I’ve been sitting on this link for a while: Jeff Freeman’s written a nice synopsis of the state of the Tabletop industry, with clear allusions to what it means to those of us making video games. The part I liked:

The history of RPG sales shows that (sometimes radical) innovation revitalizes the industry. Stagnation kills it. CCG’s are are pretty radical, but they are still tabletop games of fantasy make-believe, if not ‘roleplaying games’ in the strictest sense. The World of Darkness series of games was a pretty radical departure from ’standard’ gaming not only in theme but systemically. And for that matter, D&D was a radical departure from it’s tabletop mini wargaming parents.

So a whole lot of gamers aren’t interested in buying what videogamers would refer to as “reskinned” old games they’ve already played….Long-time RPGers know they’ve spent tons of cash on RPG systems that they knew they were never going to actually play when they bought the things.

That just rang true for me. I actually prefer board games to pen and paper roleplaying games, but I still used to buy lots of RPGs just to see how they worked. As a game designer, the focus of my love is on game systems. When all those systems became the same, my impetus to buy wacky off-games faded.

Go read the article. Some of the comments are also very good, with Brian ‘Psychochild’ Green probably writing the most truthful and cutting response.