Most of us that have played Dungeons and Dragons for decades absolutely love the additional player options , adventures, and campaigns. But recently, I am wondering if all this content has prevented a new generation of players from easily adopting the hobby.

I mean just look at all the books and content – it can be overwhelming to know where to start and where to end. It also can be financially overwhelming to acquire all the books.

Remember the initial boxset? You could pick it up and within an hour start playing. The attacks, modifiers, and spells were more manageable and not overwhelming, There was something so inviting about that simplicity that is lost with all of the content nowadays.

Don’t get me wrong, I love all the content, options, and details. I just wonder if there is a way to encourage the next generation of fans. I have had some people interested in playing, but decided to stay away for fear of not knowing the rules and looking uninformed. (Even with the most friendly of tables and parties)

I know there is a introductory boxset, but unless everyone is starting anew you usually get some people that want to just right into the expanded rules and options – and then the new players don’t know all the rules and look uninformed. 🙁

Thankfully, Virtual Table Tops has helped with this large knowledge entry fee somewhat as both DnDBeyond and Fantasy Grounds have great wizards to help ease you into the hobby at take care of filtering the vast amounts of information and mathematics down to something manageable.

I still have players who aren’t that comfortable with technology that are left overwhelmed. They just want to get together and roll dice.

I’m not sure there is an easy solution. I do yearn for the old days when you could pick up a small adventure campaign from your local bookstore and plan to play the next day.

I’d love to hear from any DMs out there that have created homebrew rules that ease the incorporation of new players into the game.