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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7748073" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>Thank you so much for realizing this. I guess it's because you haven't been playing for 20 or 40 years, and the complexities and oddities of D&D haven't just vanished into the haze of long familiarity for you. OT1H, it's a boon that 5e is widely miss-represented as 'simple' in the on-line community, it makes it less intimidating for those thinking about trying it - the atmosphere of the fan community can really put people off, and 5e has a less turbulent atmosphere than other WotC eds. OTOH, its a problem in that, when they do try it & find it complicated, unintuitive and arbitrary, they might think the problem is with them, not with the complex game & its jaded fanbase. </p><p></p><p> Neo-Vancian casting (Cleric, Druid, Wizard), specifically, is probably a bridge too far, but resource-management /is/ D&D, it's how the game plays and it's a skill that players can't lack for long. As in 3e, Barbarian can be a surprisingly good choice for a new player. Rage gives them one straightforward, fairly intuitive resource to manage, and it's toughness makes it comparatively forgiving. By the time they're bored with it, they have an idea of the way the game is paced and how to manage a daily resource against that pacing, and the broader range of spell-casting classes opens up to them. </p><p></p><p></p><p> This may not be how you meant 'gatekeeping' (I skipped the middle of the thread), but D&D has always been a sort of gatekeeper of the hobby. There are a lot of RPGs, but outside the hobby, the one any given potential new player is likely to have heard of, and thus try first, has always been D&D. If they don't like the D&D experience, then the gateway to the hobby is essentially closed to them, if they do, the gate opens...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7748073, member: 996"] Thank you so much for realizing this. I guess it's because you haven't been playing for 20 or 40 years, and the complexities and oddities of D&D haven't just vanished into the haze of long familiarity for you. OT1H, it's a boon that 5e is widely miss-represented as 'simple' in the on-line community, it makes it less intimidating for those thinking about trying it - the atmosphere of the fan community can really put people off, and 5e has a less turbulent atmosphere than other WotC eds. OTOH, its a problem in that, when they do try it & find it complicated, unintuitive and arbitrary, they might think the problem is with them, not with the complex game & its jaded fanbase. Neo-Vancian casting (Cleric, Druid, Wizard), specifically, is probably a bridge too far, but resource-management /is/ D&D, it's how the game plays and it's a skill that players can't lack for long. As in 3e, Barbarian can be a surprisingly good choice for a new player. Rage gives them one straightforward, fairly intuitive resource to manage, and it's toughness makes it comparatively forgiving. By the time they're bored with it, they have an idea of the way the game is paced and how to manage a daily resource against that pacing, and the broader range of spell-casting classes opens up to them. This may not be how you meant 'gatekeeping' (I skipped the middle of the thread), but D&D has always been a sort of gatekeeper of the hobby. There are a lot of RPGs, but outside the hobby, the one any given potential new player is likely to have heard of, and thus try first, has always been D&D. If they don't like the D&D experience, then the gateway to the hobby is essentially closed to them, if they do, the gate opens... [/QUOTE]
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