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

[Clavis]

Originally Posted by Clavis
No I really expect it to happen, because I think 4th edition is going to fail on account of fracturing the market.

That was said about just about every other new edition of D&D. I think the evidence supports the conclusion that sooner or later, enough people will convert that it won't fracture the market.

It happened to be true about 2nd edition. Remember that company TSR, that got bought out by WOTC? 2nd edition AD&D was so ruinous for TSR that the company founded by the creators of RPGs was bought out by relative upstarts. I remember the 90s for everybody playing Vampire:The Masquerade. A very large percentage of 1st Edition players never played 2nd edition, and only came back to buying D&D material for 3rd Edition.

 

[Korgoth]

I voted "slowly rise in popularity".

I've been digging into OD&D (White Box) lately. A toolkit, meant to be houseruled and kitbashed, production values as if it was assembled in somebody's garage. That's what I like.

The hobby has become too corporate, too "official". I don't need paint-by-numbers. Just a canvas, please.