So what exactly is the root cause of the D&D rules' staying power?

[Nagol]

In a sense it's already happened, all it takes is an RPG that gains enough mainstream awareness to pull new players directly rather than sell itself to market already selected for at least being able to stand D&D.

Each time it's happened, we've narrowed our definition of RPG to exclude the interloper, spawning a 'new hobby.'

CRPGs
LARPs
MMORPGs

Did LARPs ever get heavy adoption?

 

[billd91]

Each time it's happened, we've narrowed our definition of RPG to exclude the interloper, spawning a 'new hobby.'

CRPGs
LARPs
MMORPGs

I think I would contest that we, as a whole, have narrowed our definition of RPG. Each of those different ones you cited (CRPG, LARP, MMORPG) are subsets and exist in significantly different modes of play that deserve the additional elaboration and have, in turn, spawned the new designation - Tabletop RPG - to describe the subset of RPGs that used to encompass the whole of the hobby.

There might be people who do consider them different hobbies or not really RPGs, but I think most of us consider them be cranks rather than reflecting mainstream opinions.

 

[billd91]

Did LARPs ever get heavy adoption?

Nowhere near the levels of tabletop D&D playing - so never enough to threaten D&D's dominance. However, there were certainly very large LARP efforts going on, using a variety of different rules systems and settings. Vampire probably dominates among the LARP community, but there were some big 1e D&D LARP events back in the early 1990s. Of course, a D&D LARP would hardly be a threat to D&D's RPG dominance, rather, it would extend it...

 

[Tony Vargas]

Did LARPs ever get heavy adoption?

Not like CCGs or MMOs, but certainly pretty huge by TTRPG standards in the 90s, when WWGS was briefly the headspace leader in the Hobby, probably in no small part due to the influx of new gamers to TT from LARPs, of which it's MET version of VtM was the flagship.

Of course, at the time, TTRPGs seemed on the brink, with CCGs sucking in the stereotypical new player pool, and TSR on the road to ruin...

 

[jasper]

1. First well known rpg. Branding as someone mentioned.
2. It made history in our culture. ET interrupted a game to phone home. The overblown D&D scare of the 80s.
3. It was rejected when more well polish and edited systems came after it. What you don’t play Fate, Traveler, runecraft etc.?
4. It had rebirth! Who is this west coastie messing with a bankrupt company, while I will never… Hm you know this kind of works. Needs some dash of homebrew.
5. It affected pc/console games. Why yes Intellivision I would like a yummy slime mold.
6. Non geeks who were famous boasted playing it. The ROCK would gave Gary wedige and said the 2 hit and killed Demi Gor Gone.
7. Great spinoff make great impact and sometimes money. Anybody remember a poor little orphan drow name Drizzle and his toy cats. Or those juvenile level how to lance a dragon books. Or that horrible baby unicorn and gang on thugs on CBS cartoon Saturday mornings.
8. Generic fantasy. So your group can change it to your table. Hey I got a tri bladed rocket launching sword, a two handed light sab…. Um two handed double bladed sword. Bill has magic walmarts, jasper only gives magic once a person. Tucker Kobolds vs Army of darkness.

 

[aramis erak]

So here's the follow-up question to all of this:

What would it take for a roleplaying system to completely, fully supplant D&D as the clear market leader?

1) multi-media support/cross-fertilization: Novels, Vids, boardgames, and computer games, both Fremium and pay-once
2) solid, clear, and playable rules
3) a good boxed beginner game
4) support for the monomyth in both system and published adventures
5) published high quality no-errata core and adventures
6) wizards to engage in another bout of cranio-rectal insertion.
7) Paizo to suffer a bout of cranio-rectal insertion at the same time.


Without Wizards and paizo both being blinded by trying to see out through their bellies, ain't going to happen.

FFG has 1-4 down pat, and has a top-5 game... if Wizards and Paizo botch their game lines somehow at the same time, we might see a flip over to Star Wars.

 

[Lanefan]

When I look at it that way, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility, but it's a longshot at best. And even if it were to happen, there's really only two companies in the RPG space that are even remotely positioned well enough to make it happen on a large enough scale---A) Wizards of the Coast, who, along with their parent company, Hasbro, are unlikely to want to create a competing product against their own flagship RPG, and B) Fantasy Flight Games.

There's lots of really great "boutique" companies in the RPG space---Cubicle 7, Green Ronin, Goodman Games, Steve Jackson, Pinnacle Entertainment, etc.---but they lack the corporate backing that WotC and FFG could potentially bring to the table.

You left out Paizo, who are probably big enough to be C) in the first quoted paragraph.

 

[Morrus]

You left out Paizo, who are probably big enough to be C) in the first quoted paragraph.

Or Games Workshop, which is as big as WotC, but tends to license out the RPG stuff as small fry these days and concentrate on the big wargaming money.

 

[Shasarak]

FFG has 1-4 down pat, and has a top-5 game... if Wizards and Paizo botch their game lines somehow at the same time, we might see a flip over to Star Wars.

Oh Gawd I hope not. When you roll dice to see if you succeed or not, the answer you get should never be Triangle.

 

[Rygar]

Why does D&D and its offspring continue to have such a vice grip on the hobby, and what is it that stops people from even considering anything else? Because I can honestly say, once I took a look outside the D&D window, I've never looked back.

Several reasons...

1. Familiarity - Pretty much all of video gaming is built on the D&D foundation. It's easy to get into because most people have already experienced its rules in some form. Its setting is also very accessible since it is a relatively unspecialized fantasy world until you get into settings. If you try playing Numenera you have to learn everything from the ground up, if you play generic D&D then all you need to know is what you've seen/read in various media your whole life.

2. Roleplaying - D&D makes roleplaying completely optional and largely unnecessary. Many alternative systems try to force roleplaying. Most people aren't comfortable with dedicated roleplaying. They get self-conscious and nervous.

3. Lack of material - D&D has 40 years worth of material. Anything you can think of has rules, you can pull out material written for 1st edition and adapt it easily. People don't need to write their own material or come up with world concepts, they can just grab something pre-written and run it.

Did LARPs ever get heavy adoption?

No. It's never been anything other than a vanishingly small microcosm. LARPs focuses on wearing costumes, safety props, and demands strict roleplaying. From an outsider's point of view it gives the impression of being extremely childish since you generally end up dressed like a kid on Halloween. Then, to throw gas on that fire are the hardcore roleplayers who flip out if anyone doesn't meet their expectations of roleplaying since they are trying to self-insert themselves into a fantasy world instead of playing a game. Then you have the problem of localized rules, generally driven by those trying to act out a desire to be in an idealized fantasy world, which make sense only to the core group in a region. So the whole thing starts out with making people extremely uncomfortable and then devolves into a small group of participants demanding everyone else fulfill their need to act out a escapist fantasy.

LARPs has always been its own worst enemy. The concept of an organic alternative community is something that could work, but since its all largely driven by people trying to self-insert into some fantasy media instead of people who are growing an alternative lifestyle it generally drives out anyone who might be interested in the best case.