Dungeons & Dragons Announces Arcana Unleashed, New Magic-Themed Sourcebook at $49.99 Price Point

[TerraDave]

There is massive and continuous evidence from 1973 on that the game is aimed at 12 year olds: Gygax said so in the early drafts of the game, it ha been the consisteny policy of WotC. These new books are aimed at teenagers who bought books in the last two years, not older people. Those are nice-to-haves.

Like what? You say this all the time. Yet never actually present any evidence.

Anecdotally, the idea that young teens are buying bunches of hard back game books (and then actually reading them) is amazing. That they would actually play by those rules is truly incredible.

And the massive evidence for years was that RPGs were moving in exactly the same direction as comic books, relying on the same aging audience, with most players perhaps starting when they where 12, in the 80s. 5e did change that. But not just thanks to 12 year olds.

But don't take my word for it. Take, for example this from a few years ago. No 12 year olds:

 

[Parmandur]

Like what? You say this all the time. Yet never actually present any evidence.

Anecdotally, the idea that young teens are buying bunches of hard back game books (and then actually reading them) is amazing. That they would actually play by those rules is truly incredible.

And the massive evidence for years was that RPGs were moving in exactly the same direction as comic books, relying on the same aging audience, with most players perhaps starting when they where 12, in the 80s. 5e did change that. But not just thanks to 12 year olds.

But don't take my word for it. Take, for example this from a few years ago. No 12 year olds:

Right, thst image is part of the evidence for the point, that teens and 20 somethings are who they aim the game at. They have been open about it over the years, the age is on the game box and everything and various internal documents have come out, but a sample:

D&D General Thread 'D&D 3E Style Guide Peeks Behind The Scenes'

Sep 1, 2021

Alex Kammer of Gamehole fame, the convention and the wonderful museum of every TSR D&D product and game room also has a copy of the D&D 3.0 Style Guide!

Interesting parts include the 3 million active monthly players, the primary and secondary target audiences, the list of "do's and don'ts" and cursing!

The primary audience was college students ages 18-24, with a secondary audience of young people form 13-16 and adults 25+.

"Dos and Don'ts" include "do show monsters as fearsome, evil creatures. They're not misunderstood--they're EVIL!", and "don't show the game being played by...

• darjr
• Replies: 51
• Forum: *Dungeons & Dragons

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[bedir than]

The Starter Sets are 12+ because of safety laws, not target marketing

 

[Parmandur]

The Starter Sets are 12+ because of safety laws, not target marketing

Yet 12-24 has been consistently what WotC has explicitly said they market towards...and as a parent, the age on the box is always part of marketing.

 

[bedir than]

Yet 12-24 has been consistently what WotC has explicitly said they market towards.

None of the evidence you've presented does this.
The 12+ boxed set is due to the size of the objects within the box. To go lower requires certain inspections. There's no need to go higher because nothing actually changes.

 

[Parmandur]

None of the evidence you've presented does this.
The 12+ boxed set is due to the size of the objects within the box. To go lower requires certain inspections. There's no need to go higher because nothing actually changes.

The internal document saying they were primarily marketing to older teens and early twenty somethings is more specific. And WotC does not put D&D in the hands of schools as charity, that is marketing. They are constantly marketing to children and Teens.

 

[Maxperson]

Yet 12-24 has been consistently what WotC has explicitly said they market towards...and as a parent, the age on the box is always part of marketing.

I've always loved the Lego target audience. Are you 100? No Lego for you!

 

[Corinnguard]

I've always loved the Lego target audience. Are you 100? No Lego for you!

View attachment 431078

Some Lego kits have basically become 3-dimensional puzzles that allow you to build things like the USS Enterprise-D or an Imperial Star Destroyer. They're no longer just for kids or teens.

Ditto for D&D. The books, The Book of Vile Darkness and The Book of Exalted Deeds for 3e were explicitly made for adults because of their mature content. They even came with a warning on the cover.

 

[bedir than]

The internal document saying they were primarily marketing to older teens and early twenty somethings is more specific. And WotC does not put D&D in the hands of schools as charity, that is marketing. They are constantly marketing to children and Teens.

Having an entry market is not the same as having a primary or target market.
For example, a coffee shop usually carries hot cocoa for kids. That doesn't mean their target market is kids.

 

[Parmandur]

Having an entry market is not the same as having a primary or target market.
For example, a coffee shop usually carries hot cocoa for kids. That doesn't mean their target market is kids.

OK, but when their internal documents state the target audience is teens and twenty-somethings, that makes ans their target audience is teens and twenty-somethings. And they have not been shy about saying that over the years.

Point is, they are not aiming a new book in 2026, after the new PHB has been out and selling for a couple years, at people with 2014 books primarily: the primary audience is people born between ~2002 and ~2014 at this point.