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They stated explicitly in the review that none of the three had ever played D&D prior to 3.5e. They are definitely not "old-school" players.

This is interesting. I wonder how many 4e players will go "Essentials only" when Essentials comes out. If this becomes a wide-spread attitude, then does that make the pre-Essentials books effectively obsolete? Remember when the 3.5 core rules got released? WotC swore that the new core...

But it's a double-edged sword: Having a complicated game limits your sales potential by driving away the casual market. One of the keys of the 1983 Red Box's success is its utter simplicity.

There's no way I'm buying Essentials. 4e is a good game system, but it's not the D&D that I'd want to play. What I want in my D&D: 1. Mini-less combat the default, with optional rules for using minis. 2. Fewer (or no) character build options. 3. Less detailed combat. 4. More emphasis on...

My friends and I played a lot of RoleMaster. Back in the late 80s/early 90s RoleMaster was our system of choice. None of us liked the RMSS. ICE took an already complicated system and made it significantly more complicated. They made the mistake of thinking that just because fans liked...

I think this is largely true. I don't think there's a single edition of D&D that would even come close to satisfying everyone. I know that WotC wants to avoid splitting the market, but it seems to me that there's a pretty big divide between 4e, 3e, and "old-school" already. They are already...

I'm ok with "system mastery" being rewarded to some degree, but I wouldn't want it to be the focus of the system. I prefer to have the biggest rewards for in-game strategic thinking. For example: - Entering a dungeon populated by kobolds and goblins and, instead of fighting them both...

Why not just license the old material to a 3rd party? Give them a 5-year license to reprint the old books under a new trademark, like "Classic Dungeons & Dragons". Maybe even let them create some new adventure modules. If the experiment goes well, WotC has a new revenue stream. If not, then...

I agree, this is nothing new. There's always been a segment of D&D players that are mostly interested in showing off how awesome their character's stats are. Currently, we call them "system masters". In the past, they were called "min/maxers".

I got the Dungeon! boardgame for Christmas. In the box there was an ad for the 1981 Basic and Expert sets. I saw the artwork on the basic set and knew that I wanted that game.

Horses, donkeys, and mules suffered from the same problem as dwarves, gnomes, and halflings: they were just too similar. The obvious remedy is to remove donkeys and mules from the game until the designers can come up with new, more fun interpretations of donkeys and mules that differentiate...

To me, D&D is rolling up a character and exploring whatever cool setting (dungeon, wilderness, city, other plane of existance, etc.) the DM dreamed up whlie trying to survive and fulfill whatever objectives the group has set for itself. The point of the game, though, is just to have a good time...

Please read my quote more carefully. I said "I'd bet that most lapsed 1e/2e players wouldn't be interested." (underline added) I'm not sure how you're making that leap when you jump to that conclusion. I can assure you that any "socio-psychological" insinuations you're referring to are a...

Just to add to this: Supplement I of OD&D, where the spell first appeared, simply says that it's an "inscribed rune". The D&D Companion Set, which the RC is complied from, has the same description as the RC. The guy who originally wrote the spell in OD&D (Gary Gygax) is gone, but the guy who...

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Yes, AD&D 1e used inches as a measurement of distance since some players chose to use minis and a measuring system. (Not actually the same as squares since diagonal movement on a square grid isn't the same distance as orthogonal movement) Anyway, pages 10 & 11 of the 1e DMG make it clear that...

I agree that having their cake and eating it too is vitally important to the success of the current D&D RPG. However, even if the current RPG was discontinued, D&D as a brand would still exist in other forms like books, board games, video games, and possibly a new version of the RPG at some point.

The theory that I was responding to was that 20 year lapsed players are going to coming back to 4e. I don't see it happening. I think there may be a handful that pick up 4e, but the vast, vast majority of 20 year lapsed players are gone for good. Not a matter a preference. Not trying to...

Other than the D&D brand name and a few superficial similarities, 4e is nothing like the D&D of 20 years ago. It's a totally different game that just happens to have the same name. Trying to get someone to play 4e based on their love of 1e/2e is a tough sell. A few might be interested, but...

I haven't heard of any 2e retro-clones or simulacra in the works. What kind of improvements are you looking for?