The Problem with Kickstarter

via Mightygodking.

Though he is talking about boardgames, I wonder how many of these problems carry over to RPGs? Certainly they raise money to get some wonderful projects off the ground, but how are they are generating sales after the project is released, or better yet, at generating NEW players?

Given that the bulk of players are in their thirties and forties, I see tabletop RPGs facing extinction in ten-to-twenty years, much sooner if D&DNext flops. Even now they are more of a cultural artifact than active concern. Getting back to Kickstarted I hear about campaigns mostly through other Blogs, which are only read by people already interested in the hobby.

Gamebooks like Fighting Fantasy are getting a semi-revival by moving into electronic devices and I'm frankly amazed that I haven't heard more from Hasbro about doing this with Dungeons and Dragons. There will always be people who want to hear the dice rattle across the table, I'm one of them, but I'm old enough to know that I'm old.