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30 Years of D&D Extravaganza
Klytus writes "GamingReport.com is reporting on the events Wizards of the Coast has planned for this summer's 30th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons. Amongst the events is a 'World D&D Game Day.' There are also plans for a large coffee table book on the 30 years of D&D."
D&D is finally main stream. After 30 years Dungeons & Dragons is no longer the butt of jokes about "probing dungeons" and questions like "Why do dragons horde gold?" And I'm glad to see that the misconception that only pasty white kids who recoil at sunlight play D&D...
...thist just means they're now pasty white out of work dot-commers who play D&D...
Wait...
"Life's funny sometimes." "And sometimes it isn't." --Cat's Cradle
~Jesus saves!~
The rest of you take damage.
D&D itself is under threat from MMORGs, however face to face roleplaying isn't. Why?
D&D, which I play and enjoy, is micro scale wargaming with a little roleplaying thrown in. Listening to two kids on the train on the way into work yesterday talk about playing a MMORG (maybe Everquest) I heard the same excitement in their voices about levels, uber weapons and collecting runes and potions that I had at that age when playing D&D. They have no need to play D&D.
More and more non-d20 based games are beginning to appear that emphasis communication, games like the The Dying Earth, My Life With Master and Pantheon. These games can't easily be played over the internet until cheap video conferencing arrives, and until then I'd say they will continue to be niche, but successful, games while 3.5e D&D fails to grow much more. Having said that there are millions of D&D players.
In my opinion D&D shows its age. RPGs have developed quite a lot in the last 30 years, and accumulating XPs / micromanagement is not as essential a part of modern-day RPGs. In a way the XP hunt (as the parent post writes) resembles the scores from computer games and MMORPGs take over.
It's become more and more difficult to get young people (early teenagers) into playing the usual face-to-face RPG in the last 10 years. As far as I can see it there are two reasons: computer games and card trading games. Most of the find it more fun to play computer games than traditional RPGs, and while it at first looked as if Magic and other card games might spur the interest of face-to-face RPGs it turned out that many of the card players kept playing cards and never got into RPGs.
Part of the fun from conversational or traditional RPG is that you are playing with people who've had some experience in life (and have thought a bit about what governs peoples actions). And there are differences in experiences, and it can be very difficult for a 15 year old player to roleplay an adult romance, to react to the emotions a parent might feel at the risk of losing a child etc. These things come with age and there is really nothing we can do about it - besides keep introducing RPG to older teenagers.
Currently the best thing for traditional round-the-table RPS (in my opinion) is the popularity of live-action RPG. Except maybe for plastic-sword-fighting scenarios the LRPGs are hugely popular and often have a 50:50 male female ratio (which - I'm certain - makes the games even more popular). While some of the LRPG players would never dream of playing table RPGs, we managed to get relatively many new players by pushing the ordinary games to LRPG players.
Just my $0.02
In 1997, Wizards of the Coast, publishers of the Magic: The Gathering(R) trading card game, acquired TSR, and with it all the rights to D&D. They released the totally revamped 3rd Edition at GenCon 2000, which was a wild success. V3.5 was the most recent update.
Do not be alarmed. This is only a test.
Yes, there is. That's the age when your dessicated remains float away on the wind.
I'm 33 and still play.
Look, I've been playing RPGs since I was in fourth grade, and in my experience, there is no greater entertainment than a good RPG. Books, movies, comics, other games...they all pale when you compare them to a really good roleplaying session. Sure, sometimes you have an off night; sometimes, it sucks like anything else. But like golf, the rewards of proper play keep you coming back. I played D&D and AD&D until about eighth grade, then got bored and stopped. It wasn't until maybe 10th grade that I discovered GURPS and began playing RPGs again, especially GURPS and various Supers games (Marvel, DC, Champions, V&V, etc.). I did the whole White Wolf thing in college, CoC in there, too. I've played Ars Magica, Cyberpunk, Ghostbusters, Gangbusters, and more I can't dredge up right now. I sort of fell out of gaming about five years ago, just because I lost my group, not because I didn't want to play any more.
About a year ago, I discovered indie RPGs. I found a little gem called Donjon and a great big shiny diamond called The Riddle of Steel and my love for the form was reignited. I started a TRoS game with some friends (including my wife). And I wondered when I could teach my seven year old son to play.
I looked at GURPS. I looked at TRoS. I looked at Donjon. None of them felt like I could get him to absorb and apply their rulesets. Then I realized that we were playing D&D already - in the form of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on our XBOX. (Yes. I have and enjoy an XBOX. It's a great console. Get over it.) He was comfortable with the concepts of experience and levels, hit points and ability modifiers. I had a 3.0 Player's Handbook, so I dragged it out and we made characters. My friend taught his kids (my son's best friends) to play, and now they play every chance they get, and they play-act it all the time, too. My son is writing adventures and wants to make a Neverwinter Nights module. We just started painting miniature figures.
I have fun playing D&D with him and his friends, and even more fun playing games with my friends. Someday, he'll wonder, "How come I can get hit with a giant two-handed axe and still have the same chance to hit on my next turn?" or, "Why are my character choices so rigidly defined? How come I suddenly improve by leaps and bounds instead of getting a little better at a time?" And then he'll be ready for more sophisticated RPGs.
So, if you're saying "After a certain age, you will appreciate the sophistication of RPGs besides D&D" you're correct. If you're saying, "There's no place for roleplaying after age 25," you're just ignorant. Or maybe just judgmental on a topic you've not investigated. Take your pick.