TTRPGs: The Next Generation

Generational shifts sneak up on us, until they don't

The TTRPG hobby underwent a fundamental transformation in 2023. Obviously the attempt to revoke the OGL caused a huge firestorm, but what did it actually lead to? Looking back over two years later, I think it accelerated us into the fifth generation of TTRPGs.

A quick breakdown of TTRPG generations. I consider a generational shift to settle in when the majority of design and play activity shifts from one type of game to another.

The first generation of TTRPGs is D&D and the games that came immediately after it. Design struggled to resolve the tension between playability and simulation. TTRPGs inherited the design concerns of hex-and-counter wargames. It ran from 1974 to about 1983.

The second generation focused on TTRPGs as storytelling mechanisms that supported heroic characters. It took them a while to shed their simulation roots and embraced the idea that these games took place in fictional worlds. In general designers tried to make games that assumed the “simulated” reality was that of a movie or novel. This generation ran from 1984 to about 1991.

The third generation shifted from characters to settings. Genre emulation rose to prominence, whether a game supported a genre from other media (pulp adventures) or a specific TTRPG setting and its tropes (TORG, Shadowrun). This era ran from 1991 to 2000.

The fourth generation focused on the game of character creation. Computer RPGs, which to this point mainly took their cues from tabletop, pushed into their own direction and TTRPGs followed. The focus shifted to the player experience of creating and playing a bespoke character. The GM diminished in importance. This era ran from 2000 to today.

Sort of.

Fourth generation TTRPGs, taking their lead from video games, were the first generation to take a business model into account. The idea is simple. If you can get players to purchase expansions on the regular, you’ll make a lot more money. There are four or five players per GM, so your market just grew enormously.

This also aligns with the rise of digital culture, which triggered two things.

Fans and publishers could now connect at scale. That flow of information led to entrenchment of design and business thinking circa 2000. The culture of play and design slipped into stasis (kind of, as we’ll see).

TTRPGs also suffered a severe contraction starting around 2004 with the release of World of Warcraft. Suffocating industries have trouble innovating. Investment and talent flowed outward, making innovation difficult.

Then a bunch of things happened to spark a shift.

D&D 4e, representing the peak of fourth generation design, nearly killed the D&D business. Paizo picked up the D&D baton with Pathfinder, but that game was a refinement of 3e and its very fourth generation approach. That disruption led to a lot of TTRPGers becoming gaming free agents. They were looking for something new.

4e, doubling down on an eight-year old design approach, helped spark a shift back to older generations of gaming. Slowly but surely, a chunk of the hobby began to question both third and fourth generation design approaches.

Then 5e came along. It triggered a surge of interest in TTRPGs with its more accessible design, but fundamentally it remained a fourth generation design. As digital culture made TTRPGs more accessible, new players and GMs piled in to the hobby. The COVID 19 lockdowns provided another boost of interest.

I think 5e sparked the desire for fifth generation games, but being wrapped in a fourth generation design it left the audience caught in limbo. Until now.

The attempt to revoke the OGL was a disruption on par with the release of D&D 4e. It caused a relationship reset between D&D and its audience. This time, rather than flock to Paizo the audience scattered to many different games.

Two years later, we’re seeing where the change stuck.

I think the audience went to two basic categories of games. They either sought out games that double down on 5e’s fourth generation traits - bespoke character creation, lots of character options - or they settled into games that focused on ease of play and GMing, 5e’s shift away from the fourth generation.

Those later games, which look like they have done a better job of holding their growth, are fifth generation designs.

Fifth generation games are games made for GMs. They are designed for ease of play, with that consideration extending to UX and UI. If the dungeon crawl you’re running presents rooms in bullet points and puts map insets on each page spread, it’s a fifth generation design.

Fifth generation designs are designed to enable GM creativity. They realize that without a GM, nobody can play a TTRPG. They focus on playability and ease of use and are very aware of the context in which they take place.

The COVID lockdowns gave people time the time to play TTRPGs. That desire to play remains, but the audience found that fourth generation designs could not fit into their post-lockdown lives.

Crowdfunding enabled a generation of designers to build a player community first, rather than attempt to brute force it through a distribution and retail tier that expected the commercially-driven approach of fourth generation designs.

YouTube and streaming enabled actual play telemetry. We can now watch a group stumble through an overly elaborate combat sequence, or witness someone spend 10 minutes taking a turn with their bespoke character.

So, welcome to the fifth generation. Adjust your design sensibilities accordingly.