Re: [The Guardian] Dungeons & Dragons at 50: the collaborative fantasy role-playing game that builds you up

On 3/12/2024 12:26 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sun, 10 Mar 2024 19:28:50 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
 

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/10/dungeons-and-dragons-at-50-the-collaborative-fantasy-roleplaying-game-that-builds-you-up
>
Dungeons & Dragons at 50: the collaborative fantasy role-playing game
that builds you up

 So much hype about the 50th anniversary. You have to start wondering
how much of it is actual journalism, and how much of it is really just
paid advertorial. Especially given recent rumors about Hasbro selling
D&D to Tencent; are they just seeding the news to make it look like
D&D is bigger (and thus, a more valuable property) than it really is?

I think part of it is also that there now are people in charge of the newspapers that have fond memories of playing the game. it's exactly the kind of job DnD or TTRPG players would end up in. Also, the people reading the newspapers now also include a lot of old players. This isn't the times where newspapers only were read by the parents of players anymore.
Not that I am saying it's not also some campaign by Hasbro, but editors most likely have noticed the popularity of Dnd lately (see Critical Role), the popularity of DnD properties (Baldur's Gate 3), and are not averse to spotlighting a geeky hobby they used to enjoy.

 Or maybe it is that popular, and is really worthy of all the
reporting? Am I just being too cynical? Perhaps I'm just unconsciously
gate-keeping, trying to keep the 'plebian' masses from playing my
geeky, forbidden hobby?

It might be a bit of that. Especially as our preferred style of play does not quite fit with what the rest of the world is playing.
In general I am of the opinion that all kinds of TTRPG play is valid, BUT I just am not that interested in a few of them. It's not like I think they are bad, but they are just not for me. PbtA for example is something I see as an absolutely valid expression of roleplaying, but I don't want to play it. And unfortunately DnD 5e also has moved into a direction where I don't feel like I am getting what I enjoy about RPGs from it.
Which is, as I've discovered lately, a heavy dose of simulationism.

 I don't have a hard time believing D&D is fifty years old (I have a
much harder time accepting that Star Wars is nearly of the same age,
though! There's no way Luke Skywalker can be pushing 70!!!;-). In many
ways, it /still/ feels like a game born in the 1970s. I think one of
the reasons all this news reporting on its popularity and longevity is
so triggering to me is that it ignores all the work done by OTHER
tabletop game publishers to help keep the hobby alive. I'm not sure
tabletop gaming would still be a thing had it just been up to
TSR/WOTC/Hasbro alone...
 

DnD for a long time has been a two-sided coin to the hobby. on the one hand it gets people into the hobby, but on the other side it also makes them burn out on it if people just keep playing the stuff the publisher puts out. Because really, there's always a certain style of play in vogue at a certain point, and it excludes a lot of people in one way or another. I doubt many people are that fond of DnD 5e as such, many most likely would love moving to other rule or play styles that are much better suited to what they want to play, but they keep playing 5e because that's what everyone does.