Dungeons & Dragons Lures Back Old Players

[Logan Westbrook]

Dungeons & Dragons Lures Back Old Players

Dungeons & Dragons was once a game played by millions, and Wizards of the Coast is trying to bring some of them back into the fold with a new set of adventures.

Current D&D owners Wizards of the Coast has launched a new range of adventures aimed at people who don't have enough time to play in a standard game. Called "D&D Encounters [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.aspx?x=dnd/4new/event/dndencounters]," the idea is that you head to your local gaming store, pick out a ready-made character and play for a couple of hours each week, with each session being part of an overall season lasting around 13 weeks.

Encounters is designed to allow people to play when they can, and not feel like they need to attend every single session to have any fun. "We wanted to try and create experiences to fit in [to former players] current time frames," said Liz Schuh, brand director for Encounters. "It is also an opportunity to learn the new rules system."

As a long time D&D player, Encounters sounds like a great way to get new people into the hobby, as well as enticing back old hands who otherwise might not have the time. Finding a group can be daunting, but Encounters is designed for people to just come and try it. Even people who are not especially keen on the 4th Edition rules - which Encounters uses - can agree that more people playing tabletop RPGs is a good thing.

The new season of Encounters, set in the unforgiving desert world of Dark Sun, started on the 9th of June.

Source: CNN [http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/06/08/new.dungeons.dragons/index.html?hpt=Sbin]





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[snow]

Now if only they hosted something like that around here...

A new book store in my town was doing sign ups for regular D&D but the owners know nothing about the game and the DM to be decided to back away... Sad times...

 

[Orange Monkey]

I've recently started DM'ing my own campaign with the 3.5 rules, and it's great! I only wish I had started sooner

 

[Autumnflame]

shift work prevents me from regular attendances

 

[ItsAPaul]

The group here is about the most cliche, nerdy thing you've ever seen. Plus 4.0 sucks.

 

[Jirlond]

shift work prevents me from regular attendances

its a ***** aint it!

 

[Woem]

Dungeons & Dragons Lures Back Old Players

Dungeons & Dragons was once a game played by millions, and Wizards of the Coast is trying to bring some of them back into the fold with a new of adventures

This article confused me. First of all: who says Wizards is luring back old players, or that this concept is targeting old players? I don't see anything on the site that alures to this. So is this the your interpretation Logan?

I don't quite see how "old players" would be lured back to D&D with this concept. Is their assumption that players left D&D (or role-playing games in general) because they didn't have enough time due to other priorities like a job, wife, children? If that's the case then they might want to read up on the Days Of High Adventure articles.

 

[Sabrestar]

It's a reasonable idea, although it's not for me. Much as I want to get back in to having a regular playgroup (though I've had more fun with non-DnD games), the most fun for me is the rolling-up of a character, the design and backstory, bringing her to life. Ready-made characters serve a purpose, especially for this sort of idea, but I'd never really be comfortable or happy with it. But if it works for some people, good for them.

 

[carpathic]

The idea is neat, but why take away the best part of DND - making your own character?

 

[Ganthrinor]

Too bad 4.0 is total shit.

They're not making money because none of the "old" players that sunk hundreds of dollars into the 3.5 sourcebooks want to do it all over again, and all of thier minis and resources are far too expensive to be considered "Game accessories".

Not to mention half the fun is rolling up your own character with maybe a backstory or some non-standard "flavor" (some of my favorite characters are fairly odd-ball, like a Elven Barbarian/Berserk named "Schnargenblarfen" or the Orcish Wizard wielding a two-handed Spiked Chain).

 

[Logan Westbrook]

*trimmed for length*

Check the middle paragraph, there's a quote from the brand director that answers both of your questions.

 

[starhaven]

my group sorta stop playing i hate it

 

[Hiphophippo]

If my local gaming store ran this I'd take part of it just because. I'd have to deal with 4th edition though so maybe it's best that they don't do it.

 

[JensenBlayloc]

I don't think this is a lure for "old players." We stopped playing D&D when D&D stopped being D&D. We moved on to other RPG's that are RPG's not pen and paper MMOs. Further de-personalizing the experience by not even rolling up your own character certainly isn't a draw.

This was done, as WoTC is want to do,to cater to the younger and perceived as ADHD crowd. I have found that the young people are more than capable and interested in a real role-playing experience, but they are not being offered that, so they are taking what they can get.

The older players are past the take what you can get mentality, we have moved on to the "we are the customer, maybe you should make what we actually want to buy. Otherwise, we will take our hard earned coin elsewhere" mentality.

 

[oranger]

Without the character generation, and the draw of a campaign, an ongoing story to write with others...this is a video game on paper. And I bet it isn't done well by comparison.
Also, Dark Sun? I can see that being cool for a little while, some of the art from that series was amazing...but it fell from favor because that particular milieu is limited story-wise.

I think Wizards of the Coast has run this pony into the ground.

 

[scotth266]

With any luck, me and a bunch of friends will soon start our own campaign.

Unfortunately, all of us put our points into more useful stats -_-

 

[Nickisimo]

In some ways I think Baldur's Gate and the Internet did a lot to push old-school D&D into the netherworld. When I was 11 or so, in order to see a friend my Mom would actually have to drive me there since we lived in the boonies, but now I guess kids can just play games online. But we used to play AD&D 2nd edition from time to time and I used to enjoy it.

A lot of those memories are driving me to work on a RPG board-game that combines a lot of D&D elements with HeroQuest and games of that nature. It's almost like a board-game Roguelike, with comedic elements and a cooperative nature.

We need more old-school.

 

[Strategia]

I hope this is going to be organised somewhere near here as well, I've always wanted to play D&D. Yeah, I'd prefer a proper 3.5
game, from what I've heard, but this at least is a way to try it out. A tutorial, if you will.

 

[Kwaren]

If it uses 4.0 rules count me out. 2.5 - 3.5 only thank you.