisence) driving the business needs of the brand, I see a "wikification" of D&D...over the course of several years, people will post their own versions of the OGL rules online, and gradually one or more will come to be seen as "official". Basically, whichever one(s) the online community likes best. In the absence of a company that needs to make a profit, D&D doesn't NEED to publish books in order to survive.

Judging from what I've learned about the gaming community, what we would see is a "splintering" of the game, with hundreds if not thousands of variants - and few people able to agree on common ground.

Like I said, D&D is the back bone of the gaming community. Take that back bone away, and what's left is a quivering, formless mess. In the end, that means that most gaming groups will compile their own d20 variant rule set... which is great for them, but it's only going to scare the newbies away.

I doubt it would come to that...there's too much value to the D&D brand in the form of computer games and whatnot for Hasbro to let it lie completely. It may not come in a brown hardcover with a gem-covered sword design on the front, and it may not have the brand or the logo, but people will still play, and they'll still call it "D&D".

Thankfully. D&D is too big to die, and unless something goes radically wrong, there will be publishers for it even if WotC goes under.

The same people we're gaming with now?

So nobody ever in your gaming groups dropped out because he got too busy with work or family, developed different interests, or moved to another city because of a new job?

Then consider yourself very, very lucky.

And without a strong gaming industry, there will be few people joining the hobby, and more people will be leaving because it is harder to maintain the enthusiasm without new releases.

Just because WotC went belly up doesn't mean that 95% of the gamer base would vanish.

Not in the first year, no... But over the course of years and decades, they will if D&D is gone.

Not to mention there is so much 3.0/3.5 material out there to keep ANYONE gaming for years.

That's great for the veteran gamers, but it won't do any good for the newbies. An active hobby needs an active publisher base, or else this fringe hobby will move even further out to the fringe. Forget publishers with monthly release schedules, or even quarterly - the profit margins will be so low that we'll be lucky to even see one release per year for most game lines.

And slowly the hobby will dwindle to a shadow of its former self.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

[Gaming] with whom?

My current groups, and anyone else I recruit. Actually, a sizable percentage of the players in my long-term groups have been new to the game when they started (i.e. we recruited them from our pool of friends). I tend to make friends, and then turn them on to RPGs, rather than starting with the RPG and then making new friends. That may not be typical (dunno), but that's the way it's worked with me.