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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TikkchikFenTikktikk" data-source="post: 5353227" data-attributes="member: 67494">I spent the weekend at a small sci-fi/fantasy/gaming/anime convention demoing 4th Edition--the new Red Box and DM Kit in particular--for my FLGS in exchange for a free vendor badge.My take-aways:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The new Red Box is a huge hit and a huge draw to middle-aged dads who are playing with their kids as young as 4 and 5.</li> </ul>I include myself in that description. I'm 31 and spent a couple hours Saturday afternoon playing with my 4-year-old daughter in the vendor area. (A cute blond girl really does wonders for attracting attention. I had the most interaction with passers-by than at any other time during the weekend.)There is a big opportunity to support this group with targeted meet-ups and adventures, I think. They don't want to play with high school and college kids, they want to play with other parents with early school age kids. Encounters should be perfect, but I don't think it's being effectively targeted to this group. And this group needs published adventures designed for 1-2 PCs, for when it's just a busy mom or dad and one or two kids playing after supper, before bedtime.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">People who haven't played previous editions of D&D really like 4E, as do the non-hardcore crowd. Women seemed to mostly fall into this crowd.</li> </ul>I call them "non-hardcore" rather than casual, because I don't think there is anything casual about regularly playing any RPG. I'd define "hardcore" as having played other editions or especially other RPGs, playing more than one game a week, usually playing for more than 4 hours at a time, and/or min-maxers/char-oppersThere were a few women who played 3.5 or Pathfinder too, and almost all said something like (I'm paraphrasing) "I prefer 4E because it's easier to role-play in 4th Edition because there isn't a rule for everything and whatever you want to do the Dungeon Master can make up a skill challenge".The Essentials PC builds and rules updates seem to have been perfectly designed and developed for this group (especially after seeing them in action the past month in my role as Encounters organizer and DM at my FLGS).<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">People who told me they don't like 4E and were playing Pathfinder or still playing 3.x instead generally hadn't actually played 4E and had lots of misconceptions.</li> </ul>"Complicated fighters", "too simple wizards", "too much like World of Warcraft", and lack of crafting rules were the frequent complaints. At most this group seems to have played one or two sessions of Keep on the Shadowfell.This group was set in their beliefs and gave unsolicited opinions as soon as they saw me playing 4E.I don't think it's worth trying to pursue or support this group with 4E when the parents and new, non-hardcore groups are so much more receptive and probably a larger group.Personally, I haven't played Pathfinder, though I spent a decade playing 3.x and taking Tikkchik Fen Tikktikk, gnome sorcerer, from level 1 to level 20. I'd love to try Pathfinder, but I'm overbudget on time on money. I really like the art style, the fluff of the Pathfinder world, and the way Paizo does adventure paths.I will admit that I had extreme doubts about Essentials and Red Box before their release but they seem to be very popular and effective at bringing new players into the game--and hopefully keeping it alive--while being completely optional for existing players. I do think anyone who plays 4E should have the Rules Compendium, though, but only because it is a great, concise rulebook.I only have two real criticisms of the Red Box now:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The branding doesn't match that of the rest of the Essentials line and you can't find the rest of the line at many of the places you can find the Red Box.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">There are no descriptions of the races in the Red Box. That deserves a serious "WTF were they thinking".</li> </ol>I am not trying to start yet another tedious edition war. I wanted to share what I experienced this weekend and some thoughts on what I think those experiences mean in a biased (see my sig) but fair and useful manner.</blockquote>

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