Critical Role Could Critical Role launch their own RPG?

Dausuul · Mar 14, 2019

Morrus said:
Not even slightly what I said.

Then it's not real clear what you said. If creating their own RPG is "future-proofing," what future are they making themselves proof against, and how is it worse than the disruption that would be created in the present by blowing up their relationship with WotC and the D&D brand?

Morrus · Mar 14, 2019

Dausuul said:
Then it's not real clear what you said. If creating their own RPG is "future-proofing," what future are they making themselves proof against, and how is it worse than the disruption that would be created in the present by blowing up their relationship with WotC and the D&D brand?

How does writing a book “blow up” their relationship with WotC? Their relationship is not that precarious (unless you know something the rest of us don’t).

Dausuul · Mar 14, 2019

Morrus said:
How does writing a book “blow up” their relationship with WotC? Their relationship is not that precarious (unless you know something the rest of us don’t).

If all they do is write it, sure, no problem. I thought you were suggesting they would publish it, too, and--most importantly--use it in place of D&D in their show.

Is that, or is that not, what you were proposing?

robus · Mar 14, 2019

Dausuul said:
If all they do is write it, sure, no problem. I thought you were suggesting they would publish it, too, and--most importantly--use it in place of D&D in their show.

Is that, or is that not, what you were proposing?

Agreed. If they’re not going to eat their own dog food then what’s the point of producing it?

Jester David · Mar 14, 2019

Morrus said:
Nothing lasts forever. Start future-proofing early. And an RPG book isn't that big a hurdle.

D&D is pretty future proof. If WotC moves onto 6th Edition, they can stick with 5e. There’s no reason they need to play the current version.

Of course, if/when WotC does go to 6e, they’ll probably approach people like Critical Role and throw money at them to move over as well, advertising the game in the process.

And if WotC does move in a direction counter to the needs of CR (I’m uncertain what that would be), then CR could find another game company and partner with them. Like Green Ronin, whom they have an existing relationship with, adapting and customizing the AGE system.
Much like how Geek & Sundry’s show Callisto 6 partnered with Monte Cook to tweak the Cypher/Numenera system for their needs.

I’m not sure why they need to have their own rules. What makes the show is everything but: the story and characters and cast.

Dessert Nomad · Mar 14, 2019

Morrus said:
Nothing lasts forever. Start future-proofing early. And an RPG book isn't that big a hurdle.

Future proofing against what? I don't see what they are supposed to proof against, or how this would defend against it. And creating and publishing a functional RPG that people like to play is a significant hurdle, making something that competes successfully with D&D is not that easy - lots of RPGs have crashed and burned over time. Maintaining their relationship with WOTC and their fans after they abandon D&D for their own private label game is also a significant hurdle, and I have no idea why they would want to even try to jump that one for some vague 'future proofing'.

Morrus · Mar 14, 2019

Dausuul said:
If all they do is write it, sure, no problem. I thought you were suggesting they would publish it, too, and--most importantly--use it in place of D&D in their show.

Is that, or is that not, what you were proposing?

That is or is not what I was proposing. Although I wasn’t proposing anything.

I haven’t said anything about changing their show. I wondered if they could publish an RPG.

Clearly you strongly feel the answer to that question is “no”.

Umbran · Mar 14, 2019

Morrus said:
How does writing a book “blow up” their relationship with WotC? Their relationship is not that precarious (unless you know something the rest of us don’t).

We all assume that if they publish a game, they will shift their show to *use* the game. D&D players will no longer have a particular reason to take in their show, and the show won't be an advertisement for D&D. Which means effectively breaking the mutual-marketing relationship between them. That's what would get "blown up".

The real question isn't whether they can publish a game. The question is whether they can develop, write, test, and publish a *good* game.

Then, who is "they"? The people sitting at the table during the shows? Do they have particular chops in game design? If it isn't them, in person, then it is more like, "Can Critical Role glom onto some game designer(s), and promote a purpose-built game for the show?"

Morrus · Mar 14, 2019

Umbran said:
Then, who is "they"? The people sitting at the table during the shows? Do they have particular chops in game design? If it isn't them, in person, then it is more like, "Can Critical Role glom onto some game designer(s), and promote a purpose-built game for the show?"

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. I know they made a campaign setting, so they have some design chops. Whether that would translate to a full game, I don’t know. They have a great relationship with Green Ronin and various designers who published the campaign setting.

I don’t even know if they’d *want* to do something like that. All I really know for sure is that if they did, I’d buy it.

Dausuul · Mar 14, 2019

Morrus said:
I haven’t said anything about changing their show. I wondered if they could publish an RPG.

Okay. So, let us say they publish an RPG. The options here are:

They don't change the show. In that case, they could publish an RPG, and it would not hurt them particularly, but it would also be kind of a pointless exercise. How are they going to sell it if they are not themselves willing to play it?
They do change the show. In that case, they have blown up their relationship with WotC, which was based on them playing Dungeons and Dragons. See the last 8 pages of replies for further details on why this is unlikely to turn out well.

Morrus said:
Clearly you strongly feel the answer to that question is “no”.

That would be an obviously wrong answer, because of course they could. Anybody could publish an RPG. Taken literally, the answer to your question is a trivial yes.

My answer is, "They could, but it would be a poor use of their time and a lousy business idea."