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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="woodelf" data-source="post: 950219" data-attributes="member: 10201">Do you listen to top-40 radio?  Have you looked at the CD selection at WalMart?  Are you aware of the vast difference in price between a top-40 CD at WalMart, and the same CD at your local music store, and how much mor eexpensive a non-mainstream CD is at yor ulocal music store?  Games risk going the way of popular music, only moreso because the whole market is smaller, due, not to massive discounting per se, but due to sales outlets that only cater to the largest-market tastes.  The massive discounters take the bread-n-butter sales away from the local shop, and then the local shop folds, and you simply can't get the small-press/unusual items, because they don't sell enough to make them worth the time of the big-box store.And it's not just non-D20 products, it's products from smaller-press d20 producers, too.  So, if you've ever discovered a small, obscure game at your FLGS, think what the gaming world would be like without these small-press games.  Now, in fairness, the internet is actually helping level the field for the little guy, too--anybody cansell via RPGNow, or whatever, without needing to produce 10000 units and take returns.  But what you lose is exposure.  Search engines are great for finding what you already know you want.  How do you find a new RPG that you've never heard of with Google?  [Same complaint i have with axing the printed prereg book for GenCon: i specifically want to find games that i've never heard of, so how do i search for them?  Not to mention, i want *new* people to play the games i'm running, and if they're new, they won't be looking for them.  With a printed catalog, they might stumble across them.  With a search engine, they likely won't.]An analogy: i was listening to the local rock station a few weeks ago.  I heard a song i liked, but didn't catch name or artist.  But i noted the channel and the time, and when I went home, i checked their website.  After a bit of effort, i finally found the "Playlist for the Week of X".  It had 10 songs on it.  IOW, not counting requests, they were playing a 10 song rotation for an entire week.  Even if every one of those songs was one of my favorites, i wouldn't want that. Likewise, even if D&D3E were my favorite game, i wouldn't want it to be the only RPG on the market.</blockquote>

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