I'd be totally fine with that. In some ways, the commercial aspect of it all has been really harmful because it focuses your attention on secondary matters.

Of course publishers need to make money, so we get editions upon editions of the same thing over and over again. And then we bang heads over which one is superior. I can't wait for the depression that must surely come once Traveller 5 is out. But when you reach a point where even the multiple-edition model is no longer viable, all that nonsense would just fade away... maybe.

Quote from: Pierce Inverarity20 years from now, RPGs will be thoroughly and utterly a thing of the past. A few tens of thousands of people will be playing D&D. A few thousand will be playing this and that other currently popular game (but there ARE no currently popular games apart from D&D). And a few hundred will be playing everything else.

In all likelihood I'll be among those few hundred, then, because I'm not at all convinced that the next two decades will see the kind of technological breakthroughs required to accurately model even the full potential of the Spheres/Arcana in Mage or the Domains in Nobilis, let alone the more abstract and nebulous concepts of my favourite RPGs. Sure, the advances in communications and media will undoubtedly have an impact of sorts on the way they are played, but I honestly can't see anything actually replacing the games themselves during my lifetime.

Quote from: Pierce Inverarity20 years from now, RPGs will be thoroughly and utterly a thing of the past. A few tens of thousands of people will be playing D&D. A few thousand will be playing this and that other currently popular game (but there ARE no currently popular games apart from D&D). And a few hundred will be playing everything else.

This is a possibility. But people have been predicting the death of things for decades, including newspapers, books, regular television, etc. The one thing that stands in the hobby's favour is the fact that it is a hobby. It attracts enthusiasts. There are still loyal fly fishermen in the world, RC enthusiasts, historical re-enactors, etc. And as long as there is money to be made in catering to hobbyists there will be people making things and cashing in on the market.

By 2027 we'll all be living on the moon and eating space cake.

Quote from: mhensleyIsn't Tri-Stat effectively already dead now that GoO is no more?

No, White Wolf picked up BESM and put out the third edition, so Tri-Stat is still in print.

As for FUDGE, well, it'll always be around so long as Stephen O'Sullivan (and his heirs) keep the website up...

I won't hazard a guess as to which RPGs will still be around and popular 20 years from now. That is too far for my poor little crystal ball to see.

I do think that RPGs will still exist in 20 years. They may not look like what we see now, but they will still be there. "Let's Pretend" has survived for a Hell of long time so far.


However, I will still be playing Traveller in one form or another and getting people involved in the game, if for no other reason than to entertain myself.

Quote from: WarthurNo, White Wolf picked up BESM and put out the third edition, so Tri-Stat is still in print.

Wait... what? Really?

Quote from: beejazzWait... what? Really?

Yup: here is a review.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityOK, having given some thought to the matter, here's my prediction:

20 years from now, RPGs will be thoroughly and utterly a thing of the past. A few tens of thousands of people will be playing D&D. A few thousand will be playing this and that other currently popular game (but there ARE no currently popular games apart from D&D). And a few hundred will be playing everything else.

And that will have been IT.

I really do believe that. I'm also willing to change my mind, but does anyone have evidence to the contrary?

It's not for nothing that one this year's GAMA workshops was called "Save vs. Death."

I hate to say it, but I'm in the same camp as PI here.  As MMORPG's become better and better, and people in our society become lazier about their 'entertainment', tabletop RPGing is going to die down to the level we saw back in the 70's when it was first starting out.

A few people will still be publishing their own homebrew games, via the miracle of POD technology (hell, I know I've considered writing a horror RPG, and just releasing it free as a PDF, and not bothering with sales, distribution etc.) and those will be as the fanzines of yore.

Which is very sad in some ways, but inevitable.  Personally, when I get the itch to run a game these days, it's always one of three: RuneQuest III (out of print since 1994), D6 Star Wars (out of print since 1997) and Call of Cthulhu (still in-print, but the audience is waning).

There's not a single new game which has come out in the last three or four years which made me go "Woot!  I have to run this!"

It's sad to say it, but the RPG hobby is a dying one.  Twenty years from now, I see probably no game stores at all, D&D 6th edition being carried in a few chains, and everything else is done at the grassroots/POD/PDF level.

And I'll still probably be playing RuneQuest III and CoC.  If not, I'll at least be going in to the garage once in a while, digging out those old books and feeling nostalgic.
My $0.02.

I do, however, think that in 30 years there will be a huge resurgence in gaming centered in nursing homes as the D&D generation all starts living the dormitory lifestyle again . . .

Quote from: CalithenaD&D was brilliant because it sold people a product that they could use in playing make-believe, which they've done one way or another for all human history. It's a way for normal people to imagine fun stuff together.

The problem is that kids don't play "make-believe" anymore. They go straight to video games.


.

Quote from: JaegerThe problem is that kids don't play "make-believe" anymore. They go straight to video games.

Yeah, my son's going do definitely be the odd-man out when he's growing up.  I mean, he's going to have an imagination, and the ability to think for himself!  (If I have anything to say about it, anyway...)

"You kids, git offa mah lawn!"

:rolleyes:

Quote from: J Arcane"You kids, git offa mah lawn!"

Finally.  You're making some sense now.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaFinally.  You're making some sense now.

!i!

I'm starting to feel like I walked into a nursing home with this shit.

As someone who's grown up with video games (my parents got a 2600 as a wedding present, and there's been games in my house ever since) and still has more than enough imagination to go around, I'd like to deliver a hearty "Fuck you!" to the jackass geriatric crowd.

That fact that some idiots can't understand new technology says more about their imagination (or lack of it) than it does about anyone else.