Is roleplaying having a hard time recruiting younger people?

[namada]

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[thrash]

As one more anecdotal datum, my son plays in an active community at his small liberal arts college in Minnesota. The group numbers more than a dozen, large enough to support two or three separate campaigns for those with different tastes or schedules. The overwhelming majority of those campaigns are D&D or its derivatives. The story lines are not appreciably different from the first things I ran in high school and college in the 1980's: action/adventure framed by a loose plot, with long-term goals and recurring villains. The members are aware that other games are available, but D&D appears to win out based on widespread pre-existing experience with it. Interestingly, they pick and choose which version they use for each campaign, usually based on the GM's preference, and don't seem overly concerned about the differences between versions. Different members of the group have more-or-less complete collections of some version in dead-tree format (my son has Eberron, for example), which the others consult at need.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by fartrader

Yeah, I should have just put #3 as 'those without the opportunity' as that's what I truly meant to say there. Have you tried to game online? If you've got the time and will to play but no local gamers, that would seem to be the best path for you to get your game on...

I tried it one summer, but a lot of people were flaky, and the group broke up. I notice that a lot of online communities are full of squabbles or empty at the moment. I ought to start trawling game stores, www.meetup.com, forums, and other sources for geeky groups and find some agreeable group with an interesting activity.

Originally Posted by Kromm

My experience tells me different. Then again, we live in different countries. In particular, I live in a bilingual city where it isn't a given that everybody loves the great Anglo game, D&D. But my recent experience with gamers in general definitely favors story games over traditional RPGs . . . to the point where the Pathfinder people are kind of getting marked as throwbacks.

I just discovered that one LARP near my hometown gets 50-100 people every weekend in summer. They seem to be reinventing SCA combat with softer clubs and less armour. Subcultures are fractal ...

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

The main problem is that roleplaying gaming is almost completely invisible.

If I were to tell someone that one of my main interests is "roleplaying" or "RPG", or in Danish "rollespil", then the first thing that'll spring to mind, for that other person, is either me running around in a forest playing dress-up, or me sitting in front of a computer interacting with a non-human simulated enviroment.

And the second thing that'll spring to mind, for that other person, is the other one of the two options above.

We need to campaign for Mazes and Monsters to get re-showings. ;)

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

I am 4. someone with time to play but not GM, and no close local friends who like gaming. Tabletop roleplaying is a social activity which gives a group of friends an excuse to meet regularly and spend time in the same room telling stories. Without a group of friends, there isn't much point.

That's a large part of the problem, the "will only play with people I already know"-thing.

And of course, that problem is greatly reinforced by the continued publication and consumer support of hyper-fragile systems that can only be played with friends, with people one already knows, because massive and thorough trust is required, with regards to everyone exercising self-censorship in terms of not "abusing" non-abuse-proof mechanics.

Why is there virtually no demand for robust systems?

Well, OK, at least some newer editions of D&D are robust but they fail at the other criterion, character creation flexibility.

So I'll rephrase my question: Why is there almoost no demand but systems that are robust yet feature flexible character creation and broad purpose applicability?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

So I'll rephrase my question: Why is there almoost no demand but systems that are robust yet feature flexible character creation and broad purpose applicability?

Maybe most people are K-insane or K-incompetent? Possibly everyone except you, I think.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Why is there almoost no demand but systems that are robust yet feature flexible character creation and broad purpose applicability?

People game for different reasons: some because they really love the activity itself, and some because they like spending an evening every week or every month talking with friends over a shared activity. This is true of most hobbies, but because gaming involves small groups meeting regularly for a long period, most people like to be more compatible with their gaming buddies then they do with, for example, their soccer team-mates or book-club members. And since most people already trust their gaming buddies, building the rules to minimize the need for GM judgement would be hard work for uncertain gain.

[combatmedic]

I am insane in the membrane.

It is known.

[D10]

I recently had success recruiting two non rpg players to play gurps and both got addicted to it.

I think it had to do more with people finally being able to find a group where the GM and the PCs play in a more serious manner, giving the impression of stability and safety from randomness that allows people to seriously consider it as something that could actually be worth doing over the long term.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by D10

I think it had to do more with people finally being able to find a group where the GM and the PCs play in a more serious manner, giving the impression of stability and safety from randomness that allows people to seriously consider it as something that could actually be worth doing over the long term.

Some people are looking for that. I've been able to get quite a high level of commitment from my players. I think there are other people who don't want it at all.

Bill Stoddard