D&D General Why Enworld should liberate D&D from Hasbro

[Zardnaar]

As of May, 2021:

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Cheers couldn't remember exact numbers. I remembered 40+ and kids were distinct minority.

Then BG3 made more money than 5E has in 10 years probably.

BG3 is sexy party time with tentacles and all the "fun" stuff wotc designers were dumping on a few years back.

BG3 characters being in the covers of new books coming out the first player option ones as well.

 

[overgeeked]

Shout out to Obojima's second Kickstarter campaign, going on now. Probably won't break $1 million this time, but already above $600k with 5,000+ backers.

The first campaign had 23,000 backers and raised $2.6 million. There's definitely a market for this approach (Obojima isn't the only million-dollar crowdfunding campaign to pursue the anime/manga vibes) and so far, WotC seems disinterested in pursuing it.

See also the JRPG inspired games like Fabula Ultima that did well over $1 million recently.

We'll see what they announce for 2026 in the next few weeks, but I'd bet on a revamped Dark Sun and other stuff appealing to Gen X and Millennials, not what the kids are into.

Exactly. They‘ll sand off the rough edges and make it appeal to a modern audience, but they‘re also 100% trying for the nostalgia bait.

 

[AlViking]

...

The biggest age group was 18-25 iirc. They're 5-10 years older now.

Which means they likely have been replaced as the largest single demographic by a new group 18-24 year-olds so I'm not sure what the point is. Shouldn't be a surprise that high school and college age individuals have more time and enough disposable to play. People graduate from college, get busy, other things take priority.

 

[CleverNickName]

I just now saw this thread, and...wow. I wasn't sure where to start, so I decided to go with this lil' nugget:

Many unique playstyles will soon be unplayable due to corporate greed.

I'm not sure what "corporate greed" has to do with the way that I run my games. My playstyle is my business, pun intended. Nobody is going to show up and demand I start using the gritty combat options or switch to a dark fantasy setting, and I don't really understand how "the market" is going to change that. I already own the books; I don't have much reason to care what Hasbro does (or EN World? for some reason?)

Come what may, I'll keep doing what I've always been doing. I mean it's worked for the last three decades; I'm confident it'll work for another three.

 

[Scribe]

That a clear satire (ahem...trolling) thread can get to this point.

Well played OP.

 

[Umbran]

2. Gen X designers

Note: media entertainment for younger generations is always made by older generations. D&D was originally designed by Silent Generation and Baby Boomers, but the major wave of players in the 80s was GenX, for example.

So, that shouldn't really be an issue - each generation has folks visionary enough to create the things the next group likes.

 

[Zardnaar]

That a clear satire (ahem...trolling) thread can get to this point.

Well played OP.

Yeah its entertaining. I dont think anyone's treating it to serious.

 

[Stormonu]

Note: media entertainment for younger generations is always made by older generations. D&D was originally designed by Silent Generation and Baby Boomers, but the major wave of players in the 80s was GenX, for example.

So, that shouldn't really be an issue - each generation has folks visionary enough to create the things the next group likes.

I'd like to add that over the ages I've seen a lot of things that were designed to be consumed one way and actually used in a much different way. And that isn't restricted to D&D.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah its entertaining. I dont think anyone's treating it to serious.

Nobody probably took the OP's post too seriously, but some of the way the thread's evolved seems to be being taken pretty seriously by some participants. Partly becuase its slid back into an ongoing debate I've been seeing on this board since I got here.

 

[Zardnaar]

Nobody probably took the OP's post too seriously, but some of the way the thread's evolved seems to be being taken pretty seriously by some participants. Partly becuase its slid back into an ongoing debate I've been seeing on this board since I got here.

Yup its ENworld lol.