An article on the Official Wizards’ D&D site focused on introducing kids to D&D had me asking myself a single question: What if video games are preventing people from getting into tabletop RPGs?

I’m already scheming ways to get my son to play D&D. It’s an elaborate plan that has his mother terrified. Before I even run that first adventure, I’m going to get him reading fantasy. I’ve already completed step one – get him to love dragons. All that took was a few carefully purchased stuffed animals and reading him bedtime stories featuring the awesome winged creatures. Step two will take place when he’s a bit older. I have to transition him from being read fantasy to pursuing it himself. The Hobbit and Brian Jacques’ Redwall series are great gateways. They’re the books that first piqued my interest in the genre. Step three? Well that’s the most difficult part…

I’m currently immersed in a weekly 5th Edition game. Throughout my life, I’ve always been in one campaign or another (usually GMing). At some point I expect him to get curious about this mysterious thing, “Daddy Games” he calls them, and ask to play. From there I’ll run him and some friends through a short campaign inspired by the materials I’ve slowly subverted him with over the years. Specifically I want to run a Redwall inspired campaign. By the time he hits middle school, he’ll be into original settings and thinking about GMing himself. Mission accomplished.

Tabletop gaming is an integral part of the evolution of video games (and an important part of the man I’ve become). Early games from the MUDs like Zork to Final Fantasy bear obvious marks of D&D. Hell, Dragon Age: Inquisition has more than a few allusions to more humble pen and paper origins. And me? Well, I’ve explored the topic on this site before. I get excited thinking that D&D and other tabletop games could be as pivotal in my son’s life as they were in mine. My plan seems like a good one but there’s a problem. It’s difficult to get people into tabletop.

Despite burgeoning attendances to very well-marketed conventions, sales for traditional tabletop gaming are stagnant across the board. With the exception of boardgames, the rest of sales are down to nearly 1/3 of what they were in 1990. According to a comprehensive (and optimistically skewed) survey conducted by Wizards of the Coast back in 2000 (I looked for more recent numbers, they’re not there), just over 5 million people play some form of tabletop RPG. That is an entire genre of gaming. Consider for a moment that a single video game, Skyrim, boasts an active player base of about that. At launch Skyrim moved 20 million units. To put it in perspective, the 5th Edition PHB moved 30,000 units at launch last year. Some might say I’m arguing apples to oranges here. Allow me to point out that there is most definitely an overlap in the fan bases here (more importantly the potential fans) and a finite amount of hours in a week to devote to escapism. Quite frankly it’s much easier to turn on a console or PC than get three to five friends together and run an RPG session.

There’s an entirely different and complicated article I could write from here. One laden with a bunch of numbers and profit margins. But that’s for another time. For now just go with me and know that I think escapism is a fucking blast and I highly recommend any of its forms to anyone.

There’s a scary thought. What if my son doesn’t get into D&D because he likes video games too much? As a parent, I’ve sort of made peace with the fact that my son won’t like all the things I like. It’s actually an exciting prospect. He’ll quite easily have a better upbringing than me and I’m eager to see what sort of unique individual he becomes. My job is to make sure he’s able to distill the truest and best self he’s possible of.

Getting people to like the things you like – especially if they’re your kids – isn’t a path forged by force but by nuance.

If you’re between the ages of 25 and 35 you’re sort of the transitional generation. Older, and you’re D&D/Tabletop as fuck. Hats off to you OG (original gamer) motherfuckers. Younger, and video games are your undisputed king. It’s the older millennials (my generation) that watched the guard change from tabletop to video games. Hell, it might be our fault. Now it’s our job to help the younger millennials and next generation see why we still love to take time away from our consoles, PCs, and handhelds to play traditional games.

I love the freedom of real RPGs. No matter how great video games get, they will never compare to the improv potential of tabletop. I love the social interaction. As much as I live in the intangible ether of cyberspace, there’s still nothing that can replace sitting at a table filled with friends, a bag of chips, and a six-pack of be- soda. I love the creativity and world building and interactive storytelling. When I show D&D or Shadowrun or Rifts to my son, those will be the things I focus on. The Wizards article I mentioned above has some great tips and I recommend you read it when you’re done here.

A big theme of my site and the reviews I write has always been the “cost to fun ratio” of video games. “Is this game worth a full 60 dollars retail?” “If get paid ten dollars an hour and pay a full 60 dollars for a game, can I expect 12 hours of enjoyment (work isn’t fun so you have to double your enjoyment compared to hours worked)?” Buying the 5th Edition Core set on Amazon and some dice is about the same cost as a full retail game plus a DLC pack. The average video game is going to get you about 10 hours plus a replay return of about 5 hours. Really great games are obviously way better but we’re using (bad) math averages for argument’s sake. A single DND session can last 8 hours on a single Sunday. And I do that every week. Furthermore, I’m the kind of weirdo that derives fun writing essentially fan-fic about my character throughout the week leading up to the next adventure. And when I’m the DM? The constant world building and act of building an adventure is unlike any other experience. That’s just fun efficiency.

I’m not knocking video games. I fucking love those too but they’re sometimes too easy to love. There’s hope for tabletop gaming though. I mentioned early that sales have been at a standstill. That’s actually good considering that up until 2012 they were in a free fall. That they’ve leveled off gives me hope. Add in some enthusiastic GMs getting their peers, the kids, and the generation in between into the hobby and the future is a bright one.

Video games may be encroaching on tabletop but I think they may also be part of their salvation. A misstep with Games Workshop’s MMO, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning was almost catastrophic. On the other hand, they’ve managed to remain profitable due largely to the success of Dawn of War and the Blood Bowl games. Up until recently, Wizards didn’t have the rights to an MMO of its own. That has changed and and an MMO bringing in millions a year can go a long way toward printing adventure modules. Then there’s Sword Coast Legends which may actually be the future of long distance DMing. I’ve personally not been a big proponent of running games online. I’m an animated GM. I talk with my hands. I doodle things on the battle map or scratch paper. Some things are lost online – but SCL? The tools it’s promising might finally hammer the gap between online and in person.

But screw all of that. I’m just going to start with my kid (and his friends). I’ll continue to love tabletop games and hope that love transfers to others. And when Sword Coast Legends comes out in Q3 of 2015, you can bet your ass I’ll be running and streaming an online tabletop RPG. I’ve actually just now decided to start taking applications for players, email me (magicalmistermephisto@gmail.com).

Here’s to the future or tabletop gaming from a video game website.