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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 5929878" data-attributes="member: 32536">I'd probably be considered a weird casual gamer, but I still consider myself closer to being a casual D&D player than a truly dedicated one. Honestly, I play videogames and freeform roleplay/improv stuff much more than I play D&D, so I'd consider D&D to be a tertiary hobby for me at best. I also got into the hobby by teaching myself the rules without any access to a pre-existing group, which gives me a different perspective than some here.Anyways, the simple answer I'd give for what D&D's designers could do to appeal to casual gamers is "the exact opposite of what they are doing now". More or less, a modular game makes it harder for new players to really understand the rules, since it makes the system much more self-contradictory and inconsistent, and consistency is incredibly important for learnability (much more so than simplicity, I think). Modularity is something that is aimed at dedicated players who know what they want in detail, rather than someone trying to learn the game.Just as much, I think things like a simplicity which is built upon DM-empowerment and appealing to tradition and nostalgia rather than modern popular trends  and clear writing are bad for getting casual players into the game. The game needs to be simple and clear for people to be able to easily learn it, but that simplicity must be a focus on consistent mechanics and clear, unambiguous writing, rather than Gygaxian verbage, rules with big gaps designed to appeal to DM fiat (and thus experienced DMs), or focusing on flavor over clarity. Meanwhile, player empowerment and a focus on modern fantasy would help newer players understand and identify with the game much more easily, and more easily shift into the comfort zone of roleplaying.Basically, people need to understand that the casual player has the polar opposite of interests and needs from the traditionalist players who look for D&D to play more like older editions. An edition aimed at unifying the editions is almost by intent going to be a bad edition for casual or new players.Of course, nice things like a proper index and glossary help a lot, too.As a general rule, though, I don't think new or casual players need simple mechanics. Most new players these days are likely to have played something like Final Fantasy games, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, Magic the Gathering, or any number of countless other games. In other words, the general pool of potential D&D players is getting rather comfortable with complex game mechanics. I mean, WoW has millions and millions of players (many of whom are very casual players), but it has much deeper and more complex mechanics than older D&D editions do. Honestly, D&D mechanics need to present themselves as either very roleplay friendly (which D&D simply never has been compared to things like World of Darkness games or FATE), or have mechanics deep and satisfying enough to appeal to gamers who are used to good videogames or boardgames. Simplicity for simplicity's sake isn't necessarily going to achieve either.</blockquote>

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