D&D and RPGs - So Close, yet So Far Away

 I am writing this down in this blog mostly so I wouldn't have to keep repeating myself in Discord every time the topic comes up.

The main point I have is this - Dungeons and Dragons, in its current iteration is not part of the RPG hobby. 

Yeh that sounds like a bit of a hot take, but let's break it down.

A lot of the marketing that Wizards of the Coast have used since D&D Next was first announced (which eventually became 5E) and what is being done with One D&D right now has lead to that separation. Now, most of that also comes from the broader play culture surrounding it - the streamers, youtubers, opinion pieces, subreddits what have yous. 

D&D is D&D. It is not an RPG, it is simply its own hobby that you can be into and more importantly - consume. Always consume. Because to acknowledge that D&D is simply an RPG means to tell people "You know, if you don't want to  play this, or pay for the books or consume - you could just do something else." And why would you, if you were in WotC's shoes or the "influencers" that have hitched their wagons to D&D, want to do that? 

I mean WotC did do that during the 3E era - it's what got us the OGL and ended up spawning not just the OSR but also stuff like Pathfinder.  This kind of closed off marketing and approach is hardly new - it's what Apple does, it's what Games Workshop do with 40k if you want another example in gaming.

It is removing the actual hobby aspect of the hobby, and simply replacing it with an external authority and consumerism. After all, if you're a hobbyist you might have to write your own scenarios and campaigns, or talk to other hobbyists and see what they've made and steal their shit. Ya know, you'd have to put in the work and effort and have little incentive to actually pay more money to WotC. 

But if Wizards are the final authority on the game, if your "hobby" is simply buying D&D merch and books and running them as written? Then they have you.

And this is what I mean when I say that D&D is not really part of the RPG Hobby. It has deliberately been walled off out of the hobby, made into its own private playground where you don't have to actually put up the swings yourself, the authoritative Wizards will just do that for you.