Is D&D 4E too "far out" to expand the market easily?

[CountPopeula]

I don't think the Uruk-Hai were smarter than men. Perhaps as smart, but not smarter. Stronger and more ruthless, definitely, and more hardy than men or orcs or goblins.

I worded that wrong because i changed the wording a few times to get it right, but what I meant to say was smarter than orcs, and stronger and more evil than orcs or men.

 

[S'mon]

I share the concern. For the demographic that is more into fantasy literature than Star Wars, something like Mentzer Red Box D&D was a much better recruiting tool. Heck, I've played D&D for 23 years and I'm having a lot of trouble getting into 4e.

 

[Corjay]

Would we be playing this game if it were called Eladrin & Dragonborn? No. Not iconic, not timeless, just contrived and "huh?"-creating.

And poor old Shakespeare gets trotted out every time. Look, the implied setting is not a hot woman. Hot women could be called Faeces Mud or Genital Herpes, and they'd still be a hot woman, and someone would want to date them and romance them, and that's what the bard was talking about. The D&D implied setting got wrong is not a hot woman, and has no such licence to stupid names.

More bad stuff here, man.

Would you call it Sahaugin and Githyanki? Because they're in the game too. Or going on the race thing, how about Humans & Halflings? Really interesting there. But I'd go more for life and space in the vein of the real name, Rooms & Ropers. You see, I can make other D&D things look ridiculous too. It's just not a valid argument to say "I think the name is imperfect, thus the race is completely stupid." I suppose "Rounser" is more creative then "Eladrin", right? Not.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Look, the implied setting is not a hot woman. Hot women could be called Faeces Mud or Genital Herpes, and they'd still be a hot woman, and someone would want to date them and romance them, and that's what the bard was talking about. The D&D implied setting got wrong is not a hot woman, and has no such licence to stupid names.

I disagree. Oh well, it's not _really_ a hot woman, but I find it very attractive.

 

[rounser]

Would you call it Sahaugin and Githyanki? Because they're in the game too.

But they're not core PC races, assumed to be played by PCs in every single D&D game world out there unless you specifically ban them!

That's the 10 million dollar distinction, and I'm really mystified that you completely passed it by because it really is 100 stories high and destroying Tokyo, as we speak. Maybe if it starts breathing fire and plucking biplanes out of the air?

Do you even understand what I'm talking about?

I suppose "Rounser" is more creative than "Eladrin", right? Not.

Guh? Is this some attempt to play the man and not the ball that comes across as really, really weak? Because I'm not seeing this as having any bearing on what we're discussing, whatsoever.

 

[Corjay]

Wow. I guess you missed the WHOLE rest of the post. Moving on.

 

[Corjay]

By the way, the game isn't named after races. It's named after a structure and a creature, not two races. Your argument still holds no water.

 

[GnomeWorks]

Do you even understand what I'm talking about?

Yes, but it took a moment. That was a really weird analogy, and took me awhile to parse.

 

[jdrakeh]

European culture does simply not support a positive picture for these kind of characters.

Really? I think that games like Drakar och Demoner, Das Schwarze Auge, Gemini, and In Nomine* demonstrate that Europe has a pretty high tolerance for non-Tolkienesque fantasy and, more specifically, very dark fantasy with numerous references to demonology and other supposedly verboten topics. In fact, I'd say they were much more accepting of such things than the US populace, based on the persistent popularity of most of the games mentioned above.

*Originally published in France by Sirdoz, and much more graphic than the SJG translation.

 

[rounser]

Your argument still holds no water.

You'd have no problem with core races called Mugglegrumps and Gadwochits? Talking toasters called Toasterspawn? Sentient biofrisbees named Frisfolk?

How about a magical bucket with arms and legs as a core PHB PC race, called Bucketborn, would they hold water?