What do you see as the major events of that last decade, in terms of RPGs?

The OGL, the "indie" movement, and the OSR spring to mind.

The passing of Gary Gygax, Bob Bledsaw, and Dave Arneson.

Quote from: The Shaman;352552The passing of Gary Gygax, Bob Bledsaw, and Dave Arneson.

I agree.

I would also suggest David C. Sutherland III, whose cover art for the Dungeon Masters Guide inspired many of us.

I would also agree about the OGL.  The "OSR", not so much.  A few disaffected bloggers applying GNS terminology to original D&D impresses me not at all.  Give it five years, and lets see who's still playing OD&D and enjoying it rather than trying to constantly dissect and reinvent it.  If its the same number of or more people and it is having an impact on, say, how the hobby (industry) works?  Then yes, we can in retrospect call it an influential event of the early 2000's.

Another milestone: the utter implosion of the already shrinking hobby.  The "growth" caused by the OGL was just the swelling of a sort of "red giant" that has now fallen into white dwarf state - just blowing off layer upon layer material, no longer creating any real energy, and then collapsing in leaving very little in its wake.  But one could argue that was just part of the OGL anyway.

The rise of MMO RPGs, and their general supplanting of pen and paper gaming.

I think the so-called OSR wouldn't have really happened without the growth of the internet so insofar as it has impacted the OSR...the Internet is probably a staple thing to the RPG hobby that "happened".

D&D minis - WotC basically flipping using minis in your RPG on its ear by not only doing cheap plastic, but prepainted, and then once another company (Reaper) stepped up and said "aha but we won't make collectible minis, we'll give you what you need and want!", then whipping around and saying "Okay we're not random either" and sinking Reaper's efforts QED.

WotC's destruction of e-Gaming with their "no more PDFs" stance.

that's all that springs to mind.  Everything else that has gone on is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, except for Story Gamers who apparently want to fuck the deck chairs, try to psychoanalyze the deck chairs, deprotagonize the deck chairs, dismember the deck chairs, use the deck chairs to create morality plays about how God doesn't really exist, and otherwise do things with the deck chairs that nobody really cares about because oh shit the hobby is sinking fast.

Tons of junk being produced during the early-mid 2000's "d20 glut" era, and d20 eclipsing other systems for a period of time.

I guess I'd have to say 3rd edition D&D being the success it was and bringing a lot of people (including myself) into tabletop.  I've since moved on from modern incarnations of D&D, but for a long time in high-school 3rd edition was the RPG industry, at least to my group, since to us it was just another game and we had no interest in the "industry" as a whole.  There are still quite a few people I know who have never played anything but 3.x D&D.

I'd also say the indie movement, but it really only reaches the die-hards or the internet crowd.  For most gamers it is nonexistent.

Quote from: The Shaman;352552The passing of Gary Gygax, Bob Bledsaw, and Dave Arneson.

And Erick Wujcik, who was more recently influential on the hobby than any of those mentioned above or in this thread, aside maybe from Gygax (and even he only gets by on the force of what he had done back at the beginning of the hobby).

RPGPundit

D&D 3e, yes. The RPG PDF market. The ransom model for RPGs. A profusion of bedroom rocker and garage band analogues entering the "industry".

Two or more of those phenomena might be connected.

Shouldn't we wait until the '00s end before judging?

Quote from: Hairfoot;352618Shouldn't we wait until the '00s end before judging?

Are you implying that a year ending with "10" can be part of the "'00s"? Is 1980 the last year of the '70s? Decades are defined by the tens digit; and yes I realize that other units of time aren't treated like that. Don't blame me.

More importantly, I would rather not have this argument. It really has nothing to do with the question, and is a waste of time for all of those involved.

Quote from: The Worid;352624Are you implying that a year ending with "10" can be part of the "'00s"?

Not implying.  Explaining.

Quote from: The Worid;352624Is 1980 the last year of the '70s?

Yep.

Quote from: The Worid;352624Decades are defined by the tens digit; and yes I realize that other units of time aren't treated like that. Don't blame me.

Decades are recorded with our numerical system, which is decimal.  This year is the last year of the 00s.  I don't blame you for that.

Quote from: The Worid;352624More importantly, I would rather not have this argument. It really has nothing to do with the question, and is a waste of time for all of those involved.

Perfectly reasonable as long as nothing happens this year which is more notable than the events mentioned in this thread, because a decade isn't nine years long.

Quote from: Hairfoot;352629This year is the last year of the 00s.

Wrong. The clue there is the leading "0". Was 1990 part of the 1980s? Or "the eighties" if you prefer?

Right.

Yes, technically speaking, a decade (i.e., ten years) "should" probably start at xxx1, not xxx0 - perhaps*, anyway - but when a term like "the 00s" or the "the thirties" or the like is used, it's disingenuous to try that one on, or give the appearance of doing so, whichever.


* Also: .

I'd say the OGL.  It's what even made things like the OSR, Pathfinder, etc., really possible in many people's eyes.

Really, we have the explosion of players during the 3e release, the d20 glut, and the end of an era with 4e.  Interesting (if not always fun) times, the '00s.

Quote from: RPGPundit;352604And Erick Wujcik, who was more recently influential on the hobby than any of those mentioned above or in this thread, aside maybe from Gygax (and even he only gets by on the force of what he had done back at the beginning of the hobby).

RPGPundit

Until I read about him in this forum I never heard of Erick Wujcik, never played any games written by him, never read any articles on the topic by him, etc.

Just sayin'.

Quote from: The Shaman;352552The passing of Gary Gygax, Bob Bledsaw, and Dave Arneson.

And of N. Robin Crossby, the creator of Hârn.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;352651Until I read about him in this forum I never heard of Erick Wujcik, never played any games written by him, never read any articles on the topic by him, etc.

Just sayin'.

There are far more people in the gaming world today who could say that about Bledsaw, Crossby, or Arneson (excepting his half-credit for the original D&D) than about Erick Wujcik.

RPGPundit