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So what exactly is the root cause of the D&D rules' staying power?
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<blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 7348103" data-attributes="member: 85870"><p>So here's the follow-up question to all of this: </p><p></p><p>What would it take for a roleplaying system to completely, fully supplant D&D as the clear market leader?</p><p></p><p>It's a curious question to me, because I completely understand the position that for many (most?) groups, D&D may not be their preferred system, but it's "good enough." </p><p></p><p>Using technology as a metaphor----When the D&D "tech" is "good enough" and has widespread adoption, even something dramatically superior from a technology standpoint may fail to make enough inroads to succeed.</p><p></p><p>At this point, I don't think there's a whole lot that hasn't been tried to make RPG play "better" from a mechanical standpoint. No one's going to come up with some brand new rules system that's so dramatically, overwhelmingly superior that the player base is going to suddenly switch to it.</p><p></p><p>I think it would take a really heavy confluence of events---something like a new, massively popular intellectual property coming on to the scene (think on the scale of Harry Potter, but rooted in more traditional fantasy) that a shrewd, established RPG business group uses to build a new RPG system that's a smash hit with the RPG player base, combined with effective, strategic, long-term marketing. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="innerdude, post: 7348103, member: 85870"] 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? It's a curious question to me, because I completely understand the position that for many (most?) groups, D&D may not be their preferred system, but it's "good enough." Using technology as a metaphor----When the D&D "tech" is "good enough" and has widespread adoption, even something dramatically superior from a technology standpoint may fail to make enough inroads to succeed. At this point, I don't think there's a whole lot that hasn't been tried to make RPG play "better" from a mechanical standpoint. No one's going to come up with some brand new rules system that's so dramatically, overwhelmingly superior that the player base is going to suddenly switch to it. I think it would take a really heavy confluence of events---something like a new, massively popular intellectual property coming on to the scene (think on the scale of Harry Potter, but rooted in more traditional fantasy) that a shrewd, established RPG business group uses to build a new RPG system that's a smash hit with the RPG player base, combined with effective, strategic, long-term marketing. 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. [/QUOTE]
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So what exactly is the root cause of the D&D rules' staying power?
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