I think that musing about D&D is only natural given the social nature of RPGs. Both in playing and creating things.  

My opinion is the real question people should be asking is

    How hard is it to organize or play in a RPG campaign?

Because if that is hard then everything RPG related is in trouble..

Social media makes it easier than ever to do this: not counting Meetup (which someone has to pay for, I think) there's Google+ and Facebook. Locally we use a Facebook group to arrange a lot of our games, in conjunction with Warhorn.

In the past we primarily arranged things on Yahoo groups and Warhorn. I think it's only gotten easier.

I am an active participant in three separate RPG groups, and our local meetup.com group seems to have lots of people playing most every edition of D&D. Things seem alive and kicking from where I'm standing, at least where D&D is concerned.

The difficulty of organisation can mean a lot of different things.

Net-based organisation has huge potential. I met both of my current groups online (except two players, one of whom I have known since 2003, and another since ca. 1995). I participate in online communities and use their ideas in games, mostly as inspiration/best practice. Apparently, gaming via Google+ also starts to become viable and allows for transcontinental gaming.

A lot of gaming groups are completely insular, though, and with the transformation of hobby shops and disappearance of the RPG clubs once common in cultural centres/universities, you may just walk by them. This can be a problem in small towns without a critical mass of people looking for games. The central places of the gaming network may thrive, but if the capillaries dry out, it can make even the centres feel the consequences.

The third issue concerns the role of specific games in organising the hobby. I believe it is positive that fans and game companies are starting to realise there is a problem in the first place, and thinking more about entry products and community organisation. There are several different approaches here, from the Red Box through Pathfinder Basic to various people introducing their kids with Labyrinth Lord. That's good. But more effort should be dedicated to disseminate good gaming practices and sell the hobby to non-players. That means games which are accessible, showcase the virtues of the hobby, and help people play/GM well.

If, suddenly, tomorrow, everyone in the world but me stopped playing RPGs and completely forgot that there had ever been such a thing as a tabletop RPG, I'd still have a game next weekend.

I'd just tell some people 'hey, want to come over, hang out and play a game?' And then, when they showed up, I'd take 5 minutes to explain the rules of D&D, 5 minutes to create a character, and then we'd play. Those who enjoyed it would be back next week, and I'd ask them to invite all their friends. Repeat until I have 20 or so people interested in an open-table campaign, then find some willing DMs in that group to start their own campaigns to handle overflow.

I don't think that social networks of pre-existing gamers are necessary. The wider state of the hobby/industry has little or no effect on me.

I don't think its hard to organize groups today.

I've been using a virtual tabletop (vtt) since 2005.  At the time I was playing with a group at the local gaming shop but once that died I never looked for another face to face game.

I haven't had actual "in real life" friends that also played table top RPGs since I graduated from high school over twenty years ago.  I have on occasion wondered why this is so.  I gave up trying to get friends to play table top RPGs early on.  Unlike Kaldric, I would hold out little hope if I had to rely on finding people by personal exposure.  It just hasn't worked out much for me with adults.

So, even though I haven't used the social media tools, just the community of people using my vtt of choice has been sufficient to keep me engaged.  If that ever fails me I would likely either turn to those social media tools or to the local game shop.  

That said, I think that it is hard to find adults willing to run games because of the time investment in being the DM.  I think if a system catches fire and goes "viral" that is easier to run than D&D has been, at least since 3.0, that would do wonders for the number of gaming groups and for the satisfaction of individual gamers that would feel more empowered to move on from groups that are not a good match for them.

The hardest parts of getting a group going are the same things they've always been - getting off your duff, and making time.  It's great that we have all these net resources to make the other parts easier, but the individual commitment won't ever change.

I think one of my goals this year is going to be to get a (semi-?)regular game going at my local comic/game shop with players I don't already know.  That's 100% unlike me and thus a challenge, so it's worth doing.

What is the justification for yet-another version of D&D? I understand that of WotC as a company, but from a fan's point-of-view, I wonder what is it that the new D&D version would bring about that isn't out there already or that cannot be house-ruled?

* Ability to find gaming groups? I don't think I would like to game with people who have strong version issues. Gaming is mostly a social thing, and I am more concerned about the personalities around the table than the details actual system.

* System? The old groups had been on hiatus, and after some excellent rules-light and free-form gaming elsewhere I wanted to see what is the role of systems. I ran a short BECMI campaign (TPK) and now I am running two 2e campaigns just to find out why D&D works despite the obvious short-comings. So far it's been fun: grittiness, frugality with EXP, toned down fantasy. Players seem to care about their characters and the story despite possibly mild distaste of the clunkiness.

* Support? What is system support of RPGs? Can I call somewhere and complain if the system does not run? Do my older versions still run after the new one's been released?

* Curiosity? Cautious maybe.

* Aesthetics? Often the game art and the game I am running are not quite in harmony.

It's not hard to get a group off the ground. It just requires patience, and a mindset that stops you from thinking the best gaming can only be had with other gamers. It's bullshit. Then, you select the game that fits the people you intend to play with the best, you prepare your first adventure well, and on you go.

I had written a bunch of posts in French on the topic of "How to start role playing games". Maybe I should translate them here.

Quote from: Benoist;499503I had written a bunch of posts in French on the topic of "How to start role playing games". Maybe I should translate them here.

That sounds like a good idea to me. Where on the forum would you post them?

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;499504That sounds like a good idea to me. Where on the forum would you post them?

Maybe the Design, Development and Gameplay forum? That seems most appropriate there.

I have a group, and staying in touch with them is easy. Getting them to make time to play? That's the hard part.

Quote from: Serious Paul;499516I have a group, and staying in touch with them is easy. Getting them to make time to play? That's the hard part.

This.

Quote from: Serious Paul;499516I have a group, and staying in touch with them is easy. Getting them to make time to play? That's the hard part.

The social commitment can sometimes be an issue, but I think certain games (TSR D&D, T&T, some story-games) get around this by their ability to be played with whoever shows up, or their shorter playtime/prep.

It's on hiatus atm because of the holidays, but I was running Basic D&D with whoever showed up at my friend's, or if other plans fell through.  It worked pretty well, and it's easy to just make a note of where you left off, pack it up, and pick it up the next time you've got people around.

From the looks of things WOTC is getting ready to lambaste us with 5th edition D&D I also see they have laid off more people, looks like a shambles to Me. Now RPG's will survive but the D&D brands future is uncertain.