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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="schneeland" data-source="post: 8042635" data-attributes="member: 6900337">Re (1)+(4):As [USER=177]@Umbran[/USER] already pointed out: the generational change is probably handled already (just as a reminder: according to WotC's marketing infographic, there is now a significant portion of gamers that were born after Lord of the Rings aired in cinemas) - I feel this also, at least, partly shows in the design and the discussions around the current edition.Re (2):Tougher economy might be a problem, but similar to how people still play video games when times are tough, I don't see this as a major detriment to the TTRPG industry.Re (3):I don't see VR as a major challenge here. It hasn't even found broad adoption in the video gaming industry, so I expect TTRPGs to suffer much less.I do see room for improvement regarding the accessibility/entry barrier to TTRPGs in terms of book size (yes, a lot of indie systems have smaller books, but a) they are not D&D, i.e. the most popular system and b) often serve different play styles). Streaming does quite a bit here, but I think to further broaden the adoption, there need to be some efforts in restructuring the content in the books.Somewhat adjacent to this:I think the transition to VTTs and increased digital consumption are a challenge that needs to be addressed. However, WotC has the license deal with D&D Beyond in place and 5e is also supported on all major VTT platforms. So things do not look to dire here and I feel they made the right call with having an official platform for digital content (I'm still a bit sour about no official PDFs, but I'm also old and no longer their prime target audience).The are two major challenges I see that you did not list:A) For major players and for WotC in particular, my feeling is that we currently have some sort of golden age of TTRPGs and a lot of new players are flocking in from all directions, but it is not yet clear how sustainable that interest is. I have seen many people fade out of the hobby after a couple of years and never come back. It will be interesting if WotC (but also other larger companies) are able to sustain the interest of their customers.B) For indie publishers we already have nearly the same situation as we do for video games: discoverability is a major problem - you might have a very nice system/product, but you need to make people aware. I suspect this challenge will grow in the future and indie creators will increasingly need to invest more resources into marketing to find an audience.</blockquote>

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