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<blockquote data-quote="Wombat" data-source="post: 2722047" data-attributes="member: 8447">Okay, my gut reaction is &quot;No&quot;, but I feel there is a longer answer necessary here.In the general public eye there are either 2 or 3 rpgs commonly available; by &quot;commonly available&quot;, I mean not strictly found in specialty gaming stores, but also in non-game stores.&nbsp; The two most common (now found in, I believe, all the big chains) are D&amp;D 3.5 and WoD 2; the third is GURPS, but that is found on a more hit-or-miss basis.Now GURPS has one big advantage -- it uses only d6.&nbsp; To most of the general public this is still the only &quot;real die&quot; out there.&nbsp; People are used to seeing these, they understand them, and are used to calculating with them.&nbsp; On the other hand few non-gamers that I have talked to know about GURPS or where to start with it once they find out about it -- &quot;are the core books enough?&quot;, &quot;what if I want to play a cowboy?&quot;, &quot;do all these different things happen in the same place?&quot;&nbsp; So for all of its &quot;universal&quot; appeal, it tend to intimidate a lot of non-gamers.WoD is the easiest system to grasp.&nbsp; It only uses one kind of die (d10), has a set difficulty level, had comparatively easy character generation, etc.&nbsp; In many ways, it is the most &quot;intuitive&quot; of the three game systems.&nbsp; The subject matter of its books, however, tends to drive off many non-gamers or make them very worried.&nbsp; &quot;Why would anyone want to be a vampire/werewolf/whathaveyou?&quot;D&amp;D is the McDonald's of systems.&nbsp; Non-gamers know about it.&nbsp; In standard conversation, D&amp;D means rpgs to non-gamers.&nbsp; And many of them look at the requirements (3 books at $30 a pop, multiple dice in strange shapes, lots of charts and tables) and balk; when you add in the miniatures as well, the issue becomes even more complicated, as some people assume that you absolutely need them, thus increasing the expense dramatically.&nbsp; Sure, there is a &quot;For Dummies&quot; book and a boxed set, but many of them see the boxed set, find out it isn't a &quot;complete&quot; set of rules, and find that Junior is asking for more and throw up their hands in despair.&nbsp; (Can you tell I've been dealing with a lot of parents this way recently?)&nbsp; Most people hear the word &quot;rules&quot; and assume they have to memorize them all, much like they do with board and card games -- the notion that many gamers glide over rules or only look them up when absolutely necessary escapes and/or confuses them.&nbsp; Thus D&amp;D (read: rpgs) are &quot;hard&quot;, &quot;have too many rules&quot;, and &quot;require too much stuff&quot;.&nbsp; And the systems itself is less user-friendly to a first time non-gamer than the other two; this in turn makes them nervous about rpgs in general (again, the notion of D&amp;D = rpgs).&nbsp; I personally know of at least 5 households that have returned D&amp;D because &quot;it is way too hard and has too many rules&quot;.&nbsp; That's just my own experience.So I have had an interesting time in game and book stores trying to get parents over rpg fear.&nbsp; Some of them I have moved towards simpler systems; others I have directed to the boxed D&amp;D set.&nbsp; Some I have talked out of the process, simply because they were so freaked out and it just seemed like the safest thing to do.&nbsp; Still, there are always people willing to pick up D&amp;D because it is synonymous with rpgs.&nbsp; Many non-gaming people, even after entering a game store, assume that D&amp;D is the only game and that all the other books are just supplements, campaigns or variants for it.&nbsp; So, my 2 shekels worth on the topic.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wombat, post: 2722047, member: 8447"] Okay, my gut reaction is "No", but I feel there is a longer answer necessary here. In the general public eye there are either 2 or 3 rpgs commonly available; by "commonly available", I mean not strictly found in specialty gaming stores, but also in non-game stores. The two most common (now found in, I believe, all the big chains) are D&D 3.5 and WoD 2; the third is GURPS, but that is found on a more hit-or-miss basis. Now GURPS has one big advantage -- it uses only d6. To most of the general public this is [I]still[/I] the only "real die" out there. People are used to seeing these, they understand them, and are used to calculating with them. On the other hand few non-gamers that I have talked to know about GURPS or where to start with it once they find out about it -- "are the core books enough?", "what if I want to play a cowboy?", "do all these different things happen in the same place?" So for all of its "universal" appeal, it tend to intimidate a lot of non-gamers. WoD is the easiest system to grasp. It only uses one kind of die (d10), has a set difficulty level, had comparatively easy character generation, etc. In many ways, it is the most "intuitive" of the three game systems. The subject matter of its books, however, tends to drive off many non-gamers or make them very worried. "Why would anyone want to be a vampire/werewolf/whathaveyou?" D&D is the McDonald's of systems. Non-gamers know about it. In standard conversation, D&D [I]means[/I] rpgs to non-gamers. And many of them look at the requirements (3 books at $30 a pop, multiple dice in strange shapes, lots of charts and tables) and balk; when you add in the miniatures as well, the issue becomes even more complicated, as some people assume that you absolutely [I]need[/I] them, thus increasing the expense dramatically. Sure, there is a "For Dummies" book and a boxed set, but many of them see the boxed set, find out it isn't a "complete" set of rules, and find that Junior is asking for more and throw up their hands in despair. (Can you tell I've been dealing with a lot of parents this way recently?) Most people hear the word "rules" and assume they have to memorize them all, much like they do with board and card games -- the notion that many gamers glide over rules or only look them up when absolutely necessary escapes and/or confuses them. Thus D&D (read: rpgs) are "hard", "have too many rules", and "require too much stuff". And the systems itself is less user-friendly to a first time non-gamer than the other two; this in turn makes them nervous about rpgs in general (again, the notion of D&D = rpgs). I personally know of at least 5 households that have returned D&D because "it is way too hard and has too many rules". That's just my own experience. So I have had an interesting time in game and book stores trying to get parents over rpg fear. Some of them I have moved towards simpler systems; others I have directed to the boxed D&D set. Some I have talked out of the process, simply because they were so freaked out and it just seemed like the safest thing to do. Still, there are always people willing to pick up D&D because it [I]is[/I] synonymous with rpgs. Many non-gaming people, even after entering a game store, assume that D&D is the [I]only[/I] game and that all the other books are just supplements, campaigns or variants for it. So, my 2 shekels worth on the topic. [/QUOTE]

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