D&D General Ray Winninger on 5e’s success, product cadence, the OGL, and more.

[Mistwell]

For those who want to dive into the video's D&D section, he begins talking about D&D at around the 39 minute mark.

 

[michaeljpastor]

I would have guessed it was an age thing, too.

Since we know a lot of GenXers and Xellenials returned with 5E, and they were old enough to have families by then, I wonder if it is possible that wives and girlfriends came with some of the lapsed gamers. I know from personal experience that during the "dark years" when WoW ate a lot of tabletop D&D groups, women were easily half of those players. So I wonder if folks coming back to the table were joined by the same women playing WoW etc with them?

Actually that was exactly what Jim Butler (paizo prez) brought up in last night's episode of 50 Years in the Dungeon - not just the spouses, but their KIDS and now GRANDKIDS.

What's funny to remember is that Ray Winninger, Jim Butler and all of GenX who went on to run (and consume) D&D were the same people who were called Munchkins by the Generation Zero D&D players (who were adults when it debuted). Now GenXers are grandparents - more recruits!

 

[Reynard]

Actually that was exactly what Jim Butler (paizo prez) brought up in last night's episode of 50 Years in the Dungeon - not just the spouses, but their KIDS and now GRANDKIDS.

What's funny to remember is that Ray Winninger, Jim Butler and all of GenX who went on to run (and consume) D&D were the same people who were called Munchkins by the Generation Zero D&D players (who were adults when it debuted). Now GenXers are grandparents - more recruits!

I am almost finished reading The Elusive Shift and the end of the 70s was the era where the "munchkins" invaded and a real effort was amde to embrace them (rather than denigrate them).

Great book, btw, for anyone who has not read it.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I wonder if something about the contractual arrangement between WotC and OBS makes this harder than it should be. I mean, it's crazy that the Keith Baker's Eberron books aren't on DND Beyond.

That's a great point. It's the one place where he might be able to make a profit on it.

 

[michaeljpastor]

Thanks for summarizing that.

Obviously, this is why the DMsGuild exists, and it seems to serve its purpose well.

I would love a deep dive into the Guild business model, its success, and why it has shifted and changed over the years.

I think it's a failure, personally, for the creators. I think it could be much better if there were better curation and marketing on behalf of the creators. A 'good housekeeping seal of approval' would do wonders to separate the wheat from the chaff, and develop new talents. Right now it's a flat miasmic plain.

 

[Charlaquin]

Vampire the Masquerade brought more women into the RPG scene. And did so earlier than the other positive “nerd culture” events.

I mean, I guess, but 4e didn’t see this same demographic shift, and it was much better poised to ride the wave of Masquerade’s success than 5e was, just temporally speaking.

 

[Charlaquin]

I would have guessed it was an age thing, too.

Since we know a lot of GenXers and Xellenials returned with 5E, and they were old enough to have families by then, I wonder if it is possible that wives and girlfriends came with some of the lapsed gamers. I know from personal experience that during the "dark years" when WoW ate a lot of tabletop D&D groups, women were easily half of those players. So I wonder if folks coming back to the table were joined by the same women playing WoW etc with them?

That would make sense to me

 

[darjr]

Folks, the demographic has changed towards younger people already. A lot. We know this fairly well. I haven’t listened to the video. The difference could between the two could be small but still incredibly wonderfully notable. Also he was just talking in a video.

 

[dave2008]

I think it's a failure, personally, for the creators. I think it could be much better if there were better curation and marketing on behalf of the creators. A 'good housekeeping seal of approval' would do wonders to separate the wheat from the chaff, and develop new talents. Right now it's a flat miasmic plain.

That did have that for a while (Guild Adepts), but it fell out of favor for some reason.

 

[Reynard]

Folks, the demographic has changed towards younger people already. A lot. We know this fairly well. I haven’t listened to the video. The difference could between the two could be small but still incredibly wonderfully notable. Also he was just talking in a video.

He was saying that the initial shift was to women rather than young people; the young people came later.