[MUD-Dev] Tabletop RPGs and Inspiration (was: no subject)

[Don Healey]

Brian 'Psychochild' Green wrote:
> "Koster, Raph" wrote:

>> Is it just me, or is tabletop RPGing basically dead? A corpse
>> shambling along without any significant audience growth in a
>> decade, low revenues (does an AD&D CRPG make more than the AD&D
>> books do? I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me), and a
>> terminally geeky image, and what's worse carried in part by
>> another industry that is also teetering on bankruptcy, the comic
>> shop.

> Anyway, that industry has changed to adapt.  Tabletop RPGs gave
> way to collectable card games (CCGs) just as wargames gave way to
> the RPGs.  (I believe the more modern name for CCGs is now
> "trading card games", or TCGs.)  CCGs basically addressed what
> people wanted; a quick game with interesting rules, yet something
> that could spark their imagination. Games like Magic: The
> Gathering had much of the depth of a fleshed out RPG world.

I can remember back in my days at school. Geeks would make plastic
model kits (Airfix, Matchbox, etc), and later in high school they
would move onto wargaming - with models, other miniatures, and
boardgames. Then along came RPG's in late high school/early Uni
days. After that computer games became popular as PCs became more
accessible. In more recent times you have the Trading Card Games as
well.

More importantly, even if growth of RPG is slow, the range of
material available for RPGing has improved so much. There is a huge
range available, much better quality and far more professionally
produced these days than many years ago. Two of the main RPG
magazines, Dragon and White Dwarf, are now available along side
normal magazines in normal shops. I have no information on the
growth rates of RPGs, but it would appear that RPGing has reached a
size that should be sustainable for a while yet, until enough other
geek hobbies have come along to replace them.

I have noticed the Airfix and Matchbox ranges of model kits
available have barely changed since that time that RPG's took a firm
hold - but all department stores and toy shops still sell them.

Over the years the hobbies that have been popular to us geeks have
changed.  And they will continue to change. Each change is to
something that provides quicker gratification and less effort to get
into, more freedom of action and less commitment from the
participants. And the changes are to hobbies that appeal to a wider
audience and are thereby tend to be less geeky.

The widespread use of computer games has helped decrease (not remove
:)the geeky image of RPG's for a couple of reasons - playing games
as a past time for adults is now more acceptable and can be
mentioned in mixed company, and many more people are exposed to the
idea of role playing games.

The new popular hobbies to come are likely to involve computers, and
could be the latest games machines that incorporate hard disk and
internet access (Xbox etc), or these machines may lead masses of
players to MMO games which become the craze. I personally find
playing computer games with people against a common foe much more
rewarding.

One thing I am sure of is that the release of the Lord of the Rings
movie will increase participation in RPGing. It was Lord of the
Rings that gave me the desire to play RPG's and in my day it was
compulsory reading. The movie is also likely to increase the sales
of MMORPG's, especially as 2 of the biggest are releasing expansions
very soon - not too distant from the release of the movie (and this
time it looks like they have done a very good job with the movie).

Don.

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