A common take on why #TTRPGs attract interest is the "you can do anything!" tagline. To be more precise, what actually happens is that the reasons why you can't do something in an #ttrpg are different from those in a video-game. 1/3
Namely, you don't do something because it ruins someone else's fun (or even your fun in the long run). Or you don't want to be aware of this so you trust that someone else will say no to you instead. Or they don't want to say no to you, so they use the game to say no for them 2/3
So the other side of "you can do anything!" is "somebody will tell a story just for you!" That's probably a very attractive thing when people learn about something like #dnd. There are people out there who may have a story just for you, that's the underlying promise. 3/3
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1/5 Putting out the data from dreamup.games/dndrpg/ that I collected from reddit, September to December. For a total of 34 320 unique users that posted/commented during these months, 25 563 were active solely on r/dnd (75%), 7 972 on r/rpg (23%) and 785 on both (2%).
2/5 So, 3 out of 4 of all unique users in the two biggest RPG subreddits are active only in r/dnd. If we look for #TTRPGs ranked on ICv2 and look at subreddit subscribers, something like r/pathfinder has 29 948, r/shadowrun 40 697, r/rpg 1 307 575 and r/dnd 2 234 415.
3/5 One question is if r/dnd can be a gateway for other RPGs as compared with r/rpg. So, I've also looked at the smaller subreddits to check the possible overlap. For example, r/dnd and r/shadowrun had 69 users in common while r/rpg shared 124 with that subreddit.
To run, as in running games like I'm some kind of machine.
To let, as in letting someone do a thing as if I'm some kind of authority.
To deal, as in having to deal with some problem that the game I payed money for is ignoring.
To run or to be the referee (our heritage from Strategos that #dnd has infected many #ttrpgs with) means I don't get to play. Or that I play with myself while everyone just gets to color within the lines. Nope, hosting the game doesn't mean I can't get to play with my friends.
To let or this strange vocabulary where freedoms we all already have are "granted" to us by those who run (ugh) the game or by the game itself. Don't buy a game because it gives you a set of permissions. Buy it because it gives you the tools that can make what you want come true