Publishers WEbsites: How much do they help new players?

[Dice4Hire]

I forked this from the 4E board, as it is too off topic.

As for the argument that those who start 4E with Essentials will somehow be trained to not have AEDU martial classes, I can only point to the Warlord being a free PDF on Wizards.com. What more availability of AEDU martial classes is needed that totally free and available with a click of a mouse?

I have always wondered that. How quickly does a new player end up on the WOTC webiste? Or the publisher of their game of choice?

And what good does it do them?

I know the url is on every book for 4E, but still, how much does the website help?

 

[Thasmodious]

It depends on who the new player is and how they approach things in general. I can speak for my gaming group, I am the primary GM and also the only one who generally hits gaming forums, RPG news, and the like. When I became interested in giving Savage Worlds a try, the first thing I did was hit up the publishers website and forum to have a look around, find any free goodies (like their test-drive rules) and generally see what kind of support the company offers for the game.

So, for me, and by extension my groups, the websites help a lot. But it depends on the people involved. I'm the type that hits the internet up as soon as I get interested in any topic. Seems to me, these days, it would be rare for a group of gamers to not have at least one or two people who are research hounds and spend a lot of time online exploring their interests.