randomwizard on Nostr: One postulate I have is that the rules for a rpg have little to do with popularity. ...

One postulate I have is that the rules for a rpg have little to do with popularity. Nothing will topple D&D unless it can challenge the 50 year history of "in language" D&D has accumulated. Things like, all the spells created, magic missile, fireball, lightning bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt. Red dragons breath fire, Green dragons breath a cloud of poison. Bree-yark. I attack the darkness. I got resurrected as a gnome.

For a rpg to compete, it has to compete with the mindshare and community that has developed.

The rpgs that even come close all have a large ip, Middle-earth, Star Wars, or they piggy back off of D&D's long history, such as Pathfinder.