Let's say D&D ceases to exist...what do you play?

[mattcolville]

O Rly? And what data might that be?

Gotta say, it sounds extremely unlikely, to me.

WotC did a market survey after they took over. As an employee, I had access to the data, though I'm not certain I was supposed to.

Market surveys of the scope they paid for are expensive, but they could afford it. It showed them, among many other things, how many players were still play AD&D and had never bought another book after the Unearthed Arcana (a whole lot).

There seemed to be a high degree of coincidence between people who found the results alarming, and people who dismissed the study as flawed. I have no horse in the race one way or the other and so until someone else spends that kind of money on another study, I'm content to assume that data was fine.

There were a lot of interesting things in that data, it was pretty extensive.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

I would play more of other games I already play, mostly--Heroic Dread (a variant of Eppidiah Ravencol's Jenga-based Dread, with some modifications to make it more amenable to non-horror gameplay) and Ars Magica leap to mind. There are probably some other fantasy games that I haven't played but might--WFRP, Pendragon (specifically Arthurian, but still medieval fantasy), Earthdawn, which I've played a little but would probably play more. I might try Burning Wheel, although I'm concerned that Burning Wheel may have some major problems and may involve more complexity than it gains advantage from.

 

[Aus_Snow]

WotC did a market survey after they took over. As an employee, I had access to the data, though I'm not certain I was supposed to.

And where did they get their data from?

There were a lot of interesting things in that data

Such as?


I have heard, and indeed read, many a statistic (and many a meaningful anecdote) that apparently contradict your preferred perspective. Is there any way you can back this up, or is taking you at your word what it comes down to, in the end?

 

[ggroy]

And where did they get their data from?

According to the publicly released part of the 1999 survey,

Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0 -- Wizards of the Coast

"Information from more than 65,000 people was gathered from a questionnaire sent to more than 20,000 households via a post card survey. This survey was used as a screener to create a general profile of the game playing population in the target age range, for the purposes of extrapolating trends to the general population.

This "screener" accurately represents the US population as a whole; it is a snapshot of the entire nation and is used to extrapolate trends from more focused surveys to the larger market.

A follow up survey was completed by about a thousand respondents from the screener. The follow up survey is an extensive document with more than 100 questions. The particular individuals chosen to participate in this expanded survey represent the population, as determined by the screener. In other words, the small detailed survey group can be reasonably extrapolated to the larger screener group, and the larger screener group can be logically extrapolated to the public in general. This is a common, standard, and accepted methodology within the market research field.

The data from the detailed survey was collated and prepared by the Wizards market Research Department, in conjunction with an external consulting firm. We believe that the data is a fair and accurate representation of the hobby game consumer profile and that it does statistically correlate with the population as a whole in the US for the target age bracket."

 

[Thagdal]

Tunnels & Trolls as that's what I played when starting out along with D&D, Palladium or Role Master, Gamma world, Paranoia, or one of the many other fine systems out there.
Even more likley, a home brew hodge podge.

 

[The Shaman]

I play D&D once a year, so if it disappeared from the face of the earth, I probably wouldn't notice.

I'd keep playing Flashing Blades, or Traveller, or Top Secret, or Boot Hill, or Metamorphosis Alpha, or Chill, or Pendragon, or another half-dozen games i'd rather play than D&D anyway.

 

[Odhanan]

The first game coming to mind is Call of Cthulhu.

Then, Stormbringer, Hawkmoon, RuneQuest, Nephilim 2e, Bloodlust, the World of Darkness games, Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, Warhammer 1e, Gamma World, WEG Star Wars, In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas...

Then, oh so many of them!

 

[kitsune9]

Well, since D&D and all its iterations are gone, then I'd probably look at my Warhammer FRP, Dragon Age, Rolemaster, or play around with a custom campaign using GURPS or Hero System.

If I didn't want to do fantasy with D&D gone, then I can see myself digging in Fading Suns, Traveller, or give Eclipse Phase a try. Or maybe dig out all my old Star Wars d6 books.

 

[Shemeska]

Pathfinder is D&D, so that won't count for my answer.

Some combination of Shadowrun, WoD (old or new depending on which X: the Y we're talking about), and potentially some Eclipse Phase or Cthulhutech.

 

[pogre]

WFRP 2e