What game Could "Be" D&D, Culturally?

[zarionofarabel]

The runequest family.

 

[Reynard]

In an alternate universe where the Critical Role crew (or equivalent) had decided to start playing a superheroes game (maybe M&M, but I don't think it would matter much) at the same time that the MCU took off, i can imagine a scenario in which supers gaming took the gaming adjacent nerdosphere by storm instead of D&D.

 

[Parmandur]

Call of Cthulhu? It already is in some countries.

Yup, came Gere to say this: Japan, fir example.

 

[Parmandur]

Another vote for Traveller.

• Rich lore; infinite variety of worlds; possibility for a range of characters that can work together in a team setting.
• It's early enough that it feels mostly independent of OD&D; too many others are so consciously responding to the D&D of their time, that without the point of reference, they would not find the same purchase.

I love, love, love Traveller...but...I can't really see a scenario where it is anything but niche.

 

[bedir than]

A Catan RPG could do it

 

[AverageMojito]

In an alternate universe where the Critical Role crew (or equivalent) had decided to start playing a superheroes game (maybe M&M, but I don't think it would matter much) at the same time that the MCU took off, i can imagine a scenario in which supers gaming took the gaming adjacent nerdosphere by storm instead of D&D.

That makes sense. A Supers game allows for the "dramedy" CR is (best?) known for, btw. I can see it working. The MCU was everywhere and the hottest thing for a whole decade. Could have been the time of the Supers RPG.

 

[Parmandur]

That makes sense. A Supers game allows for the "dramedy" CR is (best?) known for, btw. I can see it working. The MCU was everywhere and the hottest thing for a whole decade. Could have been the time of the Supers RPG.

I mean, it's still going pretty hot.

 

[overgeeked]

Either some other fantasy RPG, like one of the other dozen or so early day games.

Maybe Traveller since it was so quick on the scene (1977).

But if I had to put money on it...Call of Cthulhu (1981). If D&D didn't cause the Satanic Panic, something like Call of Cthulhu would have.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

The World of Darkness games from White Wolf, of course, at least until they crashed and burned during the 2nd editions of the games. The 1st edition Classic/Old World of Darkness was right up at the top of the sales charts in the late 90's and vampires and werewolves are always in style. Also, Vampire was responsible for a huge increase in the number of female gamers.

 

[MGibster]

When West End Games had the Star Wars license, it basically was the "other" entry point RPG for people. I don't know if it was ever actually bigger than D&D, but it was huge at the time.

And they deserve credit for keeping Star Wars alive during a time period where there was a dearth of new material. No movies or toys it was just WEG making Star Wars stuff for the most part.

What does it mean for a game to be a cultural touchstone? I think it means that a significant number of non-gamers know the name of the game and have at least a vague idea of what it's all about. Vampire the Masquerade became a cultural touchstone in the 1990s in the years following its 1991 release. There was a prime time television series that aired on Fox for about half a season, VtM inspired a similar moral panic to what we saw with D&D in the 1980s, and the game was mentioned on talk shows and programs like Real Stories of the Highway Patrol (I actually saw that episode.) Of course VtM never became the cultural touchstone D&D did.

We've got to think outside the box here so let's look at non-traditional sources. I'm given to understand that there are quite a few people, mostly women, who essentially role play urban horror/fantasy romances. We might not think of them as gamers because they don't post on these forums and they don't buy RPGs or dice, but they're out there. I think some urban horror/fantasy romance game could potentially be a cultural touchstone if someone could figure out how to tap into that market.