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Post by Axe Mental on Dec 4, 2004 6:28:58 GMT -5
I suspect that we are only the tip of the iceburg. There are many people who likely still play AD&D only, but for some reason they don't go on the net to boards.
When I last went to a comic/fantasy event at our local gaming store 5 other people besides us showed up with AD&D pre-2E and looked alienated at the crap around them like us. They were all local (living within 30 miles) yet I have yet to see one of them on the web.
So, I wonder if anyone has a clue how many 1Eers are out there really.
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Post by Scott on Dec 4, 2004 10:20:30 GMT -5
I don't know too many people that prefer 1E. Gary Welsh is the only one I know that would run a 1E game, but because of schedule conflicts we can't get anything together. The rest of the gamers I know either prefer other editions, or will just play whatever somebody else is running.
Scott
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Post by JRMapes on Dec 4, 2004 11:00:09 GMT -5
There are about ten 1e or OD&D guys around this area that i know of. But the only 3 that i know that are part of the online community are two guys from my group and myself; and the two from my group are only online at our Gaming Guilds website.
I dont know if that really means anything but it wouldnt suprise me that the actual number of those online vs those not floats between 3% and 5%, of course that could be so far off base... but i really hate to think that we online represent 10%-20% or more of the 1e/earlier community.
Jerry
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Post by Axe on Dec 4, 2004 20:48:28 GMT -5
Well, considering the odd ball things people do with there time, and the fact that at one time the game had so many players, and nastalgia being what it is. I think your estimate is probably pretty close. I mean there can't be fewer then 100 hard core AD&Ders left on the planet.
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Falconer
Enchanter
Knight Bachelor
AD&D, Middle-earth, Star Trek TOS
Posts: 330
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Post by Falconer on Dec 6, 2004 20:24:17 GMT -5
Well, I have 9 regular players who show up every week, as well as 5 or so who only occasionally show up, and I'm certain that not one of them is involved in online D&D discussion. If, as a general rule, people who discuss it on the net are DMs, then we are already only about, what, 20% of OAD&Ders? And then, surely, we are less than 50% of all OAD&D DMs. Regards.
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Post by grodog on Dec 6, 2004 23:39:04 GMT -5
FWIW, at GenCon Indy #2 this past August, ENWorld gave out printed badges to ENWorld members who attended the con. Only about 300 were made up beforehand.
Most of the attendees I spoke with didn't get online at all, and most hadn't heard of ENWorld, much less more refined boards like Canonfire! or Dragonsfoot or Pied Piper, etc.
I think it's very easy to get myopic about the importance of the online gaming life....
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Post by GeneInMessageLand on Dec 7, 2004 9:04:07 GMT -5
Most of the "third nerds" that I know don't know what the hell ENWorld is or care but they were pretty active on the WOTC board and still are. Not that I care anymore. If you're not in league with pure 1e then I don't even want to know your name at this point. Thats my "T$R-ed" and "Whatsee-ed" disposition these days. Its too much of a bother to meet common ground with 2e & 3e folks. They're prone to lose the atmosphere of D&D in less than a few seconds. I really don't have time for "tolerating" game preferences anymore. If there was a mass consensus of D&D players then I would say count me out as the name has lost all meaning to most people that I played with through the years. I'm a "Gygaxian Enthusiast".  |
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Post by mistere29 on Dec 7, 2004 11:42:51 GMT -5
In my 3e group of 5 i was the only one that checked the boards regularly, my brother ,the dm, checked some of the smaller boards, but not as a regular. The other 3 never checked the boards at all.
So yeah, internet is nothing.
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foster1941
Warlock
Duke of California, Earl of Los Angeles, Knight Bachelor
Posts: 476
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Post by foster1941 on Dec 7, 2004 16:20:35 GMT -5
My old group had 8 players besides me (4 dedicated regulars and 4 more occasional irregulars). None of them besides me were ever active in the online D&D/rpg community. Admittedly none of them (AFAIK) are still playing (though at least one is still collecting -- last time I was home I showed him The Acaeum -- he was happy to see how much his Mint copies of RPGA 3 & 4 are worth!), but even when we were playing regularly they weren't active online. My more recent group had a more substantial online presence (as is only fitting, since we got together via the personals at DF), but even then only 2 of us were 'regular posters' (myself and wheggi); the other 4 guys were all lurkers.
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Post by northrundicandus on Dec 8, 2004 11:53:12 GMT -5
Out of my current group, I am the only player with an active online presence. Out of 9 players, I'm the only 1st Ed Zealot. Of the rest about half will play 1st or 2nd edition, while the other half will play any edition. Our newest player was ready to ditch his 1st Edition material because he was sure he'd never play it again.
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Post by Axe Mental on Dec 14, 2004 18:55:48 GMT -5
I really thought 3E would have had a more positive effect on AD&D (as in players getting bored of 3E or unhappy with elements and going to check out "history"). So far as I can tell, few if any 3Eers moved over to AD&D. If anything its gone the other way.
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foster1941
Warlock
Duke of California, Earl of Los Angeles, Knight Bachelor
Posts: 476
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Post by foster1941 on Dec 14, 2004 20:34:24 GMT -5
I really thought 3E would have had a more positive effect on AD&D (as in players getting bored of 3E or unhappy with elements and going to check out "history"). So far as I can tell, few if any 3Eers moved over to AD&D. If anything its gone the other way. In the early days of 3E I think there were a lot of people who played in the 1E days, left in the late 1E or 2E days, and were brought back by the 3E hype machine. Of those, some of them saw that 3E sucked but we still feeling the D&D bug and therefore went back to 1E -- I'd say most of the current online 1E fan community consists of such people. However, I think we've gotten about all of the players from that group that we're ever going to. Any old-time 1E player who's still playing 3E is almost certainly doing so because he likes it (no matter what he may claim at DF), and any old-time 1E player who wasn't brought into the fold by the 3E hype machine back when it was at its height in 2000-2001 certainly isn't going to be brought into it now that it's on the decline. As for people who never played 1E in the first place becoming interested in it because of 3E, that was never going to happen. If they like 3E they like it and aren't interested in a replacement (and certainly not a replacement as philosophically different as 1E -- a few of these people might like something like C&C). If they don't like 3E they won't realize that 1E is any different and so won't think to look at it -- they'll either stop playing altogether or look at non-D&D/d20 games. The only hope from drawing new 1E fans from 3E is people who are kinda lukewarm about 3E, somehow manage to find out that 1E was different in ways that are appealing, and have an open enough mind to look at it without thinking "how quaint and primitive." There are ndoubtedly a few such people, but I'd imagine they're a statistically insignificant number. 3E is dried up as a source of new or returning 1E players. The only way we're going to find more new and/or returning 1E players is the old-fashioned way -- word of mouth. They're not going to come to us; we have to go to them (that is assuming we actually want a whole lot more 1E players -- I'm actually pretty satisfied with the number we have now...). |
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Post by Axe Mental on Dec 15, 2004 8:30:01 GMT -5
Foster wrote: "If they don't like 3E they won't realize that 1E is any different and so won't think to look at it"
Good point. I suppose my religious ferver regarding the whole topic of AD&D has more to do with seeing something completely unique to human history (as far as I know) die out, or worse be redefined into something I hate. The concept of gygaxian role play, action and dice roling in table top fashion is pretty much history (C&C seems to have missed the mark by including or at least allowing the inclusion of 3E elements). 3Es reliance on arcade like abilities and focus on making super hero type PCs waters down the role playing experiance...it's flat coke, or maybe some super cheap ultra thick sugary grocery store coke knock off....its just not close to the real thing.
It bothers me that AD&D wasn't frozen in time in game form like monopoly or risk (perhaps with only minor tweeks). If 2E or 3E had never come out I wonder if we could go and buy 1E at the local hobby stores next to Cranium and Monopoly.
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