Is the industry dying?

Yes to the first question, as much as any industry and I will argue Dungeons & Dragons is not the alpha nor the omega. We don’t technically need Wizards of the Coast or D&D to keep the hobby going. There’s a lot to be said for brand name recognition, though.

No, the TTRPG industry is not dying and possibly never will. I might be a cockeyed optimist, but I think TTRPGs are here to stay as a hobby and cultural phenomena. Yes, we’ve all heard how print is supposedly dying (again/still) and we’ve been saying it for 25+ years. It’s still here. We’ve heard TTRPGs are going to be replaced by virtual reality and Massively Multiplayer Online games, but “they” have been saying it for years and we’re still rolling dice, sitting around a physical table.

Can TTRPGs exist outside of Dungeons & Dragons?

Yes, D&D was the first TTPRG as we would recognize it (dice, maps, characters, etc.) However, there were other games and other roleplaying exercises being used in academia, legal practice, theatre, and other societal institutions. Gygax and Arneson were just the first to formalize a game from wargaming rules to emulate such and exercise. It was brought up as a writing exercise long before 1974, but never truly codified using dice and rules until later.

Yes, D&D is ridiculously recognizable. I happily concede that point. Most mainstream media won’t refer to the hobby as TTRPGs. Sometimes we get sidelined as board games. Most people on the street have no idea what Call of Cthulhu or ICONS RPG are, but they have likely heard of D&D by now.

If a movie or TV show refers to anything in the hobby, it’s almost always D&D. It’s become a household name like Kleenex or Band-Aid. I’m sure WotC loves the free publicity when its good. Nobody talks about Pathfinder or Blades in the Dark on TV as far as I’m aware. Darrington Press might catch a break when Daggerheart comes out due to the ridiculous success of Critical Role.

Can their be an industry without D&D?

Yes, and unfortunately no. Honestly, the hobby’s roots are in D&D. I don’t think anyone would deny it. Yes, the brand recognition from D&D carries much of the rest of the industry on its back. How often do we explain TTRPGs to non-gamers as, “It’s like D&D, only…” (Yeah, I’m guilty of it too. Sigh.)

If, heaven forbid, Hasbro decides to minimize D&D down to one boxed set and sells it as a boardgame only to have it segue into the Virtual TableTop, would the TTRPG industry implode? If D&D were handed off to a different, more sensible company than WotC, would it survive? If 2024 goes poorly for the game, we may get to find out on both counts for all I know.

We can toss hypothetical scenarios around all day. (Which we’re prone to doing as gamers.) The fact remains that the recognition will linger. D&D might very well become a video game if WotC developers get their way. The print D&D books might become strictly collector’s items. I positively hate that notion, but it exists. We’ve known since mid 2022 this was going to probably be the case.

Print is not dead.

Physical TTRPGs aren’t dead, either. Pencil and paper gaming is still going to be around for decades to come. Physical dice are going to be bought and sold for decades to come. We’re not ready to disappear as hobbyists any time soon. Plenty of people are still going to retire from various game companies in the years to come.

There is this vicious sort of propaganda being floated right now by a certain large slimy corporation about how print is becoming too expensive and Dungeon Masters are extra scarce. They’re pushing harder every day to get everyone online, on their website, and their VTT. What this big manupid corporate shlock engine forgets is that there are still quite a few people who can think for themselves.

Are Friendly Local Game Stores going away?

I’m not ruling it out at this point. I live a stone’s throw from six different game stores. Four out of the six mainline products that aren’t TTRPGs. The fifth one has tons of boardgames, books, and a healthy TTRPG section along with peripherals, comics and wargames. The sixth focuses on Games Workshop products and some other wargames primarily. I worry about those last two stores going away all the time. 

(*Side bar.) I find it ironic that I live this close to so many freakin game stores and yet we don't have any large gaming conventions within over a hundred miles of this place. I know there are gamers. I know we exist. But a convention that features games? Not happening. Disgusting.

Honestly, most stores that sell any kind of TTRPG have a big section of D&D books, minis, and official accessories such as dungeon tiles. Pathfinder usually has some representation as well. After that, I’m happy if I find anything that piques my interest. Sometimes a local store will carry some odds and ends such as Vampire, Call of Cthulhu, Dungeon Crawl Classics, or Shadowrun. I frequent one game shop that I know has far more TTRPG books than pretty much the rest combined because of their variety.

Yes, Amazon sells much of their TTRPG books at a significant discount. I can usually find something at least 10% off of cover price (MSRP.) Sometimes there are even bigger discounts. If I can’t find a book locally? Yes, Amazon is an option.

Many of my game books currently come from Kickstarters, preorders direct from a website, or DriveThruRPG.com. It’s unfortunate, but FLGS have to go through their distribution chain and can’t really afford to slash prices without destroying their profit margins entirely. Amazon can afford to buy in bulk, and I don’t think they sweat their margins at all.

I love the staff of any FLGS I go into. I used to be one of those lucky elite few. It’s one of the few jobs I almost miss. There are a lot of very cool people who work in or frequent most FLGS. It’s sad that amongst WotC pushing D&D sales to their own website, Amazon just being itself, Kickstarters keeping the industry afloat, and DTRPG picking up whatever is left, the FLGS may eventually become extinct or just sell dice, minis, boardgames and peripherals.

Lets’ take a look at other industries.

Pick any industry from the middle ages in Europe and there’s probably still someone doing it today. Cobbling (shoe makers,) candle makers, bookbinders, and so on. If you look there are still people practicing their crafts in their original cottage industry traditions even now. Please look on Etsy if you need further proof.

Sure, the technology has changed. Yes, VTTs are a regular fixture of our lives as TTRPG hobbyists. COVID changed the world in that way. Even now we have plenty of groups that run virtually. On the bright side, it solves the problem of half the group moving away after college.

Technology has changed in other industries, too. Shoes are mass produced by name brands in the millions. I can still find a small shop where people make and repair leather shoes and boots. Bicycles have moved up in technology and are mass produced. I can still find a bike shop that will work on just about anything I want to bring in. How many candle makers are on Etsy? Or I can go to Hobby Lobby and buy the stuff to make my own. Or I can just go by regular candles at Target or Walmart.

TTRPGs are headed much the same way, I think. Yes, we will have the big D&D video game lifestyle brand. Okay, fine. But the rest of us who like physical books and tabletop in-person play will still be able to do our thing for centuries to come even if we go back to the cottage version of the industry. I.E. One man, one game, one printer and one group of friends. Sure, the big names such as WotC, Paizo, Renegade, Kobold, and Chaosium might go completely virtual. It’s probably a foregone conclusion. It’s the individual writers, artists, GMs, and players that will keep the hobby alive.

TTRPGs are going to be in the zeitgeist for a very long time to come.

We don’t need the big names. It’s Indie TTRPG month. (Thank you Professor Dungeon Master for getting the ball rolling.) Personally, I’m trying to avoid talking about 5E (WotC,) Paizo, Chaosium, Evil Hat, Modiphius, Cubicle 7, and other larger TTRPG companies for the most part. Sure, WotC is the million if not billion dollar monster out there. Paizo is way behind but still in the million dollar category. After that the numbers drop dramatically minus Kickstarters.

Yes, we owe our TTRPG roots to D&D. It’s not the D&D 5E we have today. It’s not WotC’s D&D. They would probably like us to believe it is. Every time we hear “retro-compatible” they only mean back to 3rd Edition. As far as WotC is concerned, 2000 is when D&D started. If WotC runs the world’s most recognizable game into the ground with their poor decisions and this video game attitude, the hobby will survive. We might not have another multi million dollar game like D&D, but TTRPGs will live on through the cottage industry that it is.

In the end, it’s all a matter of what WotC does or doesn’t do to save their own game.The suits at the top seem to be indicating they don’t care one way or another as long as the brand is making money. I think this was dead obvious during the last 10 minutes of the D&D Beyond Showcase 2023 when the game designers finally got a word in edgewise. If D&D folds as a TTRPG and becomes a video game, I think other analog tabletop games will rise to pick up the slack and the hobby itself will still be referred to as, “D&D” because it helps non-gamers have a frame of reference.

The TTRPG hobby and industry as we recognize it might change, as with anything. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you. I know I say it everyday, but I really do. Can’t do it without you all.