Gaming (and fantasy in general) has long-since gone mainstream. From computer games to television shows, the fantastic is seamlessly integrated into the popular imagination so completely that even non-fans understand its conventions in broad strokes. You can find polyhedrals at Dollar General, plush beholders on Amazon; and thanks to the movies, Santa's helpers are no longer the go-to response to elves (my cell phone offers elf emojis far removed from the toy-making kind). TL;DR: this fantasy stuff is popular...
And that's a fundamentally good development. No old man yelling at clouds today. It means we aren't reviled as geeks or nerds anymore (those born after 1990 might not realize how much of a thing that really was back in the mist-shrouded 70s). It means more products - and definitely more people to play with and/or share our love for all things fantastic, with fewer barriers to creative souls wishing to partake. The incredible diversity of people in the hobby is quite literally the best thing about the mainstreaming of our collective dorks.
But the mainstreaming of fantasy means the commercialization of it all. Every book is part of a Trilogy (TM), every movie part of a Franchise (TM). Half a century of lovingly enshrined conventions become Product (TM) in a crowded marketplace; and no, it's not lost on Robyn and I that we sell games in this saturated environment. To call our popular culture fantasy obsessed is a profound understatement. Don't get me wrong, good fantasy sells better than bad, and we're rewarded by the market with some great entertainment...
But it's a trade-off world, and this is the price of mainstreaming. If that's what it takes to welcome everyone and provide them with choices, so be it. And it's not like we don't have options here. Be a better consumer of products. Tune out the commercials. Given how ridiculously easy it is to sidestep the pitfalls of oversaturation, the complaints of this post are frivolous and probably downright petty. It's our job to act responsibly towards our personal abundance, whether food (drink), money, and/or popular entertainments...
Better still, we can take back our passions. Write (and play) a homebrew system. Make fantasy something we do rather than something we just watch or buy. That's what's so great about gaming, 5th edition as well. It's easy, and inevitable, to make these things our own, which is wildly subversive and positively human. And if there ever was a pastime subject to commercialization and simultaneously immune to its worst effects, gaming, in all its glory, might be it. That's all for this week. Time for this old man to go yell at some clouds...
Agreed!
ReplyDeleteTaking 5E as an example, I remember the excitement of its freshness when we started in early 2015, adding some house rules (and "deleting" some racial options) as we went through our first campaign from the Starter Set, which our DM set in his own homebrew world.
Then along came the extra books with new classes, new options, new background info and more and more of the implied Forgotten Realms setting I had long ago become bored of. I had hoped to expand the game we had with these books, but rather piled stuff on our game which we never needed, changing the world we played in by incorporating even only a few of the new options.
So I'm getting rid of these expansions, keeping only the "essential" 3: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual. Deep down inside I feel like the Basic Rules will suffice, really. I will definitely get those printed, too.
And like you, I'm full of the "default" fantasy stuff we see everywhere. We turn to the Warhammer universe, to Dark Sun, to Shadow of the Demon Lord, to games like Troika with its weird science-fantasy setting.
Too much is common knowledge in settings we've explored over the years, the wonder is gone, so it's time to build new worlds, taking inspiration from old ones.
I can only agree. It's one thing if you're 18 (almost) as my son, more or less born into the digital and merch universe, and still full of time and endless amounts of energy. But for old people like us, enough is enough. I'm tired of companies, even small ones these days, pouring stuff that the nerd in me wants to own to complete my collection.
DeleteI've actually donated every single 5e item I own to my son except the Basic Rules which I plan to use if I ever play 5e again. There's actually an even more basic Swedish DYI/freeware version of the game which I plan to use instead.
The truly awesome thing about tabletop gaming is that you can customize your experience. It's true; one man's trash is another man's treasure, and the gaming hobby has something for just about everyone...
DeleteMaybe it's time for a little D&D insurrection?
ReplyDeleteVive la Révolution!
DeleteI feel you. But the mainstream fantasy lacks depth, while also the fandom lacks depth. Where are the Game of Thrones fans now? went into a probably equally shallow shit.
ReplyDeleteIt is a nasty conundrum isn't it? And I'm not sold about the good vs bad fantasy argument. There is plenty of popular fantasy that just falls flat as far as I am concerned. In short most of the popular stuff is pablum or worse so grotesquely violent towards women that it is unwatchable. I'm the father of two amazing daughters, and that kind of fantasy needs to just disappear. GOT TV series, I'm looking at you.Yes I read Conan and other pulp sword and sorcery yarns, but that was just it- fantasy. Fantasy aimed at men as the reading audience, not women. Does this mean I have to rethink how I feel about contemporary fantasy? Yes it does. Fantasy that lifts up others, without sexual violence, and is well written is what I look for these days. Huzzah for your encouragement to write their own rulesets and games. That's how the whole thing started!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Not a GoT fan either, for the same reasons...
DeleteAfter a year of collecting overkill (I have no one to blame but myself - but I like to blame COVID), I had more OSR systems or similar games than would every hit the table or leave the bookshelf. I had been duped I think, and my now pared down collection is now pretty much 0e, Whitebox, Basic Fantasy, and Olde House Rules games. But I still have Barbarians of Lemuria - a very commericially successful game, but at least its very playable in one book. Sadly need to pare down my collection more. Games are not just for collecting and for enticing me to buy the latest and greatest, or adding to a series to collect. This stops players from their own act of creating their own game. Olde House Rules is a very ethical company in this regard. The way the rules are described with easy rules and an invitation to empower yourself as a player / game ref to make the game your own with your own rules. Just like how the original 0e game intended. There is no Pits & Perils 2e because 2e is really what you make when preparing your campaign. Without 2e, there is no stress about having the latest and greatest, and even if another supplement appeared - it would appear at an easy pace long after the other books have been out. Thank goodness I hadn't been playing something like modern D&D which churns out "must have" settings, adventures, or rulebooks monthly or even weekly!
ReplyDeleteI need to do the same come to think about it. Most of my games I gotten I came to the point where I have no intention of actually playing and only got them as spur of the moment. I will say what I like about the games like pits and perils, is that it activily encourages people to make their own stuff. And while we all will probably come up with the same things, they will all feel very different. I can't really say that about modern fantasy where everything feel samey and we try to make characters unique by one defining trope than actual story telling, if that makes sense.
DeleteI certainly feel like we have reached some level of gaming saturation with regard to the OSR. I have seen lots of 'new' games come out in the last few years and I read them and wonder why this is anything more than the same old system with a few house rules tacked on.
ReplyDeleteI really miss the days of the old blogosphere...
The grating thing is how narrow the whole thing looks. Whatever the size of the effects budget, setting and characterisation seems reliant on a narrow reference pool.
ReplyDeleteThere's a rule of thumb I repeat to myself occasionally:
The way to write the best Batman comics [or other unspecified nerd-fodder] is to make sure you're reading something *other than just Batman comics*.
Now, this doesn't only act as a means of shaking my fist at a crowd of nebulous, possibly imaginary, authors and commentators. Hopefully it also acts as a spur to make sure I'm reading - and making - more than [Batman comics which only reference Batman].