Does D&D hurt or help the RPG Hobby? (...and how to get players to consider other games)
Channel: Lord Left
Date: 2019-08-25

The past few days have seen a lot of posts on r/rpg about the role D&D plays in the RPG Hobby. In this video I discuss why I think D&D is ultimately a positive force for RPGs in general, negative attitudes towards D&D and its fans, and suggestions for getting players to try alternative RPGs.

- - - 

Additional Notes and Thoughts:

Something I didn't address in my video is the complaint that there are gatekeepers who are failing to promote RPGs that are not D&D. There has been a flurry of media coverage about D&D that sometimes (but more often than not) mentions alternative games. I think this belief grossly overestimates the role and impact that major media coverage has upon what is increasingly a decentralized hobby, animated by word-of-mouth. I think it also falsely assumes that any article about D&D has to have some kind perfunctory line or paragraph about the hobby beyond D&D. I don't think this has to be the case - if an article wants to focus on D&D in particular, I don't believe there's some kind of obligation on the part of the article writer to talk other games. People ought to feel free to write about what intrigues them, and D&D is such a huge and at times distinct phenomena that I understand why a writer might focus on it to the exclusion of other games. What I do take exception to are articles that claim to explore the hobby in general but present D&D as the only option for gaming. That is definitely a misrepresentation of the state of and the diversity within tabletop RPG gaming (and is kind of analogous to the recent fracas over articles that say that podcasting has finally taken off now that Conan O'Brien is doing it -- even though podcasts have been thriving for years and years now). 

I think the best remedy to patchy coverage of alternative RPGs is to create or support content. Don't like an article's depiction of the hobby? Write your own, or support someone who talks about your favorite games. Waiting on the imprimatur of external, perceived gatekeepers to give legitimacy to your favorite game isn't the best way to get players to jump on board on your next Scum and Villainy or DCC campaign.