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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 5079381" data-attributes="member: 29398">Sigh...where do I start?First off, "Adult" in this case does not equate with bare breasts or arms being ripped off or NC-17; and while I admit 'adult' might have been a wrong term for me to use in the first place I can't think of a better one so it's going to have to do."Adult" I use here merely as a denominator of age - college age and higher - and-or level of maturity and comprehension at any age.The main game* IMO should be primarily designed for and marketed to adults; and that's the point I'm trying to address.* - there also needs to be a starter game designed for teens and new players of all ages that can lead into the main game later, but that's a different thing (and it seems they're now doing a 4e version of this; good on 'em if true).Example 1:Pull out your 4 DMG's.  Yes, one from each major edition (1-2-3-4).  Hell, while you're at it pull out each PH and MM as well.  Read a bit of each and you'll find:The 1e books were written for adults, plain and simple; so were most if not all of the expansion books, and this tells me that's who the game was designed for.The 2e books were written for the 12-15 age group; TSR had decided that was going to be their primary market.  The expansion books in some cases took on a slightly more scholarly tone, but not much; and it all points to a game designed for teens...or lower.The 3e books were written (mostly) for adults; and I'd hazard a guess that this one factor alone played a larger role in 3e's success in re-energizing the hobby than a lot of people are willing to admit.  The expansion books were kind of all over the place; paradoxically the one with the NC17-est content (BoEF) suffered from the least mature writing.The 4e books can't seem to make up their mind, and thus unfortunately just end up reading vaguely like high-school textbooks.  The expansions since seem to be slowly improving, though I admit to not having read that many.Example 2:In the market research leading up to 3e, WotC had already pre-determined who their market would be: those under 35 at the time.  And while 3e was at least written at a college level, I remain convinced that certain design elements (assumed number of players, campaign length, level-up frequency just to name a few) would have been quite different had the researchers taken data from all age groups and treated it equally.Example 3:WotC seems to want to use 4e to at least to some extent try and get some of the $ that are going into WoW and its ilk, and I have no problem with that.  But instead of marketing D+D as an alternative to WoW, why not market it as the end point of a progression in one's gaming life of which WoW was merely a (less mature) phase?  As in:"Tired of a computer doing your thinking for you?  Play D+D, where you can think for yourself!""D+D: real excitement!  Real fun!  And best of all, real people!""(WoW) Restricted by a program or (D+D) limited only by your imagination?  Your call."[and so on...]Lanefan</blockquote>

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