It's not the dark ages tho! Absolutely not. While yes, if D&D becomes more popular, more people will probably play other TTRPGs, but that's already a very small fraction of people. The two second largest companies I know of, Paizo and Chaosium, don't even come close to the gains and popularity that D&D has. I think it's easy to assume that D&D dominates maybe 85% of the market, if not more. Maybe a resurgence age, but probably not as positive as I'd like to think. I certainly think it's a time when TTRPGs have become relatively more mainstream, but, I don't think it's exactly a golden age. Even D&D is extremely rare where I live, so my experience comes more from the internet. It is a bit difficult for me to approach this question because, first of all, my geopolitical location makes the field of TTRPG non-existent. I've been thinking of something like this before too.
A local community or group of friends can easily only present towards one thing. However while it feels like doing more work than before, I feel like it is more likely to be successful than ever before. It can be frustrating to find a group interested in your specific interest. Since we have more options, that means we can be pickier. Sometimes that means we have to be louder than before. The space is more crowded with more options. The new way of production allows even more niche products to reach the right audience. I think what it is making the rest of the market feel somewhat smaller isn't only D&D having a huge new boost from Critical Role, but also how much more splintered everything else is. When I ran the L5R 5th beta test I had two new to RPG players.
The bigger profile of D&D means the translation is easier to make for those outside the hobby. Yet I have successfully given the pitch of "like D&D but xxx" more often now than in the past. Yes, plenty of people who will not touch anything else. It is significantly easier for me to find interest in other games than it was for me in the 90s. Even during the 90s when the World of Darkness (mostly V:tM) was a a major entry point I doubt it ever came close to shaking D&D out of larger than everything else combined spot for newcomers.Īs others have pointed out, even has the traditional book markets have tanked, non-D&D RPGs are selling better than ever. I hazard the vast majority of RPG enthusiasts come through D&D even if it is a brief period. D&D has and likely will for the near future be the big dog with (relatively) significant mainstream notice.
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