It’s far from being the only TableTop RolePlaying Game in the world.
We come back around to the topic of D&D regularly when we talk about TTRPGs because the industry is by and large dominated by fantasy gaming. D&D is where a lot of us came into the hobby. It’s also by far the most recognizable game in the industry because it’s the first of its kind, the biggest in terms of sales and amount of product, not to mention the largest company in the industry holds the reins.
We can’t talk about D&D without mentioning Wizards of the Coast and their Reptilian Overlords at Hasbro. Their CEO, Chris Cocks (yes, that’s his real name) came out of WotC prior to his promotion. D&D is supposed to be a flagship product for Hasbro with hundreds of videogame tie-ins and the Intellectual Property becoming a “household brand.”
Anyone else feel the nausea inherent with the notion of the greatest nerd hobby the world has ever known being so pedestrian and common as to be a “household brand?” Pinesol is a household brand. Kraft and all of their various food products are a household brand. Kleenex and Charmin are household brands. D&D? Why do I feel like the majority of people who hear that ask, “Isn’t that the nerd thing with the dice?”
We’ll come back to the household aspect in a moment. I find it rather disheartening, even a little sickening that us old Grog-nerds spent years trying to defend the hobby from the preppy kids, the jocks, the condescending cheerleaders, overzealous preachers, and so many more bullies just trying to keep our humble hobby afloat. Not gonna lie, I used to get beat up, laughed at, and outright shunned by the “normal kids” for playing D&D.
We old Grog-nerds (*I coined it. I’m keeping it!) took our lumps just so a shiny new generation of once-scorned card game manufacturers could buy out old T$R and crank out 3E, 3.5, 4th, and 5E D&D. I was once kicked out of a public library for photocopying character sheets. Now people can watch Critical Role on their phone in the back of the public library while they wait for their D&D club meeting to start.
As a side note, back in those days we never turned anyone away. Quite the opposite, actually. We were begging people, especially if they came from another cultural fringe at the time. We welcomed goths, rebels, people with all manner of mental health concerns, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ folx (long before those phrases were coined) and anyone else who would listen to us explain the game. And women gamers- that’s how I met my wife thirty years ago!
This notion of a “bunch of middle aged, cishet, white men from the Midwest” being gatekeepers and bigots is just pure hogwash. The only Old Grognards at the time were the crusty old dudes playing Napoleonics who thought us D&D kids were too fringe. Imagine being too fringe for a bunch of guys in a niche hobby that was slowly dying due to a lack of fresh, young players.
I’m from the Midwest. Trust me. The local reverends, ministers, preachers, and church ladies wanted me, and my “Satanic” friends run out of town. They had assemblies at our public schools during class time just to warn all the kids about “those evil games.” I remember one particularly zealous jackass tried to call us up on stage. Glad that backfired on him. We weren’t playing in someone’s basement because it was dungeon ambience. We were laying low from the book burning mobs for a while there.
Back to what I was saying prior to my tangent. We old dudes paved the way for D&D to be what it is today. This younger crowd with their modern sensibilities doesn’t appreciate us yet. The fine people who make D&D want to once again throw us under the bus as the cause of all the world’s problems. Somehow, through all of it, we’re still championing the hobby. Just not their version of it, necessarily.
So why do all of us outcasts still run/play/talk about D&D?
For a bunch of bitter, angry, salty, Old Grognards, you think we’d move onto another game. You think we’d kick WotC to the curb and never look back. Unfortunately there are still a few things D&D still has going for it. First is brand recognition, almost too much of it. Second is D&D being a gateway for new players who can then move onto other games. Last is the stubborn refusal to go with something else sometimes.
Brand recognition is great. Ever see someone ask for a “Kleenex” and get handed the sandy generic white box facial tissue? Most people don’t ask for a “facial tissue” just like most people don’t distinguish other fantasy TTRPGs from D&D. We could be playing GURPS Traveller, and someone will still call it D&D night or refer to it as their D&D group. Go with what’s most recognizable.
Second, if we don’t get new players, the hobby is dead. All the Kickstarters for Third Party D&D products all the way through the lowliest pulp horror adventure zine game on Itch.io rely on interest in the product and the hobby. Without D&D flagships such as Stranger Things and Critical Role, there wouldn’t be much hobby to go around these days. It’s true that some of us old fartz will still be playing our 1st Ed AD&D or B/X Moldvay until the day we die no matter what anyone else does.
However, us more modern old fartz prefer to be able to find players. I can explain Shadowdark or Dragonbane to someone who understands 5E a lot better than I can explain it to someone fresh off the streets of Des Moines, IA. (Assuming I don’t get burned at the stake for witchcraft.) D&D is how many of us started gaming and it seems to be a good way to get people involved.
Lastly, some of us (not me) tend to stick with what we know in life. If D&D 5E still attracts players and it’s the hottest thing going, editions are just an arbitrary number anyway. Yay players and hooray we have a game. Maybe we can eventually transition to WW2 with 5E rules, or a space game done with 5E. If that’s my only choice, maybe it’s still better than no choice at all.
D&D and Wizards of the Coast are still the elephant in the room.
The numbers for the actual D&D game might be tanking a bit with the dozens of other fantasy TTRPG releases in 2024 and 2025, but it’s still going pretty strong from what I can tell. Just keep bringing in those new players, y’all. WotC D&D is still the biggest game on the block for now. We tend to talk about what is most popular in our blogs and on YouTube.
Search Engine Optimization is everyone’s friend. More people are likely searching for D&D rather than TTRPGs or specific games such as Dragonbane. It’s far more likely people are looking for a fantasy TTRPG than a space game or a superhero game. Sometimes we have to reel people in with D&D and then niche our way down to the real topic.
Lucking Game Master advice works across the board for Dungeon Masters and vice versa. The only time things don’t mesh up is when there are specific rules questions or game specific guidance that’s called for. To the average player on the street who doesn’t care about any of the industry hubbub, D&D is the easiest thing to look for. Heck, some of these fine people probably don’t even know about games other than D&D. They just want to game.
Believe it or not, this is actually not me attempting to attack WotC.
I know people probably think I hate WotC and D&D. The truth is, I just don’t like what I’ve been seeing them make as official product for the last three years. I really don’t like the way they’re treating their fans, especially this past year. They hold the rights for D&D. I love roleplaying games. I want D&D to succeed for the sake of the hobby, not the company.
The D&D I grew up on is in reprints thanks to WotC. At least they do that much. Or better yet, all of the games that sprung up as competition for D&D can also mostly trace their roots back to it in some way, shape, or form. There’s not a huge point in blindly hating on something that’s just going to be right back in the industry news for one reason or the other next week. We’re going to find ourselves talking about D&D when we talk about the hobby almost no matter what.
I know one guy on YouTube who refuses to mention D&D or WotC on his channel and he successfully maintains that policy. Go check out Servant of Shiloh on his channel, RPG Elite. He’s the only person I know who avoids D&D completely for better or for worse.
I’m grateful for the D&D recognition on social media, YouTube, and elsewhere. The WotC shenanigans and outright corporate stupidity give us something to talk about every week. I can explain/talk about D&D a lot easier than I can some science fiction game from the 1970s. Again, the average player doesn’t care about all that other stuff. They just want to game.
Oh noes, the “wokies are taking over the hobby.”
This particular talking point makes me cringe. I don’t care if the regime that creates D&D wants to make a game that falls in line with their political/cultural/social world view. If they think that’s where their money is going to be made, good for them. I might not buy into it because it’s not my personal preference in aesthetics. I don’t hate the thing, but I don’t have to kiss up to it, either.
Please do what works best for you as a Game Master and your group. What works for me at my table may not work for yours and vice versa. The main focus is to have fun. There is no right or wrong way to roleplay.
If the new look and feel of 2024 D&D appeals to you and your group, that’s terrific. Go for it. Personally I’d rather not. I’m all in on Dragonbane and a lot of Third Party D&D 5E stuff at this point. Not to mention I support ICONS, Monster of the Week, Power Rangers, and so on. I can’t afford official D&D and still keep up on everything else even if I wanted to.
Always do what is going to make you and your group the happiest, though. In this case I also think of my audience here, too. If it’s easier for my audience to parse things in D&D terms, that’s what I’ll try to do. Otherwise there are other games I want to discuss and many of them fall under the generic context of D&D.
Jeff's Game Box 