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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 4342728" data-attributes="member: 9053">I have to step in for a moment here and defend Rounser here, because I think a lot of you are missing his point. If we're looking at a game designed to bring in new people, how good a job does 4E do at that?When I look at the cover to the 4E PHB, I shake my head: exactly who is this cover designed to appeal to? The original cover had a Dragonborn and a Tiefling on it front and center, and that was scrapped because several of the markets thought it was too demonic looking. As a result we have a human sorceress, I imagine. What market is this cover going to appeal to that isn't already playing D&D?The names Dragonborn, Tiefling, and Eladrin are not particularly evocative (although, in the case of the Dragonborn, you're likely to know what kind of a creature it is from the name) and they're likely to be somewhat confusing to someone who doesn't already game.Now what everyone seems to be saying is "who cares what the names are and what these new races are," and so I'll respond: WotC cares! They spent a lot of time and effort to rebrand 4E as something different from what had come before it, so they must care about it quite a bit.I question who this new branding is going to appeal to, and I think that's the point of this entire thread: are people who don't currently play RPGs going to see 4E and become interested? Are people going to react better to the art and overall look of this new edition as opposed to the Dungeon Punk of 3E or the high fantasy of 2E?I honestly don't know, but I do know that I think the cover of the new PHB is one of the ugliest pieces of art I've seen in a long time, and that's from someone who enjoys the interior art quite a bit! In case it's not obvious, that's my opinion on the matter, and YMMV.So let's let off rounser on this a bit, mkay? To say "a rose by any other name" is an insult to WotC's marketing and branding group: they chose to make some serious changes to the look and image of the game, and that's not something they did trivially. Will it work? Your guess is as good as mine.--Steve</blockquote>

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