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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6621998" data-attributes="member: 37579">I think people underestimate new DMs. Many might not know the rules but launch themselves into playing just fine, blissfully unaware of what they haven't learned. I skimmed the DMG when I started running and just kinda threw adventures together. Both in 2e and 3e. I was years into 3e before I learned about how to appropriately balance encounters and the appropriate treasure to award. I just sorta threw together fights and handed things out. And I played just fine not knowing about rules like reach or the full details of the Attack of Opportunity system. I was too busy writing adventures to care.I think one of the strongest appeals of D&D to new DMs is being able to tell your own stories and write your own adventures. That's a HUGE draw. So more published content isn't a plus. I was really disdainful of published modules for many, many years, dismissing them as "for people too uncreative to write their own stuff." Similarly, the last thing new players need is more to read. Just getting through the core rules and the DMG can be daunting without generating waves of new material to be purchased, read, and absorbed. I think people get far too concerned about holding the hands of new players. First, there's not *that* many of them coming in to really be a viable audience. It's a greying hobby. And they slowly trickle in over years and an inconsistent rate. WotC has done the best they've ever done to accommodate new players: a cheap starter box and free rules online. And adventures you can run with just those books. All that's huge, and any more is excessive. When I first heard the statistic I thought it was BS so I went and looked myself. And Paizo had a nice lead.1997 is a good year to compare with TSR IIRC. I think I also went with WotC in 2004 or 2005.The catch is, TSR did very few hardcover books and released a lot of small accessories. But with 96 pages of adventure/accessory released each month in an AP volume, Paizo keeps up nicely. Just adding up the APs, hardcovers, player companions, and campaign setting books Paizo publishes a couple thousand pages every year. If they repackaged their material to spread it out, they could more than release a 240-page hardcover book each month. Keep in mind that during most of its lifespan, 4e limited itself to a 160-page book each month.3 hardcover accessories in the 250+ page range. And in the last couple years they've done a hardcover setting book. They did a hardcover superadventure last year as well and planned the Player's Strategy Guide for last year as well but printing delays kept it to this year. (Had the Strategy Guide not been delayed they would have released 6 hardcover books last year.)They also produce a 32-page player book every month and a 64-page Campaign Setting book every other month (sometimes more often), which vary between crunch and fluff. How do you figure majority of the fanbase? These forums account for less than 1% of games, and mostly the really hardcore ones that want to talk about the game between games. The vast majority of gamers are likely very different than the type that frequents message boards or even visits ENWorld.</blockquote>

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