Fun with Math

[LibraryOgre]

Dungeons and Dragons came out in 1974. It was acquired by Wizards of the Coast in 1997, 23 years later. 1997 + 23 = 2020.

After this year, D&D has belonged to WOTC longer than it did TSR.

[Dimers]

Nay, sir! D&D truly belongs to the players! Nay, I say!

[Khedrac]

Dungeons and Dragons came out in 1974. It was acquired by Wizards of the Coast in 1997, 23 years later. 1997 + 23 = 2020.

After this year, D&D has belonged to WOTC longer than it did TSR.

Whilst a fun factoid, all this really does is make me feel old (And I only started playing in '83 or '84).

[Imbalance]

Plot twist: Wizards was bought by Hasbro in September 1999, making it 21 years this fall since D&D went "mainstream".

[Zhorn]

Still not mainstream enough. The number of people that have not dabbled in table top rpgs continues to disappoint me.

[LibraryOgre]

Whilst a fun factoid, all this really does is make me feel old (And I only started playing in '83 or '84).

You act like there was another reason to post this factoid.

[Khedrac]

You act like there was another reason to post this factoid.

Other than sharing the misery? - Good point, it doesn't confuse the younger generation the way telling them that I was using the internet before the world-wide-web was invented tends to.

[Knaight]

You act like there was another reason to post this factoid.

I like the cut of your jib.

Though I did actually get hit by this one. I'm more than half the age of D&D, how did that happen?

[Xervous]

This feels like the start of one of those depressing XKCDs with all manner of relative time stamps.

[Democratus]

The original Star Wars (1977) is closer to World War II than it is to today.

[Cicciograna]

Though I did actually get hit by this one. I'm more than half the age of D&D, how did that happen?

Time flies when one is having fun.

[Lord Torath]

I am almost as old as D&D. Just a few months younger (depending on when, exactly, D&D was published in 1974).

[Jarawara]

I'm more than half the age of D&D, how did that happen?

Yep, hit by that too. But for me, I'm OLDER than D&D!

I'm sure I'm not the only one...

[Khedrac]

Yep, hit by that too. But for me, I'm OLDER than D&D!

I'm sure I'm not the only one...

Absolutely not - I am older than Chainmail and I suspect that Mark Hall is my age or older. That said, I agree that RPHGs tend to be a generational thing, not many people older than us started playing them when they came out, so the distribution of players moved with the distribution of the game (i.e. most of the people will be my age or younger adjusted by when the game came to their shopping area).
That said, occasionally one does meet people who took the game up later in life - I used to know a whole bunch of players who are now over retirement age (some must now be nearly 70 if not over). Unfortunately I am no longer in contact with them (the oldest stopped being available to game on Saturdays as his wife took up dancing and so he was going dancing with her - I think he still games, just not on the days I do).

[LibraryOgre]

Absolutely not - I am older than Chainmail and I suspect that Mark Hall is my age or older.

I am actually the same age as the 1e Monster Manual and the first Star Wars.

As for generational, I've started running my 5 year old in Amazing Tales... and he ran me in one, where Jedi Knight Han Solo beat up Darth Vader.

[Khedrac]

I am actually the same age as the 1e Monster Manual and the first Star Wars.

As for generational, I've started running my 5 year old in Amazing Tales... and he ran me in one, where Jedi Knight Han Solo beat up Darth Vader.

My apologies Mark, that makes you a good few years younger than me. My father took my older brother and I to see Star Wars in the cinema during the original theatrical run (OK so it was 1978, but it was still the original release - films travelled slowly back then) as a reward for my brother getting a scholarship to the school he Dad wanted us at.

I didn't encounter D&D until a friend introduced me to it round about 1983 (I don't remember exactly when) and there were very few of us playing RPGs at school, but the number gradually increased until my last year when a new (and young) teacher set up a wargaming and roleplaying group.

Edit: incidently Mark, I am not seeing a forum icon for you - is that intentional, or has another igmage hosting site decided to block gitp?

[LibraryOgre]

My apologies Mark, that makes you a good few years younger than me. My father took my older brother and I to see Star Wars in the cinema during the original theatrical run (OK so it was 1978, but it was still the original release - films travelled slowly back then) as a reward for my brother getting a scholarship to the school he Dad wanted us at.

I didn't encounter D&D until a friend introduced me to it round about 1983 (I don't remember exactly when) and there were very few of us playing RPGs at school, but the number gradually increased until my last year when a new (and young) teacher set up a wargaming and roleplaying group.

Edit: incidently Mark, I am not seeing a forum icon for you - is that intentional, or has another igmage hosting site decided to block gitp?

Image hosting thing. I got no idea, TBH, and have stopped caring about it.

[SpyOne]

Yep, hit by that too. But for me, I'm OLDER than D&D!

I'm sure I'm not the only one...

You are not. I was the youngest player in the group when I started playing D&D; it was 4 and I was 8. The group included my 16 year old brother, a handful of college students including the DM, and my mother.

Star Wars was the first movie I saw in the theater twice, and the first movie I saw alone. Our local theater was about six months behind the one 30 miles away.