D&D 5E Sell Out: Hasbro and the Soul of D&D

[Scribe]

If you ever end up hating D&D because it went too mainstream, the old D&D you knew and loved is...on DMs Guild. It's increasingly offered via Print-On-Demand. And what's even better is that they can't ever take back the SRD, so except for 4e, people are still making content for that old-tymie game.

Yeah this is huge. The 'doing it for the art' is still very strong because of this. D&D itself may (will) shift and distort itself to make sure it doesnt run afoul of anything that could limit its customer base, but people still have the framework to build upon.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I knew it was over when they started selling D&D action figures.

Wait. That was TSR not Hasbro.

From the OP:

Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. Sometime after the oil, there was a guy named Arneson, who was playing some weird new variant game based partly off of a game called Chainmail, and he thought it would be good to monetize, so he contacted the guy who made Chainmail, Gary Gygax, and the rest is the history that is all awesome and amazing. Well, maybe not amazing for the dinosaurs, but they probably should have exercised more.

Point being that while D&D has had a DIY, hobbyist core (which I will expand upon on later), it is not true that there was some golden, halcyon days of yore when D&D was untouched by corporate concerns. From the beginning, it was viewed as an attempt to make money, and as it became more successful, TSR and Gygax became embroiled in lawsuits, went about protecting their IP, and generally behaved exactly as you would expect a growing corporate entity to act- even looking to license their IP in all sorts of way, from slapping the D&D name on consumer products, to looking at media possibilities (such as the D&D cartoon series).


It's almost like there's a whole post about these things.

I used to write disclaimers on these, saying, "Hey, I know people don't read bother reading more than the title before making their snarky comment, but please try ..." but I long ago gave that up.

Because literacy < snark. I guess.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Epic post @Snarf Zagyg ! Epic.

Thanks! I had a good time writing it. Unfortunately, as I suspected, 99% of the people aren't going to bother reading it before commenting.

Which, in fairness, is only about 10% more than average.

 

[Stormonu]

More like TL;DR wins

 

[Mistwell]

Thanks! Unfortunately, as I suspected, 99% of the people aren't going to bother reading it before commenting.

Which, in fairness, is only about 10% more than average.

It's a lot to digest. I plan to read it again before commenting on the substance but I thought it important to express appreciation for the poetry of it first.

 

[Scribe]

Thanks! Unfortunately, as I suspected, 99% of the people aren't going to bother reading it before commenting.

Which, in fairness, is only about 10% more than average.

I read it. I think you hit on it though, its a generational thing. I've been amused for years, that those who would simply be derided as Shills before, are now promoted as 'Influencers', and it happens in every market, but is especially notable in gaming with streamers.

Its the way the world turns now.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The labourer deserves his wages. It's stupid ideas like making money from something is "selling out" and therefore somehow wrong that gets socialism a bad name.

 

[prabe]

I read it. I think you hit on it though, its a generational thing. I've been amused for years, that those who would simply be derided as Shills before, are now promoted as 'Influencers', and it happens in every market, but is especially notable in gaming with streamers.

Its the way the world turns now.

That's why I suggested that a better comparison was to something roughly contemporaneous to at least 1E--as it turns out, from about the time I first got into the hobby (though I don't really consider my own history relevant for the purposes here).

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Seems to me a better comparison is to a band that had a few big hits in the early 1980s, then fell out of favor, but never stopped gigging out and recording, kept something of their fan base, and now they're having another big moment as fashions and trends have come back around. I guess it's better than being the butt of a joke in a GEICO commercial ...

....I know this!

WEIRD AL!

You're welcome.

 

[fearsomepirate]

I read it. I'm not worried about selling out because the SRD broke their ability to ruin the hobby. Paizo proved this.