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<blockquote data-quote="jasonbostwick" data-source="post: 5268650" data-attributes="member: 34924">I don't think that early 4E was aimed towards 'new new' players at all. I remember that it was said at the time that the marketing strategy was to help transition 3.5 players for the first year or so, then try and lure back lapsed gamers, and then finally aim at people who had never played RPGs before - and I interpreted Essentials as meaning that they had finally reached that third phase of their marketing.While the presentation of the 4E core books was streamlined and the readability was improved somewhat over 3.5, I don't think it actually made the game that much easier to pick up for a group who had no experience with RPGs. As someone who only started playing D&amp;D in the last 5 years, I can still remember some of the frustration and confusion I had on first getting a group together - without&nbsp; having had a bit of guidance from the older brother of one of our group, it's likely none of us would have kept playing. A friend of mine (who is a dedicated gamer now) had the 3.5 core books sit in his closet for 4 years after he and his friends weren't as lucky as I was and their attempts at figuring the game out failed.4E might be easier to pick up for someone who can join an existing group, but for the hypothetical 15-year old who read about D&amp;D on Penny Arcade and wants to start a game with a few of his friends, there are a lot of roadblocks.&nbsp; Having seen the unboxing video of the Red Box, I think that Essentials might help reach these players a lot better than any of the WotC starters sets have in the last 10 years. Step-by-step chargen that explains what everything on the character sheet means by showing you how they're used in an encounter is pretty brilliant. Here's hoping that it works and Essentials brings a lot more players into the fold.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jasonbostwick, post: 5268650, member: 34924"] I don't think that early 4E was aimed towards 'new new' players at all. I remember that it was said at the time that the marketing strategy was to help transition 3.5 players for the first year or so, then try and lure back lapsed gamers, and then finally aim at people who had never played RPGs before - and I interpreted Essentials as meaning that they had finally reached that third phase of their marketing. While the presentation of the 4E core books was streamlined and the readability was improved somewhat over 3.5, I don't think it actually made the game that much easier to pick up for a group who had no experience with RPGs. As someone who only started playing D&D in the last 5 years, I can still remember some of the frustration and confusion I had on first getting a group together - without having had a bit of guidance from the older brother of one of our group, it's likely none of us would have kept playing. A friend of mine (who is a dedicated gamer now) had the 3.5 core books sit in his closet for 4 years after he and his friends weren't as lucky as I was and their attempts at figuring the game out failed. 4E might be easier to pick up for someone who can join an existing group, but for the hypothetical 15-year old who read about D&D on Penny Arcade and wants to start a game with a few of his friends, there are a lot of roadblocks. Having seen the unboxing video of the Red Box, I think that Essentials might help reach these players a lot better than any of the WotC starters sets have in the last 10 years. Step-by-step chargen that explains what everything on the character sheet means by showing you how they're used in an encounter is pretty brilliant. Here's hoping that it works and Essentials brings a lot more players into the fold. [/QUOTE]

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