Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="mcosgrave" data-source="post: 7713348" data-attributes="member: 23179">I don't know if bubbles will pop, but now that we're mainstream, I do see some interesting things happening. In the hobby, I've seen cons (in Ireland, where I live) where many of the RPG sessions are homebrew systems, often quite light on mechanics but narrative driven. I've heard this remarked on on US podcasts, so I'm guessing it's no uncommon. Obviously, it's also now much easier to craft a nice PDF and sell 30,40,50 copies of your home brew system or supplement: the Internet has made it a lot easier to share and find interesting stuff; in a way that was impossible 25 years ago. WoTC might see sales of the core books fall off, sometime, but it may be that the next bubble (even the current bubble) is cottage industry self publishing. Parallel to TRPG, I've seen a remarkable resurgence of storytelling: a few years back, my local brewpub started having a storyteller in one night a week; then the pub down the street picked up on it, then I heard about a story night in another town, and now I can find 3-4 storytelling sessions every week, if I'm wanted. It's not RPG, but it is folk sitting around listening to stories being told by a real person: not a big leap to TRPG from that. And then there are the board game cafes, which provide public social gaming. I think the social aspect is big; I think a big part of "mainstream" is how social gaming, whether it's TRPG, boardgames, whatever, is now a common way of socialising.So even if the 'bubble' pops, and WoTC stop selling hardbacks, I think the world is different now, no putting the genie back in the bottle : although I'm sure there's a spell for that!</blockquote>

Verification