D&D (2024) Deborah Ann Woll and Matt Mercer consulted on the 2024 DMG.

WotC consulted with celebrities including True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll and Critical Role's Matt Mercer when revising the upcoming 2024 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Apparently another (unnamed) consultant provided advice on running game for kids.

That's it; that's the news.

 

[Reynard]

Nah, it's some researcher who likes 20 year blocks better than 15.

But generations are juat marketing double-speak, they don't mean much of anything. Iis is simply funny ro see people complain about Mercer & Friends (who are all in WotC "40+" catchall older demographic, except for Rey) as "Kids These Days."

I often wonder what age the pre-pandemic D&D adopters were. Like, is 40ish now representative of those that were not returning gamers but those who found it due to Big Bang Thoery, Community and Stranger Things?

 

[Parmandur]

I often wonder what age the pre-pandemic D&D adopters were. Like, is 40ish now representative of those that were not returning gamers but those who found it due to Big Bang Thoery, Community and Stranger Things?

Based on the numbers WotC has provided, primarily children age 12-24 over that decade (by 2020, under 30 was the majority of people who ever played D&D).

 

[Reynard]

Based on the numbers WotC has provided, primarily children age 12-24 over that decade (by 2020, under 30 was the majority of people who ever played D&D).

I wonder if there is any data on how many of those are second generation kids -- that is, brought in to the hobby by gamer parents. It seems pretty common anecdotally here, but EN World probably isn't especially representative.

 

[Parmandur]

I wonder if there is any data on how many of those are second generation kids -- that is, brought in to the hobby by gamer parents. It seems pretty common anecdotally here, but EN World probably isn't especially representative.

Probably non-zwro, which is probavly why WotC has been selling me children's picture books about Owlbears and the Young Adventurers Guides for my kids for the past few years.

 

[Hussar]

Again, though, this isn't new. You can go back to the old print Dragon magazines and when they polled their readers, they got EXACTLY the same age numbers in the 80's that you get new. If anything, we're actually trending older now. After all, I doubt the number of 50+ year old gamers (cough like me cough) were very high in 1983 compared to now. Now, the 50+ crowd are gamers who started in the dark ages and have aged through the hobby.

 

[Li Shenron]

WotC consulted with celebrities including True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll and Critical Role's Matt Mercer when revising the upcoming 2024 edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Apparently another (unnamed) consultant provided advice on running game for kids.

That's it; that's the news.

Even though I don't watch critical role, I've seen a couple of episodes in the past and I think Mercer is a very good DM who could certainly give good advice on a DMG.

Let's see if WotC consulted him in order to actually take his input into account, or only to be able to put his name in the book for marketing reasons.

 

[Reynard]

Even though I don't watch critical role, I've seen a couple of episodes in the past and I think Mercer is a very good DM who could certainly give good advice on a DMG.

Let's see if WotC consulted him in order to actually take his input into account, or only to be able to put his name in the book for marketing reasons.

WotC and D&D have had a pretty long and extensive relationship with Mercer and CR for years. I don't imagine they just paid for his name.

 

[Clint_L]

Amazing. It's almost like they are trying really hard to shoo us old grogs away for good.

Speak for yourself! I've been playing for more than four decades, and I love Critical Role and other actual play shows. They're my go-to entertainment during my long hours of miniatures painting.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Again, though, this isn't new. You can go back to the old print Dragon magazines and when they polled their readers, they got EXACTLY the same age numbers in the 80's that you get new. If anything, we're actually trending older now. After all, I doubt the number of 50+ year old gamers (cough like me cough) were very high in 1983 compared to now. Now, the 50+ crowd are gamers who started in the dark ages and have aged through the hobby.

It gets a little odd. In my observation, when D&D started it actually trended a little older than it did later. Probably because of the original access wasn't particularly easy for teens and such. There were certainly college-age players, but it just didn't trend young to the same degree as a decade or so later.

 

[Mannahnin]

It gets a little odd. In my observation, when D&D started it actually trended a little older than it did later. Probably because of the original access wasn't particularly easy for teens and such. There were certainly college-age players, but it just didn't trend young to the same degree as a decade or so later.

Yes. When it started it was mostly with college students and older wargamers (and sci-fi fans, like Lee Gold's crew in California, who started and still publish Alarums & Excursions). And the buzz and discussion about it in gaming magazines and fanzines (as covered extensively in Peterson's The Elusive Shift) was among these adult and college-age players.

But once the fad hit in late '79 in the wake of the James Dallas Egbert III case giving the game national media attention, the game (led by the Basic sets) started selling like hotcakes to teenage and junior high aged boys. And TSR's marketing started targeting younger in response. And creating other products aimed at young kids, like the Fantasy Forest board game, and the Endless Quest books.