Are Kids interested in Pen & Paper RPGs?

[Simon Atavax]

Drat! That is true. I did have a father and son play C&C and the son was 16, but with the S&W/Labyrinth Lord game 20 is the youngest currently, although a 16 year old did play a one-off, but I wouldn't consider that a group, just a try-out session. But yes, I did just age myself. At least I am not the oldest in the group.



By twelve days....

Heh. I'm 38, so i'm there with ya. The other day I gave a jump-start to this guy and his girlfriend whose car battery had died at the Starbucks parking lot. They were probably early twenties, at most. I said something like, "You crazy kids these days . . . " and they both laughed.

 

[Mercurius]

Heh. I'm 38, so i'm there with ya. The other day I gave a jump-start to this guy and his girlfriend whose car battery had died at the Starbucks parking lot. They were probably early twenties, at most. I said something like, "You crazy kids these days . . . " and they both laughed, saying to each other when I was out of ear shot, "What a nice old fella."

I fixed that for you, Simon.

 

[Mark]

I fixed that for you, Simon.

Pure cruelty.

 

[JohnRTroy]

I'm not sure what is to be gained by getting kids into D&D, as opposed to just getting young people into the hobby. By and large, I run into numerous people all over the country whose first real roleplaying experience was 3rd Edition. These people did not get into the hobby as children but as young adults.

Yes, but you are ignoring the existence of Basic D&D, three versions which were produced under Gygax's reign at the company. Not to mention the merchandising including a toy line from LJN, the cartoon, the coloring book, etc.

There were a lot of kids who got the Basic sets first. I think ignoring that market is a mistake.

OTOH, it's a lot easier now for kids to know the basics of an RPG, simply because of the rise of computer/console games that use the mechanics. I'm betting a lot of the teenaged kids get their first experiences now from World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy. So maybe that compensates a little for the lack of introductory stuff from WoTC.

 

[Hussar]

How about a pointer to the sales figures you have in mind?

More than a year ago is currently? "Sales up more than 25 percent in the past few years" is relative to what?

These are awfully vague pronouncements. Any meaning attributed to them might be misleading. To know just what in fact is being claimed is essential to making any sense of them.

Well, I go by Gardner Dozois word more than anyone else's to be honest. When he says those numbers, I tend to believe him. He'd likely know.

Sure, it's vague and not exact numbers, but, how is the meaning all that hard to parse? Sales are up 25%. Here's another article saying pretty much the same thing.

And, again, a point you didn't question, is the fact that pretty much EVERY publishing company now has a YA fiction line. Heck, on my Ipod Touch, Harlequin is now flogging its new YA fiction line. Since when did Harlequin romance court teens?