It feels early to throw in the towel on the hopes that Stranger Things would spark a renewed interest in D&D 2024 (and all the tie-in products), but with the reviews of the final season so far, I don't think that is likely to happen. Some are saying this is going out as badly as the final season of Game of Thrones, and it is still too early to say it is over.
We have until the final episode this week to see if this can be turned around. I still hope it can be salvaged, but I have my doubts.
Make a solid, unassailable, stainless-steel product first, and don't rely on tie-ins, Pop-Tarts, movies, or streaming shows to sell yourself. While the bump from Hollywood is good, it is not long-lived, and pop culture is very fickle and likely to move on. One bad season or failed movie, and you are firing everyone at Christmas again.
It feels like a lesson: focus on what you do best first and deliver a game the fans love.
And to not alienate your core audience of people who give you free hype.
The road to turn the Forgotten Realms into the next Lord of the Rings has sailed on, and those hopes are gone. The time to do that was 10 years ago, and we will be lucky to get what we can from a group of aging writers and creators, most of whom we are still fortunate to have. This should have started with novels and hype, creator control, and a plan. Not gaming. This should have stayed in literature. Instead, we got a success in D&D 5 that will never be re-created, and a hobby that is fading.
The surrounding IP, worlds, and settings have been squandered, left to push topical messages rather than tell stories that help us escape a world we desperately want to be away from. An escape from the madness, just for a while, is all we ask.
We will never get that again.
Enjoy the previous editions while we can.
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