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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7841519" data-attributes="member: 996">Well, that does give a very different perspective.  Back in the day, I gamed at local hobby shops until they all closed or stopped having anything to do with RPGs (c1989, I guess it must've been).  I went to conventions quite regularly from the early 80s - 5/year, I think was my peak attendance, but that included a couple sci-fi cons with just a bit of gaming on the side closer to two the last decade or so - until the last few years when health issues (and the attendant medical bills) precluded it.  Might get back to one local con, next year, they're changing venue to one closer to where I live, that'll make it easier.In 2010, the Encounters program started up and I was delighted to find that the "FLGS" had made a come-back.  OK, it was a comic shop, but still, <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> we'd fit 4 or 5 tables inside, and two outside (CA, outside is comfortable much of the year), gaming did so well from them over the next few years that the spun off a dedicated game shop, that's half tables.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />At first, encounters was /heavily/ new players.  Even when the playtest started, we'd still get more than a few, though never at the playtest table, that held the interest of only more committed fans.So I've seen a wide cross section of gamers over the decades - though, even so, from the Bay Area (the hobby's not as regional as it used to be thanks to the internet, but there's still differences) -  including a lotta new players. I suppose warlock might come close, mechanically, in that it has some at-will magical powers it uses frequently, and others that only come out occasionally, but not prominent preparation/memorization.  Wizard, appropriately, is right there, of course, in theme with magic-as-scholarship, which only makes it harder. 4e, we used to joke about Wand Implement Mastery making you a "Harry Potter wizard."Sure, metaphorically, it can mean "convince to try" or something. But you haven't been using it metaphorically.Well, or in support of a sales goal.  Like if he designs a commemorative edition with the expectation that it'll be kept 'mint in box' by the target audience.Yep.  Which is not necessarily part of the game design.  The packaging and marketing could all be designed by a separate team, after the game was created, for instance.The most successful/popular/praised ones have been those that directly reference classic modules, too.  We could draw an entirely different conclusion from that. Personally, if I had to guess at the dynamics driving the current D&D comeback, I'd speculate that the core of it is not old players driven by nostalgia, but new players driven by curiosity about the /experience/.  That the grogs are on board lends it vital 'authenticity' without which you couldn't satisfy that curiosity.  That the experience of D&D has had quite significant elements of class imbalance, frustration, unpredictable/high lethality at 1st, and dysfunction at high levels, means none of those things are remotely dealbreakers - and, indeed, lacking too many of them could have been, if it meant losing that sense authenticity.  Enough "not really D&D" grumping on-line and interest could've dropped off, instead of being curious about the phenom, the mainstream would be repelled by the 'controversy' and obviously insular/unpleasant community. When everyone's happy with the game, the community feels more welcoming.Now, that's a lot of factors going into bringing a property back, and it does /touch/ on design, but it imposes factors on design other than simply "game that people will enjoy playing."Of course not, your wizard will get there by 5th!</blockquote>

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