Jan 17
It’s hip to be Square
Has anyone noticed that the d20 is gaining a lot of ’street cred’ of late? I’ve been tabletop gaming for the better part of my life, and know a bunch of guys and gals that can claim to have been playing or running D&D since the white box days. That said, tabletop gaming has always been very much a sub-sub-culture. The videogamers look on us as slightly off wonks who would rather ‘put on their wizard hats’ than throw down with Chun-Li. And there’s some truth to that, of course, but I’ve long thought that hobby tabletop gaming was worth the effort. I love running games, and the times I’ve been able to play have always been a lot of fun (limited though they may be).
Recently though, the Fourth Edition resurgence has really made an impact. 3E did this to some degree too, but I think the still-inaccessable quality of the rules made it a harder sell. And, of course, back in the early noughties the web was only dimly waking up. It was alive and kicking, of course, but it wasn’t the vibrant part of our everyday lives the way it is now. As a result, I’m really getting to see the impact of 4E a lot more closely, and it’s a good one.
Probably the most visible impact is the PvP/Penny Arcade/Wil Wheaton triumvirate of d20 goodness. That first session with Scott Kurtz, Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik, James Wyatt, and Chris Perkins was … well, as a longtime gamer it was a ton of fun to listen to. But more importantly I think it was a ton of fun for PEOPLE WHO HADN’T GAMED before. A lot of people, frankly, didn’t know what we did when we sat down to game. Having it ‘live’ in their headsets with a bunch of really nice, normal guys made it not only approachable but really appealing. I honestly wonder how many new D&D players that single podcast spawned.
And, of course, the PA guys have really been following that up. Comics, posts, commentaries on the experience. Gabe starting his own campaign was probably a watershed moment for more gamers. “If he can do it, etc.” Wil has done a lot on his site as well, talking excitedly about his experience and continually talking about nerd-adjascent awesomeness. Good, rich times.
I’m not going to ruin this by being a “where were you five years ago” snipe. I think it’s great that so many people are coming to tabletop gaming, and I wish WotC the best of success. If you yourself are interested, here are some links you might want to check out:
10 comments10 Comments so far
I think it’s great that new people are getting into tabletop, and I hate to sound like that guy who insists on an old system, but I’m really not a big fan of 4E.
It made gaming more accessible by tightening the rules. The reason more people can do it is that it’s more like a traditional board game with MMOG influences, instead of an open-ended verbal world simulator that tabletop tries to create.
There’s always plenty of more complex or more complicated systems to use, I suppose, and it’s not like the older books are going anywhere… I just wish they hadn’t “gamed it up” so much. If I wanted to play HeroQuest or DragonStrike, I’d go drag them out of my closet.
My group moved back to 3.5 after a few months of 4.0.
wouldn’t it be “Hip to be Dodecahedron?”
I am one of those old school nerds. I bought my first boxed copy of D&D when I was 15, which is a good 20 years ago now.
I first started playing online MMOGs because it got harder and harder to find locals to play tabletop games over the years… as much as I like the neighborhood I live in now, I cannot imagine any of them playing any tabletop, dice-studded campaign.
-heavy sigh-
I agree with the desire to retain the more free-form (ok, argument-based) game style of yore. As the DM in most cases, I loved when players would, by sheer creative force, make me change the campaign I’d so carefully planned.
Now I must fight the urge to drag all those books out again, as it’s almost 3am here. Must… sleep…
;-)#
Brasse
Cameron – have you *looked* at the Shadowrun rules recently, even 3′rd ed? There’s enough dice-rolling to give any hardcore tabletop the equivalent of a Viagra overdose, not to mention enough stats lawyering to keep pencils furiously scratching for hours as you roll your character.
Now the Shadowrun FPS… man, that thing is just awesome, right Michael? :P
I haven’t thrown a d20 in anger for years now. 4E looks really fun, though. And honestly, I can understand stripping the mechanics down to the gamey parts only and letting the DM just run the world without a lot of rules to get in the way. Anyone who wants a full world simulator has plenty of 3.5 rules out there.
Until a few years ago, the Spelljammer campaign that I was a player in was still using the old 2nd Ed AD&D. It was old, it was unnecessarily complex and we liked it that way. Now, you kids get the hell of my lawn :P
I do own the 4Ed books though. Now I just need to find a group to play with…
Frankly, the D20 system blows. 2D6 is WAY better. Bell curve probability for teh wins.
Hey! Don’t diss the good ol’ D20!
I’m afraid I’m going to have to pick a nit here, and say that while I’m always happy to see a hobby gain attention/members, making something “more accessible” often means “less challenging”, or “boring”.
I’ve played D&D off and on throughout the years and believe that challenges of leaning the earlier rules (”still-inaccessible” I believe the author said) are part of the game. If someone wants an easy game, try most of the stuff on the Wii, or Monopoly, or checkers.
Imagination is a byproduct of intelligence, and though the earlier rules may have been obtuse, they were not THAT hard. Gaming is what you put into it. The 4th edition rules are oversimplified, and disappointing.
I wish WotC success, but belive that this will come back and haunt them. The 4th edition is Wizards NGE, and THAT was an epic fail of…er..epic proportions.
I’m glad to see more people getting into D&D. I was interested from about the age of 11, and started playing around 14 or 15. At 27 years of age, I’ve been playing for over a decade, and have seen it go from AD&D, to now this 4E. I haven’t played a campaign in over a year and half thanks to marriage, moving, and losing fellow players, but I still consider myself one of the fold.
I will have to concur with some of the other posters here though, from what I have seen of 4E, it looks like the instruction manual for an MMO, which I have a computer for. It looks like it’s losing it’s identity to appeal to the masses, I could be wrong though. I sure hope so.