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Games at the London D&D Meetup

Started by S'mon, October 25, 2015, 11:08:40 AM

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S'mon

I do the scheduling so have to keep track of this. :) I think it's a useful snapshot of what traditional roleplaying games are popular, in London at least. Indie games have their own Meetup. Here is what is currently running at the Meetup:

5e D&D: 10
Pathfinder: 3 (was 4 until my game ended last week)
OSR & Classic D&D: 3
4e D&D: 2
3.5 D&D: 1
Stars Without Number: 1
13th Age: 1
Fate: 1 (was Call of Cthulu)
Numenera: 1 (scheduled oneshot)

The Lead Organiser encourages 5e D&D, so that biases the numbers slightly, but it does show there's a fair bit of diversity in games being played, and the OSR has a significant presence, comparable to Pathfinder and ahead of the 3e & 4e D&D editions.

Armchair Gamer

Quote from: S'mon;861746The Lead Organiser encourages 5e D&D, so that biases the numbers slightly, but it does show there's a fair bit of diversity in games being played, and the OSR has a significant presence, comparable to Pathfinder and ahead of the 3e & 4e D&D editions.

  My own hypothesis is that we're going to break down with 5E as the market leader (being official D&D, strong organized play, and a generally middle-of-the-road feel all help with that), Pathfinder as the '10s equivalent of Runequest in the 80s, the OSR as a large but fractious group that will show up more in play and discussion than in sales figures (where the fragmentation works against it), and the other editions as smaller remnants. Of those, I expect 4th Edition--which doesn't have a retroclone to attract away players--to be largest.

arminius

Quote from: S'mon;861746I do the scheduling so have to keep track of this. :) I think it's a useful snapshot of what traditional roleplaying games are popular, in London at least. Indie games have their own Meetup.

How does this division occur? It's easy to advertise an "indie meetup", I'd think--most of the people who are interested in that stuff know what it means. How do you organize a "traditional meet up"?

Though I notice there was a Fate event, so maybe the organizer just said "roleplaying games" without explicitly distinguishing storygames.

S'mon

Quote from: Arminius;861766How does this division occur? It's easy to advertise an "indie meetup", I'd think--most of the people who are interested in that stuff know what it means. How do you organize a "traditional meet up"?

Though I notice there was a Fate event, so maybe the organizer just said "roleplaying games" without explicitly distinguishing storygames.

It's "The London Dungeons & Dragons Meetup" but also allows other RPGs. FATE might not be Indie enough for the hippies over in the London Indie Games Meetup, they play a lot of self-created stuff. They only meet once a month AFAIK whereas we have Meetups four days a week.

S'mon

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;861747Of those, I expect 4th Edition--which doesn't have a retroclone to attract away players--to be largest.

Actually from what I've seen, there seems to be more staying power in 3e - despite Pathfinder - than in 4e. Myself and another Meetup GM are still running 4e campaigns and will likely do so for awhile, but I think when we're done it will be fading.

Armchair Gamer

Quote from: S'mon;861784Actually from what I've seen, there seems to be more staying power in 3e - despite Pathfinder - than in 4e. Myself and another Meetup GM are still running 4e campaigns and will likely do so for awhile, but I think when we're done it will be fading.

  Interesting. Then again, I had no expectation Pathfinder would be as big as it turned out to be, so 3E may have a pattern of having more staying power than I've ever expected. :)