Just for the record, I'm not part of the "RPGs are dying" crowd. I'm of the opinion that White Wolf and TSR combined (WW's story-based gaming and TSR's intellectual bankruptcy) to do incredible harm to the hobby, and that we lost a huge part of an entire generation (there are literally millions of people who today should be gamers, that never were), but the hobby TODAY is not in danger of dying out.

RPGPundit

Quote from: KrakaJakIt's also got a horrible (HORRIBLE!) Social-Stigma. Roleplaying is for LOSERS. Whether they're nerdy-geeks (a la your D&D stereotype), frail waif like pansies (Your WW player stereotype), or unsocial, unwashed pixel bitches (GURPS anyone?); Roleplaying just has a negative stereotype (I think Pundy has taked about this at length, lawncrappers and catpissmen and whatever).
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What??!!

 Maybe in your part of the country. Here, in this area the people I see that are interested in RPGs are fairly normal looking and don't have that "Geek social stigma" thing going on.  We get a lot of married couples  and dating couples shopping at our ghame store for RPG stuff. Our regular frequent customers are a pretty normal bunch.

 I have seen some in the gaming hobby that seem to hate themselves or their aquaintances. Its like an odd self-loathing phenomena or  they feel they have to be embarassed about something.

Future of P&P role playing games?  Pretty good I think.

 Even if the world goes to hell and all of our machines go boom!, crash &  bust on us - the idea of making up pretend adventures and using pencil and paper to keep track of them will survive. Its just too damn  fun not to.


- E.W.C.

QuoteYeah, Tony, you are.  My local Borders/barnes & Noble situation (in Portland, OR) is a lot closer to Krakajak's description. And we've only one actual "hobby" store that I know of, which is basically a huge superstore of model trains and planes with one RPG aisle.

Of the top of my head, I only know of Bridgetown, since Fine Games has moved, but across the river in Vancouver you've got Amazing Stories on 4th Plain, which has the best damn selection of RPGs I've ever seen.  The Waldenbooks in the Van Mall used to have a really great selection back when JenniferY was still working there, but I suspect it's gone down hill since she left.  

Portland's got it's own con though, and a decent one at that:  http://www.gamestorm.org/  

You might also ask about on the Yahoo pdx-gamers group, as some folks might know of some more good places to get your gaming fix:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdx-gamers/

Quote from: KoltarEven if the world goes to hell and all of our machines go boom!, crash &  bust on us - the idea of making up pretend adventures and using pencil and paper to keep track of them will survive.

Perky Pat will live on, then?

That whole "social stigma" in the sense of CPMs and basement dwellers seems to be yet another one of those cultural things that apparently don't exist around here... At worst roleplaying might be seen as a tad childish (and your average man on the street will associate it with LARP and teenagers dressed as elves scampering in the woods), but then again there'll are always folks who would say that about most games.

Out of curiosity, why aren't RPGs sold in toy shops? I'd expect them to be in hug warehous places like Toys'R'Us. You don't see HeroClix or D&D Minis in thos eplaces, either, but there are strange knock-off things based around Marvel characters. EDIT: Plus Bionicles which is also a figure-based game (I think - I'm too old and my kids are too young to really know).

Hamleys in London carried D&D (and nothing else) before 3.x, but now, nothing. This REALLY surprises me.

Ned

Quote from: Ned the Lonely DonkeyOut of curiosity, why aren't RPGs sold in toy shops? I'd expect them to be in hug warehous places like Toys'R'Us. You don't see HeroClix or D&D Minis in thos eplaces, either, but there are strange knock-off things based around Marvel characters. EDIT: Plus Bionicles which is also a figure-based game (I think - I'm too old and my kids are too young to really know).

Hamleys in London carried D&D (and nothing else) before 3.x, but now, nothing. This REALLY surprises me.

Ned

 Ned,
 Again that may be a regional difference. In this part of Ohio I have seen Heroclix in BOTH Target and TOys'R Us.  NEVER D&D or other roleplaying games. With some of those stores D&D still has that stigma left over from the 80s because of annoying extreme religious groups. Those stores don't want complaints.

-E.W.C.

Yeah, I'm in the UK, so there are likely to be regional differences: Toy R Us on The Old Kent Road (London) doesn't have 'em. Also, perhaps Heroclix don't have comprehensive retail distribution in the UK. In Hamelys they had a small stack of 2nd ed stuff up to about 1999, but now nothing. (Actually I should double check this - we never get past the Thomas the Tank Engine section these days...)

Ned