Has comics sales benefited from the recent surge in superhero movies? I ask this because in a lot of Gygax's obits it has been pointed out that D&D spawned a billion dollar industry.

just not in RPGs it's original home.

If comics are prospering because of the movies then perhaps there are lessons to be found there. If the movies are having no impact then RPGs perhaps needs to stop worrying about being mainstream and focus on building and keeping a solid customer base.

Quote from: estarHas comics sales benefited from the recent surge in superhero movies? I ask this because in a lot of Gygax's obits it has been pointed out that D&D spawned a billion dollar industry.

I can't speak for comics, but the supers RPG resurgence in this decade is due in part to the popularity of superhero movies.. Look at Mutants and Masterminds, Hero 5th(and now 6th), Silver Age Sentinels, Truth and Justice, ...etc..And now Herogames has a deal for a Champions MMO.

QuoteIf comics are prospering because of the movies then perhaps there are lessons to be found there. If the movies are having no impact then RPGs perhaps needs to stop worrying about being mainstream and focus on building and keeping a solid customer base.

And that is the key although we can bring in onesies and twosies along the way.

Which is why, even through successive editions, tabletop RPG developers, tend to make only minor changes to their rulesets, preferring not to overhaul their systems (D&D notwithstanding). It is because they fear alienating their established fanbase.
Look at what happened when FUZION was being touted as the next big "Hero" game.

What's this "geek shame" shit anyway? Never seen it in practice, only mentioned on game forums. Maybe New York's "anything goes" mentality exempted gamers from this, but even other online gamers I talk to haven't experienced this oft mentioned "geek shame". Does it even exist? Between the SCA, gaming conventions, Klingon language seminars, NERO/LAIR, popularity of fantasy/sci-fi novels, etc., where's this "shame" at? And where's it coming from if it does exist?

Seriously, I've never seen it.

-=Grim=-

Quote from: LancerJust because people may like computer games/RPGs (or MMORPGs or whatever), doesn't mean they are not into sports..:raise:

The wierd dichotomy people get in their heads sometmies really puzzle me. This one above and the video games one too. I follow pro sports a bit, and I was fairly athletic in my youth. During summers I still play a weekly game of softball and it was only 2 years ago that I was also playing soccer weekly (cut due to time/sanity constraints of a 4th child).

I know a couple teenagers that play RPGs weekly with their Dad and friends. One of them has been in fencing for some time and the other is an active rock climber, they both had a number of years in soccer (their Dad had been a soccer lifer till his injuries really started piling up). Oh, and they both play video games and CCG too.

I had the same experience: For the last 5 years I had to reschedule all my campaigns around March Madness because half the players were so into basketball.

Quote from: GrimJestaWhat's this "geek shame" shit anyway? Never seen it in practice, only mentioned on game forums. Maybe New York's "anything goes" mentality exempted gamers from this, but even other online gamers I talk to haven't experienced this oft mentioned "geek shame". Does it even exist? Between the SCA, gaming conventions, Klingon language seminars, NERO/LAIR, popularity of fantasy/sci-fi novels, etc., where's this "shame" at? And where's it coming from if it does exist?

Seriously, I've never seen it.

I've seen far more people complaining about it than experiencing it.

And I agree with the OP, it's a great time to be a gamer. The sheer breadth of choice available these days is almost overwhelming compared to when I first started (c. 1980).

The only real omission I can see from the list is the tons of free support the internet offers these days. Character sheets by the dozen for more popular systems, hundreds of adventures, fan-written websites that compile decades of published material into a single and accessible body of work. Not forgetting the plethora of related stuff, either - historical sites, random dungeon generators, comprehensive and illustrated information of almost any topic you care to mention.

It's the kind of thing I would have quite cheerfully killed for as a 13-year-old who only had access to a crappy public library.

Quote from: GrimJestaWhat's this "geek shame" shit anyway? Never seen it in practice, only mentioned on game forums. Maybe New York's "anything goes" mentality exempted gamers from this, but even other online gamers I talk to haven't experienced this oft mentioned "geek shame". Does it even exist? Between the SCA, gaming conventions, Klingon language seminars, NERO/LAIR, popularity of fantasy/sci-fi novels, etc., where's this "shame" at? And where's it coming from if it does exist?

Seriously, I've never seen it.

-=Grim=-

Sh!t.. I have no "shame" in what I do. I proudly tell people about my roleplaying hobbies (both computer and tabletop) and they can think I am cool or weirder for it. I don't care.

And look at the quality of even the free games. JAGS, rockin. Microlite20, rockin. Risus, kick ass. Between those, my True20, my Savage Worlds, and finally my personal discovery of Ars Magica, I'm not sure what I want to play next... and none of them are D&D, for the first time in my RPGing life (although if someone says they wanna play D&D I'll jump right in, any edition). I agree completely, great time to be a gamer.