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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5012749" data-attributes="member: 59082">See post #18 in this thread where I call the 70s up until about 1977 the Golden Age; that was the year the 1st edition Player's Handbook was published and thus ushered in D&D as (relatively) big business. From 1977 to about 1990 is the Silver Age when the potential of the Golden Age was brought into form and commodified. Dragonlance, which appeared in 1983--the exact middle of my Silver Age--represents the turning towards more story-based games, and was a foreshadowing of the World of Darkness in the 90s. The Bronze Age, which took up most of the 90s, could also be called the Postmodern Age of Gaming, with its emphasis on darker and more humanistic aspects. 2000 ushered in the Iron Age, with the advent of the OGL and, coupled with self-publishing technologies, a kind of opening of the flood-gates, an "anything goes", if you will. An interesting question then, is what is next? There are three configurations of the age cycles that I have seen:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Linear Progression - We move from Golden to Silver to Bronze to Iron to...Ragnarok? Even the Iron Age must come to an end and it invariably is a time of chaos and disruption, which could lead to an eventual new beginning, but only after a Dark Age or interregnum. Albeit after a much longer time period, this model eventually turns into...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Cycles - after the Iron Age and some possible interim period, we find ourselves back in a new Golden Age, albeit one that is very different than the prior Golden Age and born from the ashes of the Iron Age. Or another variant of this is...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fluctuations - After the Iron Age comes a new Bronze Age as we begin to (re) ascend; then a Silver Age, then a new and more mature Golden Age. But eventually we "Fall" back down to the Silver Age, etc.</li> </ol>This begs the question that many of us have asked: What is the future of RPGs? Again, I see three major possibilities:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Prepare to be Assimilated! Will RPGs be thoroughly assimilated by the Borg-like MMO world? If so, then this truly is the End Times of RPGs, at least as we know it and on a large level (us Gen-Xers will probably continue to play, but our numbers will dwindle, which brings us to...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A Gradual Death. In this variation RPGs continue in a kind of steady state, basically unchanging and providing a creative escape for a decreasing number of adherents. If so, the Iron Age represents a kind of settling into the "real world", the adult phase of RPGs into old age; we're not expanding anymore, there is no new major growth (only "outward," like a middle-aged paunch), only subtle but ultimately minor changes and a gradual dwindling process. This could lead to...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Rebirth. Will a major new innovation occur? This could include technology but not as an assimilation into computer games; rather, an innovation in "soft" RPGs, that is, imagination-based games, not virtual-based games.</li> </ol>What do I think will happen? All of the above, because all of the above are happening, although we see less of the 3rd than I personally would like. But we'll see continued assimilation into virtual spaces as DMs will eventually be able to run something similar to an MMO--the virtual tabletop including visual imagery. We'll also see the Traditionalists holding onto their OD&D pamphlets or 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guides or Rules Cyclopedias until they're gray-in-beard and long-in-tooth. But I also think we will see new innovations that change the nature of RPGs, that develop the use of imagination even further. But I think the first category will be the increasingly large majority and the second two categories (much) smaller minorities.I don't follow. What do you mean?</blockquote>

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