4 ms·

It's because of Stranger Things. The article sees it as a symptom, but from a lot of people I know, it's actually a cause. Shameless plug: If any of you have e

by Mizza 9y ago

It's because of Stranger Things. The article sees it as a symptom, but from a lot of people I know, it's actually a cause. Shameless plug: If any of you have ever wanted to try DnD but didn't know how to get started, or if you've played before and want to start again, try playing my fun-optimized rule set, _DnD: TL;DR_ - https://github.com/Miserlou/dnd-tldr https://github.com/Miserlou/dnd-tldr

pkroll 9y ago
I'd give Critical Role a lot of the credit for the jump start a couple years back. Seeing how much fun a game can be had to inspire a lot of people, or remind the old timers. It's the reason I started looking for a pickup game on Meetup, and now play weekly.
- throwawaylalala 9y ago
  Critical Role, 5e, Stranger Things, and the desire for “poker night” without the poker. Source- The lions share of my earnings come from running a company that sells accessories for D&D.
  - jwfxpr 9y ago
    Some shameless self-promotion, please. Link?
Jtsummers 9y ago
Tabletop and other Youtube channels, plus various podcasts, have been around a lot longer and spread the idea to a lot of people who are caught up in the current zeitgeist of nerd culture but hadn't grown up in it (and so largely had missed out on the RPG games the rest of us played as teens). There was also a strong movement away from heavy mechanics to narrative heavy games with lighter mechanics over the past decade which offered a lot more ways to introduce people to tabletop RPGs. Video games also helped. A ton of jocks and frat guys, folks who never would've played a tabletop RPG in the 80s or 90s (or not in large numbers) were won over with 4th edition last decade because it was like the video games they were playing (for better or worse, I never really took to the system). Kickstarter catching the public's attention has also helped, with lots of indie or otherwise smaller presses being able to publish their systems. Lots of factors involved. Stranger Things may be helping this year, but the trend in increasing popularity has been happening for several years.
scrame 9y ago
Not just stranger things, but Adventure Zome, The Gamers/Journeyquest, Harmonquest, Nerd Dice there's a lot of D&D in the Zeitgeist. And its just the best known path in. Someone mentioned Java, but maybe PHP is a better example, something everyone has heard of with pop culture paths in and you can spend all your time there or dig deeper into esoteric paths.
imh 9y ago
For myself and a number of friends, Community's D&D episodes were the cause. But the episodes, like Stranger Things, were probably a symptom of larger trends.
majormajor 9y ago
Something as mass-market as Big Bang Theory did a D&D episode years before Stranger Things existed. It's been a much longer process than that. Something more niche but still network TV (Community) did one a few years before that, even. That's around the same time I started noticing it popping up in more stores in suburban TX.
- DanBC 9y ago
  Also, Freaks and Geeks did it too, in 2000.
knappe 9y ago
This can't possibly be the case. Nerd culture has spread and with it all things nerdy. Look at the growth of GenCon for one example of how explosive this has been. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline Board games sales are up 28% in the US http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/from-monopoly-to-exploding-kittens-board-games-are-making-a-comeback/ http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/from-monopoly-to-explo... If anything, I'd say that Stranger things is a symptom of nerd culture. I mean, look at things like Big Bang Theory. There is no way that show would have hit mainstream without nerd culture being even remotely popular.
- DanBC 9y ago
  BBT is an attack on, not a celebration of, nerd culture.
  - ConfucianNardin 9y ago
    And the reasoning behind this sentiment usually is that the jokes in the show are made at the characters' expense - people watching the show laugh at them, not with them. Here's an example of a post that explores that topic: http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-problem-with-the-big-bang-theory http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-p...
- msabalau 9y ago
  Agreed. Tabletop rpgs endured in the convention scene, and video games and cosplay revitalized fannish cons, a ton of people were introduced to or reminded that the hobby was something that "people like them" did.

by Mizza 9y ago

pkroll 9y ago

I'd give Critical Role a lot of the credit for the jump start a couple years back. Seeing how much fun a game can be had to inspire a lot of people, or remind the old timers. It's the reason I started looking for a pickup game on Meetup, and now play weekly.

throwawaylalala 9y ago
Critical Role, 5e, Stranger Things, and the desire for “poker night” without the poker. Source- The lions share of my earnings come from running a company that sells accessories for D&D.
- jwfxpr 9y ago
  Some shameless self-promotion, please. Link?

Jtsummers 9y ago

Tabletop and other Youtube channels, plus various podcasts, have been around a lot longer and spread the idea to a lot of people who are caught up in the current zeitgeist of nerd culture but hadn't grown up in it (and so largely had missed out on the RPG games the rest of us played as teens). There was also a strong movement away from heavy mechanics to narrative heavy games with lighter mechanics over the past decade which offered a lot more ways to introduce people to tabletop RPGs. Video games also helped. A ton of jocks and frat guys, folks who never would've played a tabletop RPG in the 80s or 90s (or not in large numbers) were won over with 4th edition last decade because it was like the video games they were playing (for better or worse, I never really took to the system). Kickstarter catching the public's attention has also helped, with lots of indie or otherwise smaller presses being able to publish their systems. Lots of factors involved. Stranger Things may be helping this year, but the trend in increasing popularity has been happening for several years.

scrame 9y ago

Not just stranger things, but Adventure Zome, The Gamers/Journeyquest, Harmonquest, Nerd Dice there's a lot of D&D in the Zeitgeist. And its just the best known path in. Someone mentioned Java, but maybe PHP is a better example, something everyone has heard of with pop culture paths in and you can spend all your time there or dig deeper into esoteric paths.

imh 9y ago

For myself and a number of friends, Community's D&D episodes were the cause. But the episodes, like Stranger Things, were probably a symptom of larger trends.

majormajor 9y ago

Something as mass-market as Big Bang Theory did a D&D episode years before Stranger Things existed. It's been a much longer process than that. Something more niche but still network TV (Community) did one a few years before that, even. That's around the same time I started noticing it popping up in more stores in suburban TX.

DanBC 9y ago
Also, Freaks and Geeks did it too, in 2000.

knappe 9y ago

This can't possibly be the case. Nerd culture has spread and with it all things nerdy. Look at the growth of GenCon for one example of how explosive this has been. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline Board games sales are up 28% in the US http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/from-monopoly-to-exploding-kittens-board-games-are-making-a-comeback/ http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/from-monopoly-to-explo... If anything, I'd say that Stranger things is a symptom of nerd culture. I mean, look at things like Big Bang Theory. There is no way that show would have hit mainstream without nerd culture being even remotely popular.

DanBC 9y ago
BBT is an attack on, not a celebration of, nerd culture.
- ConfucianNardin 9y ago
  And the reasoning behind this sentiment usually is that the jokes in the show are made at the characters' expense - people watching the show laugh at them, not with them. Here's an example of a post that explores that topic: http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-problem-with-the-big-bang-theory http://butmyopinionisright.tumblr.com/post/31079561065/the-p...
msabalau 9y ago
Agreed. Tabletop rpgs endured in the convention scene, and video games and cosplay revitalized fannish cons, a ton of people were introduced to or reminded that the hobby was something that "people like them" did.