Why DnD Is So Popular

 

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Because people are idiots! Next question.

I've been playing Neverwinter Nights for a couple of years now. I really like the game, but don't consider DnD to be a particularly good system. It's probably not the worst system, I mean, there are lots of systems that I've never played, some of them are probably worse.

But it is undeniably popular. This morning I was wondering why, and this is what I came up with, in no particulary order.

Name Recognition

It got its name recognition early, and it's managed to hold onto it. It's the one name that people who don't roleplay might recognize. It's the game that wacko religious people try to ban. Even if he or she doesn't play it, a roleplayer might use it to explain what he or she does to a non-roleplayer. TV shows are made about it.

And of course this is a cycle, it's the most well-known so of all of the roleplaying games out there, it's the one most likely to be mentioned or played.

The Joy of Patching

The DnD rulesets are really, really dumb. And as the decades have passed, more and more rules have been spackled, nailed, duct taped, bailing wired, and JB welded on top to try to make it make sense.

And so, as you look over the hodge-podge collection of rules, fixes, and patches, you can tell yourself, "Oh, why don't I change X so Y?" And you'll have Made It Better. It doesn't matter that it's still way worse than other systems, you personally had a hand in making it better, even if only for yourself and your gaming group.

Buying Increases Game Enjoyment

There's an endless stream of new material, fixes, patches, and new editions. There seems to be less and less time to actually game, and it seems harder and harder to get a group together consistently. Buying game material can substitute for actually gaming.

Trivia

It can be fun to track down different little tidbits, and DnD offers a veritable mountain of oddly interacting facts. Rules Lawyering can be fun, and to really rules-lawyer, you need a complex system that sometimes contradicts itself and has gone through many revisions. DnD is heaven for a rules lawyer.


All material Copyright © 2006–2019 Ulysses Somers, except where otherwise noted.