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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 6204636" data-attributes="member: 59082">I hope you're right! I am, admittedly, cut off from a larger community of D&D players. I know my own group, and then there are students at the school I teach at. But it is a very small private high school (~120 students). Over the last few years there has been a smallish group of boys--maybe about half a dozen, plus or minus a few depending up the year--that play sporadically. Interestingly enough, they have all played 3.5.I agree, but with a caveat. Part of the mistake WotC made with 4e, in my opinion, is that they paid too much attention to the hypothetical "two birds in the bush" and not enough to the "bird in hand." What ended up happening is that the two birds in the bush ended up being only one bird, and the bird in hand died, had two babies, only one of which stayed. Hopefully my point is clear, but I'll spell it out a bit. That "graying" group from the 80s is now 35-50 (or so) and theoretically has two decades or more of healthy hobbying. Sure, some of us will die off in another 10-20 years, and all of us will die off eventually (unless Ray Kurzweil is right). But the point is, WotC shoudn't discount the importance of current 40 year olds who would be happy playing D&D for years to come. It seems that they've got this in mind with Next, which seems to be an attempt to find a sweet spot between varying demographics and playing styles.In other words, if they can do the following with Next I think they've got the Holy Grail of D&D: A simple core game that plays similarly to OD&D or BECMI in terms of being imagination based and overall rules simplicity (but with an updated and streamlined rule set), but also has the modularity to allow for 4E-esque tactics and/or 3E-esque customization. That seems to still be the plan. I hope!I'm not sure if that's a technical term, but "demographic bulges" is a good way of putting it. I'd love to see a graph as, in the end, I have no idea. But again, if they can accomplish the "Holy Grail of D&D" - the Trifecta, if you will, as I described above, then I think they've hit the sweetspot and all kinds of demographics open up.That's a good point. This is why I'd like to see more emphasis with electronic tools on DMing and not (only) character building. MasterPlan is a good example of this, but I'd also like to see builders for the following and more: encounters, adventures, and campaigns.A good reminder. Again, see my Holy Grail/Trifecta above. If they can accomplish that they please a lot of folks.</blockquote>

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