Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What D&D Does That is So Good: A Celebration of 5e's Advantages
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 8279659" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p>I broadly agree with the OP.</p><p></p><p>There are literally thousand of fantasy RPGs out there. My hypothesis is that for any given D&D fan, there is a fantasy RPG that the hypothetical fan would enjoy playing more than D&D, <em>BUT</em> there are 3 good reasons for the hypothetical fan to keep playing D&D instead:</p><p>1) Everybody else is already playing D&D so it's easy to find other people to play with.</p><p>2) There's a TON of existing material for D&D so if the hypothetical fan doesn't like to do much game prep they can draw from that deep well.</p><p>3) The hypothetical fan already knows how to play D&D. I.e. the cost of switching may be too high, especially when some of the other fantasy RPGs are so obscure they might be hard to find. (To an extent, this is related to the OP's idea of rules flexibility. D&D is "good enough" for most people.)</p><p></p><p>I think 5E's succeeded because it leaned in to all these things:</p><p>1) Publicity has focussed around streaming and recorded sessions, and Adventurers' League, and other things that emphasize the group nature of D&D. The FLGS gets special book-covers to help keep them afloat, because of their role in hosting games and playing matchmaker for groups.</p><p>2) The DMsGuild and the OGL creates a steady stream of adventures, monsters, character options, magic items, etc. Plus, things like Goodman Games's "reincarnated" series. At this point I think 5E-compatible adventures are being released faster than anyone could possibly play them.</p><p>3) Things like releasing the Basic Rules for free, or the free tier of D&D Beyond, ensure that anybody who wants to learn (or learn more) has easy access to helpful tools. They've made the rules easy to homebrew as well, which keeps people playing D&D rather than looking to other games. The long D&D Next playtest also engaged a lot of lapsed players, priming them to be ready for 5E.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 8279659, member: 12377"] I broadly agree with the OP. There are literally thousand of fantasy RPGs out there. My hypothesis is that for any given D&D fan, there is a fantasy RPG that the hypothetical fan would enjoy playing more than D&D, [I]BUT[/I] there are 3 good reasons for the hypothetical fan to keep playing D&D instead: 1) Everybody else is already playing D&D so it's easy to find other people to play with. 2) There's a TON of existing material for D&D so if the hypothetical fan doesn't like to do much game prep they can draw from that deep well. 3) The hypothetical fan already knows how to play D&D. I.e. the cost of switching may be too high, especially when some of the other fantasy RPGs are so obscure they might be hard to find. (To an extent, this is related to the OP's idea of rules flexibility. D&D is "good enough" for most people.) I think 5E's succeeded because it leaned in to all these things: 1) Publicity has focussed around streaming and recorded sessions, and Adventurers' League, and other things that emphasize the group nature of D&D. The FLGS gets special book-covers to help keep them afloat, because of their role in hosting games and playing matchmaker for groups. 2) The DMsGuild and the OGL creates a steady stream of adventures, monsters, character options, magic items, etc. Plus, things like Goodman Games's "reincarnated" series. At this point I think 5E-compatible adventures are being released faster than anyone could possibly play them. 3) Things like releasing the Basic Rules for free, or the free tier of D&D Beyond, ensure that anybody who wants to learn (or learn more) has easy access to helpful tools. They've made the rules easy to homebrew as well, which keeps people playing D&D rather than looking to other games. The long D&D Next playtest also engaged a lot of lapsed players, priming them to be ready for 5E. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What D&D Does That is So Good: A Celebration of 5e's Advantages
Top