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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5433091" data-attributes="member: 40177">Honestly, I'd go an entirely different route.&nbsp; I personally feel the way to market D&amp;D is as follows:&quot;Are you sick of playing video games and being able to think of something you want to do that the game won't let you do?&nbsp; Play D&amp;D!&quot;The game is based around that.&nbsp; Simple resolution mechanics that require little in the way of computations.&nbsp; Make it so that an eight year old GM can, fairly accurately, figure out how to topple over a statue onto orcs and resolve that.&nbsp; Keep the math simple.&nbsp; &quot;Buckets of dice&quot; is replaced with no die rolls higher than 3d12, and that should be rare.&nbsp; Limit scaling numbers - max level characters might only get +5 or +10.&nbsp; A cool side effect would be that new GMs can throw all those exciting monsters right into their campaign... high level characters can just fight more of them.Fast combats, fast adventures.&nbsp; Have a game that caters to the fact that people have a much shorter attention span than they did thirty years ago.&nbsp; Ideally, the game would have an attack matrix, so they'd never even need to add attack numbers to a d20 roll.Limit the amount of rules.&nbsp; Limit the number of situational bonuses.&nbsp; And, perhaps strangely, limit the number of PLAYER OPTIONS.&nbsp; The idea being that players will use their character's abilities as the situation warrants, not based on some lines of arbitrary rules text.Have the core classes, and the core races.&nbsp; Each class should have multiple options to advance - be they talents, skills, spells, whatever.&nbsp; They should all feel somewhat different in scope.&nbsp; And then, set it up in such a way that GMs can create their own.Encourage house-ruling, world-building, and campaign building.&nbsp; Set the game up that GMs have the tools and encouragement to create their own campaign worlds that are different from the rest.&nbsp; Do not foster &quot;cookie cutter settings&quot;, but instead tell each GM that it's okay to completely removes races, classes, and gear from the game.No magic item christmas tree.&nbsp; Instead,&nbsp; throw in lots of single-use items, so you can still give out gear and let players play with it, while at the same the PCs don't glow with magic.No splat books.&nbsp; None.&nbsp; Instead, release stuff in gazeteer type books.&nbsp; Add new monsters with adventures.&nbsp; Write &quot;tactical guides&quot; that have PC expansions.&nbsp; In essence, have the books be marketed always towards PCs and GMs at the same time (with the possible exception of adventures).&nbsp; Every book is a mix of fluff and crunch.&nbsp; Make sure the game has limited access points for crunch, and shift away from &quot;builds&quot;... characters should be set up so that they can be improved upon organically in play.&nbsp; Hell, if every class offered only five levels, PCs could actually expect to go through four or five classes through a full campaign, which would let them try out those new classes in future books!Make the game &quot;modular&quot;.&nbsp; In essence, release a &quot;psionics&quot; book.&nbsp; And a &quot;Future tech&quot; book.&nbsp; And a &quot;Lovecraftian horror&quot; book.&nbsp; And a &quot;Druidism&quot; book.&nbsp; And a &quot;Steampunk&quot; book.&nbsp; As well as a &quot;Dark Sun&quot; book, &quot;Spelljammer&quot; book, &quot;Planar&quot; book, etc.&nbsp; The goal being that a GM can say &quot;okay, for this campaign, we're using the druidism, steampunk, and lovecraftian modules, but the others are banned from play.&nbsp; This would allow campaigns to use entirely different subsystems, and would make different tables experience the game in entirely new ways... really upping the replay value of the game.Speaking of which, shorten the expected campaign length.&nbsp; If combats are shorter, this is even easier.&nbsp; If you can reasonably expect players to finish a new campaign every 15 months or so, and you have a seven year product life, they'll go through six or seven full campaigns in the game's lifespan.&nbsp; And each time, they'd be buying different books for the game, and keeping up interest - the game would be &quot;ever changing&quot; without any real errata or &quot;rules updates&quot;.While we're at it, drop minis or any expected hardware.&nbsp; Make a game that you can easily run off the internet.&nbsp; Stress the game's differences from video games, rather than emphasize them.&nbsp; Focus on fast gameplay, ease of GMing, and creation - not of rules equations, but creation of a shared story.Market it as such.&nbsp; Encourage fan story submissions.&nbsp; Have a &quot;campaign journal&quot; in DRAGON each month where players can submit in-character excursions for other players' perusal.&nbsp; That's how I'd do it, at least.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5433091, member: 40177"] Honestly, I'd go an entirely different route. I personally feel the way to market D&D is as follows: "Are you sick of playing video games and being able to think of something you want to do that the game won't let you do? Play D&D!" The game is based around that. Simple resolution mechanics that require little in the way of computations. Make it so that an eight year old GM can, fairly accurately, figure out how to topple over a statue onto orcs and resolve that. Keep the math simple. "Buckets of dice" is replaced with no die rolls higher than 3d12, and that should be rare. Limit scaling numbers - max level characters might only get +5 or +10. A cool side effect would be that new GMs can throw all those exciting monsters right into their campaign... high level characters can just fight more of them. Fast combats, fast adventures. Have a game that caters to the fact that people have a much shorter attention span than they did thirty years ago. Ideally, the game would have an attack matrix, so they'd never even need to add attack numbers to a d20 roll. Limit the amount of rules. Limit the number of situational bonuses. And, perhaps strangely, limit the number of PLAYER OPTIONS. The idea being that players will use their character's abilities as the situation warrants, not based on some lines of arbitrary rules text. Have the core classes, and the core races. Each class should have multiple options to advance - be they talents, skills, spells, whatever. They should all feel somewhat different in scope. And then, set it up in such a way that GMs can create their own. Encourage house-ruling, world-building, and campaign building. Set the game up that GMs have the tools and encouragement to create their own campaign worlds that are different from the rest. Do not foster "cookie cutter settings", but instead tell each GM that it's okay to completely removes races, classes, and gear from the game. No magic item christmas tree. Instead, throw in lots of single-use items, so you can still give out gear and let players play with it, while at the same the PCs don't glow with magic. No splat books. None. Instead, release stuff in gazeteer type books. Add new monsters with adventures. Write "tactical guides" that have PC expansions. In essence, have the books be marketed always towards PCs and GMs at the same time (with the possible exception of adventures). Every book is a mix of fluff and crunch. Make sure the game has limited access points for crunch, and shift away from "builds"... characters should be set up so that they can be improved upon organically in play. Hell, if every class offered only five levels, PCs could actually expect to go through four or five classes through a full campaign, which would let them try out those new classes in future books! Make the game "modular". In essence, release a "psionics" book. And a "Future tech" book. And a "Lovecraftian horror" book. And a "Druidism" book. And a "Steampunk" book. As well as a "Dark Sun" book, "Spelljammer" book, "Planar" book, etc. The goal being that a GM can say "okay, for this campaign, we're using the druidism, steampunk, and lovecraftian modules, but the others are banned from play. This would allow campaigns to use entirely different subsystems, and would make different tables experience the game in entirely new ways... really upping the replay value of the game. Speaking of which, shorten the expected campaign length. If combats are shorter, this is even easier. If you can reasonably expect players to finish a new campaign every 15 months or so, and you have a seven year product life, they'll go through six or seven full campaigns in the game's lifespan. And each time, they'd be buying different books for the game, and keeping up interest - the game would be "ever changing" without any real errata or "rules updates". While we're at it, drop minis or any expected hardware. Make a game that you can easily run off the internet. Stress the game's differences from video games, rather than emphasize them. Focus on fast gameplay, ease of GMing, and creation - not of rules equations, but creation of a shared story. Market it as such. Encourage fan story submissions. Have a "campaign journal" in DRAGON each month where players can submit in-character excursions for other players' perusal. That's how I'd do it, at least. [/QUOTE]

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