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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Banshee16" data-source="post: 1891337" data-attributes="member: 7883">I've got a new player that joined my group who only  started playing at 25.  The rest of us have been playing longer.  I don't think the industry is on life support....but I do think that the bubble has burst.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  It happened in tech, and tech has rebounded....companies are appearing again, people are hiring, etc. etc.  I think that some dominant players have emerged, such as Mongoose, Privateer Press, Bastion Press, Green Ronin, and Mahavloc Press.....and then lots of other companies that aren't doing nearly as well.  Those making good product will sell it.I've had to trim down my buying....but not because of a lack of desire to purchase products....simply because I can't support every company out there, and not everything appeals.  I largely buy more products from non-WotC companies than I do from WotC.  This is mainly because I find the originality far higher.I don't necessarily think that fragmentation of a sort is a bad thing.  I'm not sure about anyone else, but I don't want every rule/prestige class/feat to be 100% integratable into every other setting.  If the publishers do that, then the settings lack flavour and originality.  Both Dark Sun and Planescape had a lot of variant rules in 2nd Ed....and they were amazing settings.  Both variants in 3rd Ed. just are not the same without those variant rules.  Midnight and Iron Kingdoms have rules rules that are largely adapted to their specific environments....and I think that this has made those settings stronger...not weaker.  The rules support the setting, instead of just trying to shoehorn everything and the kitchen sink into the game.I think this is just a correction in the industry that was inevitable.  There are only so many customers, and they can only buy so much product.I will say that many of my local shops have organized play type events where they get a bunch of youngsters, in the 11-14 age group around, and teach them how to play.  And many times that I go to my local store, I see fathers, and even mothers, who are likely gamers, coming in, and showing their kids around, and getting them into the hobby.One thing I will note....WotC used to have this player registry on their website, where people registered themselves in cities around North America.  It was very easy to find players that way.  That is no longer being supported, so when I've talked with some players, they comment about how difficult it is to find other groups, like when moving to a new city, etc.Of course this is all my opinion....Banshee</blockquote>

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