We are defenders of the night....

We are Gargoyles!

And now, we are on DVD! The first season of the Gargoyles animates series is now on sale, Amazon's price is $20.99.

This was some of the best written, most imaginative, and most deviously plotted animated series ever seen on American TV (and possibly elsewhere). Unlike most kids animated shows, this one has plot, story arc, character development, and actiosn with long-reaching consequences.

Plus, it was a fine haven for Star Trek actors to do voice work :)

Go, support your stony protectors. Buy their series!

Gaming growth

In 1999, Wizards of the Coast did some market research prior to their release of what is now called "3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons". At the time, really solid market research about role playing games was unheard of, and the results of that research were very interesting. There is a summary of that research at The Escapist Archive

Of interest at the moment is that at the time, the data suggested that all told, about 2.5 million people played a "tabletop" RPG at least once a month.

As far as I am aware, WotC has not released any more recent data. I was unaware that they were had conducted any more research, as the research is expensive, and gaming is a niche market to begin with.

Recently, on one of the forums I read, Mr. Charles Ryan, Brand Manager of RPGs at WotC had the following to say:

"Some have commented on the market research WotC conducted in the couple years prior to the release of 3e. It was groundbreaking at the time, but it's routine now. We do major studies every year, along with many other initiatives; we work hard to understand our marketplace and the needs and desires of gamers and potential gamers. (This shouldn't be a surprise - some of the people on this thread have commented in other threads on their own participation in our new market research panel!)

As I mentioned above, the overall trends are very strong: that 2 million or so regular players from 1999 has grown to over 4 million in 2004. (Monte mentioned that the market research number is probably larger than reality, and I tend to agree--but the trend has been consistent.)"

Which to me is pretty interesting. That's a heck of a lot of growth for 5 years. So much for the gloom and doom types who say that RPGs are dying.

Addendum:
Also of interest to some - a bit of analysis of the data 1999 concerning what it is that people like in RPGs - A Breakdown of RPG Players While this bears some superficial resemblance to what some folks call "GNS Theory", I note that the resemblance is only superficial.