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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CharlesRyan" data-source="post: 3822633" data-attributes="member: 5265">I don't want to be argumentative here, but I think there may be a little rose-tinted hindsight on this thread.Yes, in the 1980s, D&D received a lot of public attention, as a fad in certain demographics and as an infamously demonized phenomenon in others. Both of these drove media attention and eventually a spate of licensing (though, at best, it just touched the edges of mainstream). And yes, a lot of people purchased and played the game.But a lot of people purchase and play the game today. They do it with a lot less media fanfare (though the amount of media coverage in 2004, the 30th anniversary year, was incredible), but they do it in huge numbers.As I write this, there are 1719 users online on ENworld--1719 people engaged (in a rather hard-core manner) in D&D on a Wednesday morning! More people attend Gen Con every year. RPGA membership continues to rise. Even more importantly, the number of reported RPGA events continues to rise. If I was still at WotC, I'm sure I could cite a dozen other data points. And where they have any comparison to data from the 80s, this data generally shows more D&D going on today than back then.Is it counter-intuitive, given the fadlike status of D&D back in 1982? Sure. But counter-intuitive doesn't make it false.</blockquote>