Say it ain’t so.

I’ve been hearing some of my dear friends on YouTube talking about how Wizards of the Coast intends to shun the older fans or discourage them from playing the “new” D&D. I find this both sad and disturbing. Please tell me we’re not going to do another cycle of “We hate you old guys” on YouTube and social media. This is rapidly growing into the Silly TTRPG Internet Argument category.

As I have mentioned before, I watch/listen-to copious amounts of YouTube videos. (Not just TTRPG YouTube, but mostly.) Recently I have become somewhat annoyed with certain (younger) content creators. While I get over my annoyance fairly quickly, (meditation helps,) I still calmly want to take issue with the fundamental disagreements we seem to be having.

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

“All you old fartz hate D&D, but you don’t buy it.”

As D&D has grown over the last 50 years, some of us have managed to keep up on the game through every iteration until the new/not-new 2024 Edition. Yes, that statement is fundamentally correct. I will not in all likelihood be buying the 2024-2025 D&D Core Rulebooks no matter what anyone on YouTube says about them. I won’t turn down a gift or a PDF, but I’m not shelling out my hard earned TTRPG dollars for them.

Dragonbane RPG, yes. 2024 D&D? Nope.

[Side note- Today is November 8th, 2024. I’m betting the shills already have their copies of the new Monster Manual in hand even though it’s not due to release until February 2025. ]

Let’s break that down even further. Why would I buy a product from a company whose representatives, both official and on social media, offend me on a regular basis? Sure, I appear to be a cishet, neurotypical, older white guy. There are a lot of assumptions being made about me as both a person and as a consumer that are flat out not true at all.

Hello, WotC. You have competition for my gaming dollars.

2024 has been the year of the fantasy TTRPG. There are literally dozens of new and revised games out there. I don’t think the brain trust at Wizards of the Coast realizes that they are actually having to compete to get the money this time. I know they’re used to D&D being the unchallenged giant of the space, but they are also usually better about not making complete fools of themselves at every turn.

Just the two largest D&D competitors alone have put out new editions or new games since 2023. Tales of the Valiant from Kobold Press and Pathfinder 2E Remastered from Paizo both came as a response to the Great D&D Open Game License Debacle of 2023. That’s also not counting the thousands of copies of PF2E that sold in 2023. Then there’s a handful of powerhouse fantasy games from Kickstarter coming in the next two or so years. Plus I should mention my beloved Shadowdark and Dragonbane RPGs, although now we’re getting into a smaller market share.

WotC designers might want to think carefully about us “old white guys.”

Have you seen pictures of Chris Perkins, James Wyatt, and Jeremy Crawford lately? These are the guys that are responsible for the new D&D books in question. If it’s so horrible, why did they write it? Why are they even still working for WotC?
Please hear me out, Wizards. Hire anyone you want. Sell to everyone you can. Think real hard about chasing off paying customers in your fan base. Look whose material you’re judging before you start going off on any particular stereotype.

I’m pro DEI, LGBTQIA, BIPOC, neurodiverse, and whatever else that’s safe, ethically, legally, and otherwise correct. I happen to fall into a couple of those categories myself. I’m working every day to try to close that cultural divide that others seem so heartily attempting to widen. There’s plenty of room for all of us in the TableTop RolePlaying Game hobby and I will gleefully die on that hill.

That’s the hill I’m trying to climb every day now.

I just started rolling on my YouTube channel at the tender young age of 52. So far so good. One of my aims, in earnest, is to be as all-inclusive as humanly possible. I want to welcome in returning gamers, young, old, you-name-it players. I’m truly not picky! Sit down with us and roll some dice.

As long as everyone at the table is sitting down to be civil, polite, and have some fun- it’s all good. If people can’t wrap their heads around that, for whatever reasons, then it’s on them to figure their own stuff out. Don’t let anyone on the Internet or elsewhere, “You can’t buy or play D&D. This edition’s not for you.” Maybe Wizards of the Coast execs want to push us older guys out of the hobby, but that doesn’t mean we have to go anywhere.

Confused yet? Me too. Honestly, I’ll do whatever it takes to bring fresh life into the hobby. I want to run games. I want to play games. I want other people to enjoy our games. Why are people trying to gatekeep or push others out?

Y’all kids can assume anything you want about me. Please assume I come in peace, and I just want to run a friggin game. It doesn’t even truly matter which one. (I mean I prefer Dragonbane or Shadowdark if it’s fantasy, but I’m flexible.) People trying to push me or any of us other older guys out of the hobby can just as easily go find a game on their own side of the fence because we’re not leaving.

I’ll still be roleplaying if it’s still just me and five stuffed animals with character sheets in front of them. All the players have voices as do their characters. I’m fine. Back off! At least I’m harmless.

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.