Ides of March

The controversies surrounding Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast and its dominion over recent, current, and imminent versions of Dungeons & Dragons leave little room for optimism for those of us who like earlier editions, later variants, and different role-playing games altogether, but I can't say it's surprising. I haven't trusted TSR since it published Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space for Star Frontiers (and I ought to have distrusted them starting with the bifurcation of D&D and AD&D), but I've never trusted Wizards of the Coast with or without Hasbro's overlordship. As media personalities jump ship from D&D and launch their own vessels of variable seaworthiness, I think it's worth looking at the craft of great designers, young and old, who have been perfecting role-playing games without regard to, or interest in, Hasbro/WOTC's self-defeating nonsense. There are so many satisfying alternatives from the very beginning of the hobby to the present, and more are being created right now by actual independent game designers who actually play the games. The best part of role-playing is that it's a hobby. The best publishers of role-playing games are hobbyists themselves. The corporations don't care about hobbyists. In turn, we owe them nothing. We can do it ourselves.