D&D (2024) Is There A New Sheriff in Town?

[Corinnguard]

The existing game will always exist (at least until the paper decays), but producing print books for a tabletop game is marginal at best. Thus, any business who bought the D&D brand from a Hasbro would have no interest in continuing to produce material for the tabletop game. It would become a computer game brand.

As mentioned, even if Hasbro survives the current storm, it’s possible they will axe the print books line anyway.

We're going to have come up with yet another poll. "Who Inherits D&D from WoTC?"

As for the print books- "Well kids, once upon a time old-timers such as myself actually used printed books to role-play earlier editions of D&D..."

 

[Distracted DM]

Pathfinder never outsold D&D. For a time at the tail end of 4E, while WotC was not putting out any D&D books, Pathfinder did well in ICv2's charts (and that situation ended the second 5E was launched), but those charts didn't account for most of WotC's book sales which take place in marketplaces outside the hobby stores that ICv2 surveys. Amazon, mainstream book stores, non-US sales, etc. are massive. And I know others have mentioned DDB, but these days that's 50% of WotC's sales.

So no, there's no 'new sheriff' in town. Daggerheart is doing and will do very well in terms of TTRPGs that are not D&D. It'll stay in the top echelon of those. But it won't eclipse D&D, nor does it need to.

Lol what's funny is you're the one that pointed it out to me! So in the given context you can see why I would've taken away the idea that they were outperformed by PF in the 4e era.

 

[Yaarel]

I thought the OGL fiasco would (surely) activate the community into an official unified boycott of WotC product.
So. I just want to see newer, better ttrpgs at the top.

The ap-OGL-ypse did activate a unified boycott. But then WotC listened to the community of D&D players. In response WotC discontinued the objectionable behavior, recontinued the community standard behaviors, and placed the "OGL" into the CC where the SRD for the current 5e edition was given entirely to the community for perpetuity. Personally, I was horrified by the ap-OGL-ypse, but now am satisfied with the WotC outcome. WotC followed thru and updated the CC for 5e 2024.

A number of indy companies are still wary about using the 5e SRD. Pathfinder 2, Blackflag, etal, and Daggerheart itself are new systems that emerged to disentangle from 5e. All of these are editions of D&D. Each brand is an opportunity to rethink, experiment, and contribute to the collective D&D traditions. This seems healthy for all D&D players.

D&D really does belong to the players. Defacto. Now dejure via the SRD in the CC.

If you want to see "newer, better", tabletop RPGs. Dont look to the bigger businesses. Look to the players. You need more players to like the same aspects of D&D that you like. The businesses will go wherever the players want to go.

D&D is a kind of democracy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The existing game will always exist (at least until the paper decays), but producing print books for a tabletop game is marginal at best. Thus, any business who bought the D&D brand from a Hasbro would have no interest in continuing to produce material for the tabletop game. It would become a computer game brand.

As mentioned, even if Hasbro survives the current storm, it’s possible they will axe the print books line anyway.

End of an era. But at least the printed game had a good run, for the most part.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

End of an era. But at least the printed game had a good run, for the most part.

Smaller companies are more likely to continue to support tabletop gaming, without the overheads, shareholders, and failing plastic toy (AKA landfill) business.

 

[AlViking]

The existing game will always exist (at least until the paper decays), but producing print books for a tabletop game is marginal at best. Thus, any business who bought the D&D brand from a Hasbro would have no interest in continuing to produce material for the tabletop game. It would become a computer game brand.

As mentioned, even if Hasbro survives the current storm, it’s possible they will axe the print books line anyway.

Ah, the end of paper. Haven't they been predicting that for 40 or so years now?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Smaller companies are more likely to continue to support tabletop gaming, without the overheads, shareholders, and failing plastic toy (AKA landfill) business.

Absolutely. I always advocate for smaller companies. I meant an end of an era for D&D specifically, if folks here are correct and there's no way to get the IP away from massive, profit-ravenous, publicly traded corporations with every incentive to take any legal action that make more money for their shareholder masters.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Even if WotC didn't walk back on their attempt to cancel the OGL and still went through with it, it wouldn't have changed Dungeons & Dragon's place atop the RPG brand genre. It still would remain the top RPG. Too many millions of people know the game and only that game... and have no idea that there are outside companies and people who make product for and around Dungeons & Dragons via their use of the OGL. Not to mention the percentage of the D&D population who does in fact know of the OGL but doesn't actually care if it exists or not and thus would not have been deterred from playing D&D even if all those smaller companies and designers were forced to pivot away from it.

Some people think there's some magic formula that can occur to make D&D fall behind some other game(s) permanently... but it's just not going to happen. If D&D ever drops off the face of the earth to the point where it's noticeable... it means some sort of massive societal shift has occurred that is going to take ALL of the RPG genre with it. If D&D ever sinks, every other game is going to be pulled down with it.

 

[npick03]

does Daggerheart have a realistic shot at taking D&D down as the #1 TTRPG?

Not at all. But it's fun to think and post and write articles and make videos about it.

It would be cool if this prompted D&D to grow in a more interesting direction, but

Are the winds of change whistling?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ah, the end of paper. Haven't they been predicting that for 40 or so years now?

It's not the paper that's the issue. It's the fact that you can play a tabletop game as often as you like without paying anything at all to the publisher.