[CompelTechnic]

Couldn't agree with this more.

The idea that D&D has hoovered up so much of the world as to deny people of their own creative expression is absurd and I couldn't get past the first paragraph without thinking the author is off his rocker.

[CactusOnFire]

That thesis is over-reaching. What I would say, though, is that D&D has such market penetration, it's become like kleenex: the uninitiated cannot think of the concept of a TTRPG without thinking of D&D.

While other TTRPG's are still free to exist, it is much harder to convince a new player to hop on board with anything else (or to even explain to them how there are games very similar to Dungeons and Dragons that aren't Dungeons and Dragons).

It doesn't help that things like the term "DM" are patented by WotC, too.

[bussierem]

As someone who has played for years, this is a struggle for me too. My group actually put a ban on D&D and PF as systems, and we cycle through 3-4 completely new and unique systems per year trying out everything that's out there. When people ask what I'm doing, my response is always, "We play Tabl-- We're playing D&D"