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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5950274" data-attributes="member: 22424">IMO, a large part of the problem is that while lots of people would be interested in RPGs, video-games and MMOs provide a much easier way in and do well enough to scratch that same itch. And once they are already enjoying the electonic version, why bother with tabletop?Additionally, I set up a D&D Meetup about two and a half years ago, and was quite surprised at just how many gamers there actually were in the local area - especially since I had previously been looking for a group for two years without any success at all.Well, if they're not even going to try the game due to their preconceptions, then I doubt there's much of anything that can be done.I think that there's a lot of truth in this. Even though we know you don't need to learn those near-thousand pages of core rules, a potential new player does not, and in many cases is liable to be put off. The three-book model is killing the game.I do think the D&D boardgames that WotC produced last year are a big help in this regard, and a really good thing. Ideally, I would now like to see them develop a true RPG version of the same - a very light version of D&D that you can take out of the box, read the rules in a few minutes, play for an hour or two, and then put away - with no expectation that you're going to give up every other Tuesday for the next year for the ongoing campaign!That's fair enough. Fortunately, there are plenty of other games out there, many of which are not fantasy.Again, there's an unfortunate amount of truth in that. And no point in my commenting on how to fix it - anyone who might pay attention also doesn't need to know.What we do with our Meetup is that we have a number of ongoing campaigns (which are "closed" after the first session as they depend on recurring characters), and also a number of one-shot games (I try to run four of these in the year, while other GMs run them as they are able).If I'm honest, the real reason for the one-shots is so that the GMs can try something new, and can basically run whatever they want without having to battle players who just want more D&D. But they're also really good for the more casual players, who probably can't commit to every alternate Tuesday night for a year, but probably can commit to one Saturday afternoon three months from now.(Of course, we're doubly blessed - we have a website on which to organise all this, and we have a pool of about 30 players in the local area so it's likely that whatever the GM wants to play he'll be able to get a group together.)</blockquote>

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