Scenario - 2009: WOTC drops D&D product line - Death or Resurrection for RPG hobby?

[Desdichado]

The hobby's been in "slow inevitable decline" since 1985.

This would certainly speed that up. It'll probably never completely go away, just like there's still a small niche demand for new swing music, or whatever, but it'll end up even more marginalized than it already is.

 

[Kaladhan]

I voted for slow decline. It's already a slow decline or at best stagnation.

I would bet good money that without DnD, most stores that do carry on inventory role-playing supplements would simply stop having any rpg books. How many gaming stores have Exalted stuff anyway? I would think that most of them don't.

Without gaming stores, starting in the hobby would be harder. Yes, you're introduced in the hobby by current players. But how are the new players going to buy the PHB? Or eventually move on to DM without the core books?

Many companies may try to fill the void, but none of them would succeed. At least, in my opinion.

Even without this news, I believe that pen and dice role-playing will die in 20-30 years to be replaced by more interactive video games.

 

[Geoffrey]

I'd love to see a press release like that. It would mean no more fears of suited busybodies getting in a snit because somebody printed the words "carrion crawler" in a game product. It would free everyone from having to wonder what is or isn't legal (or what can or can't be gotten away with).

RPG companies would probably cease to exist, for the most part. I'm fine with that.

Dabblers would cease playing RPGs. I'm fine with that.

Serious RPG enthusiasts could dig-out their old dungeons, publish them through Lulu, and charge cost plus $1 per copy. Nobody would get rich off this, but it would be fun, relatively easy, and could get you some extra pocket cash. Plus nobody would have to worry about WotC getting snitty because your old dungeon that you published through Lulu had a mind flayer in it.

I'd MUCH MUCH MUCH rather see honest-to-goodness home-made gamer products with low production values than the glossy, high-production junk cluttering the game store shelves.

I would love to see RPGs become a HOBBY rather than a BUSINESS.

 

[ejja_1]

No change

Gamers are gamers and there is always something else to play.
When 2.0 was at it's height alot of my players pretty much couldnt stand to play it, wich left me scrambling to find something for us to play. We tried quite a few games, including Paladium, Rune Quest, Gurps fantasy and many others. Just becuase we wernt playing D&D, didnt curb my players enthusiasm for gaming in the slightest. In fact it lead to several memorable sessions, the one where we tried Toon was an absolute riot!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In the context of the question and the poll, I went with 'nothing changes'. I think that'd be about right.

That's probably a good estimation.

If WotC drops the D&D product line, this must mean gamers have jumped onto another game. I doubt that gamers would suddenly die out.

The alternative is a slow decline, but then an uprising again (once gamers settle for a new "primary" system) that would lead to a balanced end result.
Maybe things do indeed get better if we assume that the games systems actually get better and attract and sustain more players than before (and maybe the possible player bases expands too - India, China and some African nation increasing their life standards so that more people have the time to waste on gaming hobbies . But I guess that's far off the original question, and is also very speculative... I could reason for a decline this way too, because the 3rd world will throw us all back to the stone age )

 

[an_idol_mind]

I'd love to see a press release like that. It would mean no more fears of suited busybodies getting in a snit because somebody printed the words "carrion crawler" in a game product. It would free everyone from having to wonder what is or isn't legal (or what can or can't be gotten away with).

Even if WotC dropped D&D, they'd probably still hold onto their intellectual property. It would be bad business to do otherwise, whether or not they were still printing an RPG.

 

[Henry]

Even if WotC dropped D&D, they'd probably still hold onto their intellectual property. It would be bad business to do otherwise, whether or not they were still printing an RPG.

Not only that, but the product makes far more money from licensing in the computer and collectible fields that they wouldn't let the license go, or stop making D&D in some form. I could see such an above announcement for, say, the tabletop game, but stopping all verieties of D&D entirely from minis games to computer games? Not very likely.

 

[tenkar]

I'd love to see a press release like that. It would mean no more fears of suited busybodies getting in a snit because somebody printed the words "carrion crawler" in a game product. It would free everyone from having to wonder what is or isn't legal (or what can or can't be gotten away with).

The OGL wouldn't change, so the restrictions would still be there.

 

[Pramas]

I don't think D&D going out would actually cause that many game stores to close. Roleplaying has lagged far behind TCGs, boardgames, and miniatures games as a category for some time. I think there's enough going on in the hobby that most game stores would survive. Of course, I find this entire scenario highly unlikely in the first place.

 

[Turanil]

I think that in any scenario possible, tabletop RPGs won't expand and rise in popularity. They are doomed to wither and disappear eventually, with most RPGs getting video or online. Thereafter, for a few years more, RPGs would somewhat survive in the hands of a few small third pary publishers at first, then with a few remaining dedicated enthusiasts on the Internet. In 30 or 40 years, tabletop RPGs should have disappeared entirely, while there will be a bloom of online gaming.