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<blockquote data-quote="jessemock" data-source="post: 1479808" data-attributes="member: 15694">On the contrary, there is something to be gained:&nbsp; pleasure.&nbsp; For the most rudimentary of goals, a higher reading level serves no purpose, obviously.&nbsp; The 3.x rules books aspire to nothing more, outside of the occasional remark about how some aspect or other is 'cool'.&nbsp; That's a result of two things: marketing and insecurity.&nbsp; Wizards wants to market to as young an audience as possible, and, indeed, Hasbro recommends D&amp;D products at age 13--there's your baseline reading level.Appeals to 'professionalism' generally mask insecurity:&nbsp; a writer whittles down his text in order to make it come off as practical and as businesslike as possible, out of an insecurity that anything more extravagant will be recognised as unprofessional frippery.Thus, the snooze.&nbsp; Which is disappointing, because D&amp;D products used to provide a rather charming conviviality:&nbsp; barely out of the realm of amateur publications, they didn't owe anybody anything and spoke as freely as they wished--and if they evidenced a less than complete grasp of grammar from time to time, well, they made up for it with a friendly face.Unfortunately, it seems that the industry has decided to abandon the one, but not the other:&nbsp; D&amp;D continues to have a problematic relationship with English, while it has long since ceased to charm.&nbsp; In a word, that higher reading level was the charm.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jessemock, post: 1479808, member: 15694"] On the contrary, there is something to be gained: pleasure. For the most rudimentary of goals, a higher reading level serves no purpose, obviously. The 3.x rules books aspire to nothing more, outside of the occasional remark about how some aspect or other is 'cool'. That's a result of two things: marketing and insecurity. Wizards wants to market to as young an audience as possible, and, indeed, Hasbro recommends D&D products at age 13--there's your baseline reading level. Appeals to 'professionalism' generally mask insecurity: a writer whittles down his text in order to make it come off as practical and as businesslike as possible, out of an insecurity that anything more extravagant will be recognised as unprofessional frippery. Thus, the snooze. Which is disappointing, because D&D products used to provide a rather charming conviviality: barely out of the realm of amateur publications, they didn't owe anybody anything and spoke as freely as they wished--and if they evidenced a less than complete grasp of grammar from time to time, well, they made up for it with a friendly face. Unfortunately, it seems that the industry has decided to abandon the one, but not the other: D&D continues to have a problematic relationship with English, while it has long since ceased to charm. In a word, that higher reading level was the charm. [/QUOTE]

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