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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tyler Do'Urden" data-source="post: 3871855" data-attributes="member: 4601">The problem for D&D over the last two decades has been simplifying the "entry-level" game while retaining a sufficient level of complexity and modularity to make it playable for an extended period of time- i.e., long enough to get the players hooked on the game, and turn the basic rules of the game into a "structural vocabulary" that can be built on by the more advanced products. The perfect example of this was the early 90's D&D Basic Set (the big black box with the beautiful red dragon on the front- <a href="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic75662_md.jpg" target="_blank">wasn't she a beauty?</a> ).  The set contained the complete rules for all the major classes in the original D&D game for advancement from 1st-5th level, a good selection of monsters and treasure; one complete dungeon (with a map, and pop-out creature & character counters); one dungeon map waiting to be filled in; a study course for new DMs; and enough material to easily last a gaming group for months on end. It even had the dice. All in one box!  By the time a group had gone through everything in there, they were more than ready to graduate to the D&D Rules Cyclopedia- or to AD&D, as their tastes may run.By contrast, pretty much all of the introductory material put out in the WotC era has been fairly lame; the introductory set doesn't look like it could hold a group's attention for one session, let alone months.  Nor does it contain the material necessary to run even a brief campaign; you pretty much have to graduate to the full $90 rulebook set, with all it's complexities, after the first adventure is completed.  Not exactly an easy way in, though I can understand how it makes sense for a business point of view- to a point.Most people I know who play came in from one of two ways- they started playing as children, with either the 1991 D&D game or the Red Box D&D... or (80-90% of cases, based on my experience), they were initiated into the mysteries of our cult by a friend or family member.  Relying on this "word-of-mouth" initiation, however, isn't a very good marketing strategy; especially when it's coupled with how much competition there is these days for "mindshare" of the same target market- videogames, graphic novels/manga, TV shows and anime- comparing today's pop culture with that of my childhood/teenage years (the 90's), you'd think that America had lost a war with Nerdistan (which, when you consider the impact of the Japanese as cultural exporters, and the ascendancy of geeky billionaires to the top of our country's social pyramid, we practically have)... there are too many other competitors in this market for WotC to merely leave D&D coasting on it's run of success.</blockquote>

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