A psychedelic take on the olden days of Dungeons & Dragons adorns the Wizards of the Coast D&D bus at the Penny Arcade Expo. (Bear in mind the "olden days" were when I started playing. I am olden.)

The parking lot also featured a tent where WoTC demoed Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game: An Essential D&D Starter (4th Edition D&D) -- aka "the red box"-- and the Castle Ravenloft Board Game; giant dice that people could lift and heave; and a stage for activities such as a spelling bee for words like Blibdoolpoolp, Flumph and Zagyg.

The Red Box demo was a lot of fun. I suspect I'm a key target audience for this product: I enjoy 4th Edition but when I play it I'm often overwhelmed by all of the stuff I have to manage just to hit monsters. My character sheet is like a control panel for a fighter jet. Red Box appears to fix that -- I can go as simple or complex as I want.

Over on his Facebook page, Paizo's Erik Mona says that they're planning to release a starter set for Pathfinder within a year or two. Bringing in new players and activating dormant gamers = good.