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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Willie the Duck" data-source="post: 9203037" data-attributes="member: 6799660">I have two main groups. One that tries a different game system nearly every time (sometimes circling back to one or picking up another genre in the same system or family of systems, but oftentimes not). The other almost completely sticks to current edition D&D. To me, the noticeable thing is that in all other respects neither group seems specifically more... anything really... than the other. They are equally as bright, equally diverse backgrounds, equally nerdy (so neither group is a 'D&D is our own activity in the nerdosphere'), and so on. I think there are a few fundamental issues going on, but the first is that it isn't really the time to learn the game (at least the picking up the primary play loop) that is the real concern (IMO, of course). <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Firstly, beyond the basics of what dice to roll when and which resources to check off, there are nuances and rhythms and cadences to games, well beyond how you do things in them. It takes moments to learn how to play a character in B/X D&D. It takes a session to realize that it is not a game to leap headlong into danger. It takes multiple sessions to learn how to prepare successfully for an adventure or to fill out your caster's spell loadout. More session to learn what issues are nonstarters/hard/easy at what level*, and maybe ongoing strategies (like gp=xp and finding ways to get treasure without confronting the owners). It might take a season to figure out which risks are worth taking and which are cost sinks, and a whole year or more (depending on how often you play/quickly you advance) to get a bead on a reasonable smattering of the monsters you are likely to meet. *Ex: climbing spells and thief percentiles reach reasonable expenditure by level 3, anything requiring flight can be done at level 5 but is costly, going through a solid wall is past that, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Secondly, not only is that extended time above, well, time; but it also is time where you the player are more vulnerable than when you are on top of a game system. Vulnerable to failure, loss, and most importantly sudden loss where they might feel like they didn't have the knowledge required to have made the correct decision that would have prevented the loss. That's part of the learning process, and if you're looking to learn, you generally don't mind a few 'oh, okay. Well, learning experience I guess' fubar moments. However, in general when I see people unhappy with changing up the game, it's because they weren't the one who suggested the change (so it isn't specifically what they were looking for). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">That's the third point. Oftentimes when I see a group contemplate a shift in games after a long time of not doing so (particularly from D&D to anything else). It is often at the insistence of one member saying that some other game system does ________ better. Oftentimes that ________ is something that one person is already passionate about, and others are kinda dragged along with the promise that the experience will improve. So not only is the sell that people have to be vulnerable to starting over and risk embarrassing loss and feeling less in control of their gaming experience, it's often done for the benefit of someone else in the group (which reasonably people should accommodate upon occasion, but point being it's part of the burden section of the pitch, with a reward section that often is very nebulous). </li> </ol>I mean, I think that's a lot of it. They are still enjoying playing the game, and no one has really convinced them that they should change.This is the another major issue. Some people are going to their D&D group, not their RPG group; and it is just like going to Chess Club instead of Board Game Club -- which is to say they aren't necessarily looking to change what they are doing or feel they are losing out by not doing so. No, it doesn't feel stagnant, because Joe over there has perfected his Réti opening and trying to get around that is proving challenging. And Jane over at D&D has an illusionist who is trying to actually stick to illusions most of the time. And so on.</blockquote>

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