Why I think D&D is losing market share...

[Treebore]

We all know how fun D&D is (no matter what edition you play), so why do you think its market share is shrinking?

Well, I have come to my own conclusion, and it is as follows:

It is essentially the "start up time". How long does it take a DM to be prepared to be the DM? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months?

How long does it take to install a new game into the computer or disc into the PS or X-box? Minutes?


In todays life of limited leisure time (maybe if short attentions spans, or both) which one are you more likely to do if your looking for something to play?

Well, unless you have a good buddy saying, "Learn this RPG, I know it looks like a lot, but the fun and social time makes it so worth learning!", I am betting the Xbox and PS will win 999 times out of 1,000. Not to mention WoW, etc...

So I think if D&D, and RPG's in general, want to compete and expand in the leisure time games market, they need to make the game simple and quick to learn.

So that is going to require some radical changes. Very simple and concise beginning rules. Handouts and step by step instructions. All to be mastered by the DM, not the player, but the DM, in about 15 to 20 minutes. Players need to learn it in about 10 minutes.

Can this be done? I think so, but it is going to require a radical rewrite and restructuring of how RPG's are initially presented.

The initial exposure should just focus on the absolute basics. Writing up a character, providing a selection of races, weapons, and equipment, but be very limited lists. Then have a written mini adventure explaining step by step to the DM how to adjudicate each encounter area. Then have a couple of paragraphs explain how these basic rules can allow the DM, and their social group, to create this story as "co-operative storytelling". Once they complete this introductory scenario they can be told they can go one of three paths.

1. Make up more adventures for their social group to play through on their own completely from their own imagination.

2. Buy more "introductory adventures" that will give the group more experience co-operatively playing through a story.

3. If they wish to "do more" they can buy rules expansions as well as "advanced" adventure packs that utilize these new rules.


Now hopefully this repackaging would draw in many of the people who want "quick and fun", who are obviously a HUGE portion of society, and by exposing them to the basic system they will get drawn into using the more advanced rules.

Now I have seen a lot of the "Quick Start Rules", but they do not do the job. Not even close. The presentation I am talking about is absolutely crucial to hook them, and then let them decide if they want to be reeled into the RPG boat.

So what do you think?

Edit: Yes, my marketing idea is for sale!

 

[SavageRobby]

Maybe. A number of companies already do similar things. Savage Worlds has Test Drive rules. We both know C&C has a Quickstart Guide. Perhaps if the biggest RPG did this, maybe, maybe it would alleviate some of those issues.


But I think RPGs, especially in the face of computer games, rely on players to spread them. Getting people involved, showing them the fun of person-to-person to RPGing and what it has to offer. (And not "instead" of playing computer games, but as another gaming outlet.)

If they don't get to the table in the first place, it doesn't really matter how simple the rules are, does it? So the first most important part is that you have to get them to the table first - and I see that as the main barrier for most folks, and by far.

 

[Ranger REG]

If you ask me, the more you help GM with pre-generated adventures or offer guides and convenient tools to making good campaigns on their own, the better for it.

I miss the old innocent days when D&D is brand-spanking new and everyone go out and buy adventure modules. Nowadays, the gamers are more fickle and sophisticated, and it's getting awfully hard to please them. Much like trying to please a moviegoer who only wants to see an original screenplay film (and not those adaptations from another media).

 

[Freak of Nurture]

A lot people have a social phobia of roleplaying in my experience and the old stereotypes help enforce this attitude. They feel childish playing make believe, and so a lot of RPG campaigns just end up focusing on combat or exploration. If that's all that's important to a player, then it's easier and cooler to just log on to WoW and clear 3D dungeons without all that math and thinking to get in the way. And regarding that thinking stuff, lots of people I've met don't like to work their imaginations and be creative, so they just make up an orphan RPG character with no background who likes to kill stuff and take treasure, another thing WoW is better at.

 

[Treebore]

Good points, which I can think can be addressed. Like I said, the current examples of Quick start rules SUCK for doing what I am talking about.

Thats why I said a rewrite and change of "packaging" is necessary. Ideas that are touched upon by certain boxed sets, but the presented game is still too overwhelming. IT needs to be absolutely bare bones, well presented, and well explained. Plus it has to still be playable and fun at just that level.

As for the "stigma" and "thinking", that is also addressable.

The Stigma can be reduced (I doubt totally eliminated) by changing the language of how it is presented. Call it co operative story telling, co operative family time. Push that it is a great social game, great family time, etc...

As for the "thinking" that is why I said well explained instructions, including how each encounter is ran. Keep the math simple. Only need a single modifier in the basic game, probably the attribute modifier. Don't use magic spells or items that would add much to the math. Use item and spell cards to help them track their modifier. Maybe have a character sheet laid out to where you place your equipment cards on the sheet to help the player "see" and understand what items would modify what. Same with spell and item effects.

There are ways it can be done, but big books hundreds of pages long, and at least 3 of them to start playing the game with, is not the way to do it.

 

[Treebore]

For those of you who think I am wrong, I would like to know why.

Do you mean no, there is no loss of market share?

Do you mean no, your (my) ideas won't do the trick?

What?

Do you have another idea that might do the trick? Other than one's that haven't succeeded for the last 20 years (IE word of mouth).

 

[Psion]

Sorta kinda not really.

You allude to what the real problem is (electronic games) but it's only half the story. Sure, ease of use is a factor, but as kids, we drank the 1e rules and read them cover to cover. But I do think that the visual media and ease of use are more appealing to young would-be gamers.

More importantly, I think, is that the networking aspect is either absent (for stand alone CRPGs) or built in (for MMORPGs). There's no finding a host, cleaning up the house, seeing who can make it, etc. Everyone plays when they can instead of having to go out of their way to game.

That, I think, it the single biggest attrition factor to computerized gaming alternatives and/or reason that new gamers go electronic IMO.

 

[Thanee]

Also, many simply do not know roleplaying games (and how much fun they can be).

Everyone (these days) knows the omnipresent WoW. But only a fraction of those really knows what pen&paper RPGs are about.

I would bet (If I wouldn't not bet on principle, that is), that quite some of those would get into roleplaying if they were only made aware of the fun times to be had with this hobby.

This also kinda relates to what Treebore said initially, I guess.

Bye
Thanee

 

[jdrakeh]

That, I think, it the single biggest attrition factor to computerized gaming alternatives and/or reason that new gamers go electronic IMO.

Yep. Accessibility is definitely an issue. I have resumed my playing of electronic games because they're much less of a chore than TRPGs today. I'm an adult with a day job and lots of real, tangible, responsibilities outside of work. I don't have endless amounts of free time like I did just out of High School.

If I want to play Dungeon Siege, prep time consists of turning on my PC, logging into a server, and joining a game already in progress. That's a lot less work than a TRPG and I can fit it into my schedule any time that I have a half hour free. I can't do that with tabletop RPGs.

 

[talien]

I'll go one step further:

1) Distribution. D&D is not about books. In CT, the only place I can buy D&D anything is bookstores. This has to stop. D&D is a game. It used to be in toy stores. It must be repackaged as a boxed set so it can return to toy store shelves.

2) One word: Heroscape. Figures and maps are essential. In the visual 3-D gaming world, flat tokens and imagination aren't cutting it.

3) The networking part is huge. There should be an RPGA membership included with each boxed set, or automatic membership in DDI for three months, or something. It's like how Xbox gets packaged with Xbox Live. This is a complex game that absolutely requires a few other people to play. It's about time D&D made an effort to include some means of finding them.

The fact that Heroscape has moved under the WOTC banner is very encouraging: http://heroscapers.com/?p=184

I've always said that if Hasbro is truly committed to D&D, then they will start moving hybrid-type games like Heroscape into WOTC's department, and -- more importantly -- will standardize the board game rules so they're a trimmed down version of the D&D rules. Gateway games, if you will, for a younger generation to learn and use.