D&D Brand Manager of Fluff

Hypothetical-

A while ago I hired Greg Nard, D&D RPG Brand Manager of Rules, Tables, Math, and Algorithms. Greg is working out great, cranking out tons of books full of new classes, feats, and all sorts of good crunchy bits. Most folks on EN World are happy with the products Greg is getting out but over time I have been noticing some grumblings on the boards about a lack of fluff in recent products so I have decided to hire another Brand Manger.

I have just hired you as the Brand Manager of Story, Settings, Funny Names, and Bardic Song Lyrics. I've cut Greg's line in half and given it to you. Tell me what books you are going to put out. You have eight titles this year.

I have an important dinner with Russ Morrissey, Larry King, Stephen Colbert, Regis & Kelly, and Oprah a week from today at GenCon and I need short descriptions of each to give to them.

Thanks

Your New Boss

Hmm...the beautiful fluff helped make a few previous WotC books really stand out as winners. FC1 immediately comes to mind, but further back Draconomicon and Lords of Madness were great too. So here are my top 3 (if I think of more, I'll post later)--

1) FCIII--I would put out another Fiendish Codex on the Yugoloths. We haven't covered much ground on them yet in 3.X, and there's a lot to explore, so FCIII could be a lot of fun.

2) Fey Monster Book--I would put out another monster book in the Draconomicon line full of great evocative fluff on Fey (and hopefully beautiful illustrations like Draconomicon as well). Due to the lack of Ecology descriptions in the MM, D&D Fey by default have become pretty 'Blah' in this edition, but they can be extremely interesting with the right fluff--creepy shadow fey, odd geases, and changelings among other things.

3) Sigil Book--Not only could this be generally useful for new players hoping to start a planar campaign, but there should be a substantial support for a quality Sigil book from former Planescape fans. The Faction Wars from 2e have left a pretty big launching point for a revival of the factions and rethinking of the city. We could time the release with a quality planar adventure a la Red Hand of Doom as well.

Scott_Rouse said:

Hypothetical-

A while ago I hired Greg Nard, D&D RPG Brand Manager of Rules, Tables, Math, and Algorithms. Greg is working out great, cranking out tons of books full of new classes, feats, and all sorts of good crunchy bits. Most folks on EN World are happy with the products Greg is getting out but over time I have been noticing some grumblings on the boards about a lack of fluff in recent products so I have decided to hire another Brand Manger.

I have just hired you as the Brand Manager of Story, Settings, Funny Names, and Bardic Song Lyrics. I've cut Greg's line in half and given it to you. Tell me what books you are going to put out. You have eight titles this year.

I have an important dinner with Russ Morrissey, Larry King, Stephen Colbert, Regis & Kelly, and Oprah a week from today at GenCon and I need short descriptions of each to give to them.

Thanks

Your New Boss

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Nice try, Rouse, but you will not get CMG secrets out of me that easily. A vow has been made and you will have to wait along with everyone else. In the meantime, I offer just one suggestion. You will likely want to change the title of the new position as there is simply no way it does not get colloquially shortened from D&D Brand Manager of Fluff to Fluffer. Best of luck, my nemesis.


Also, please, give my best to Regis, ask Kelly to stop calling and hanging up, and tell Oprah she will get her money as soon as I am able. Thanks.

The Bard's Handbook, redone in 3.5 rules; complete with an actual bard class which doesn't suck.

Aurora's Whole Realm's Catalogue - expanded, and ported to 3.5 - not FR specific.

Legends and Lore - expanded (NO DEITY STATS!!!), updated to 3.5; include Greyhawk Gods.

The Book of Speciality Priests - a bit heavier on the crunch - but with a large emphasis on ritual, holidays, dress, and philosophies.

Planewalker's Guide to the Outer Planes - 95% fluff - stories, tales, legends and locales from all the outer planes as told by a few iconic planewalkers.

The Big Book of Villages, Thorps and Hamlets - 100 cities detailed. Each with a rough sketch map, points of interest, background, brief statblocks on notable NPCs and plot hooks.

The Book of Villains - 40% crunch - villains and their organizations; personalities, motiviations, goals and desires. From levels 1 to 25.

Creatures of Mythology - variant monster stats on classical mythological creatures - especially including the numerous fey that always seem to get excluded from the game. Roleplaying ideas, ecology ideas, mannerisms, personalities, objectives goals, etc., included how to place in a campaign.

Eight titles?

These are just temp names, okay? Some are STOLEN from existing or past products.
All of these would have a stat block appendix or sidebars or footnotes, so I'll need Greg's Help

Threshold: The Adventure Begins.
This is a D&D supplement providing a solid framework for a 1-6th level D&D campaign. Interesting NPC's fleshed out to 7-sentence level. dungeon locations, encounter tables, wilderness environments. A geographically enclosed area,like the Two Rivers in Wheel of Time. It's an idea mine, but there is a thematic link.

3 parties
This book would consist of a chronicling of the growth and change of three adventuring parties from Levels 1-20. Chronicle meaning story-like.

The Great Game
A book on intrigue and politics, presenting a political view of the default setting. Create a sense of what higher level characters NOT in the dungeon can do.

Heroes
A sourcebook detailing a series of fully fleshed out Level 20 Heroes, with villians and story notes and stuff.

Cultures
A sourcebook detailing a series of non-bordering countries in the default setting, each of which would be rich in world detail and mood, and easily rippable to home games.

Ecologies
Nuff Said. Fully fleshed out monster Fluff.

Pantheon
Have you SEEN the Book of the Righteous? Do a different Mythos, but kinda like that

Wasteland
A sourcebook describing an inaccessible, isolated without impressive means area that contains great danger and great rewards. A Book providing a solid framework for a 14-20th level D&D campaign. Interesting NPC's fleshed out to 7-sentence level. dungeon locations, encounter tables, wilderness environments. A geographically enclosed area, like Searing Gorge or Un'Goro Crater in World of Warcraft. It's an idea mine, but there is a thematic link.

These could all be easily sequelized.

der_kluge said:

Aurora's Whole Realm's Catalogue - expanded, and ported to 3.5 - not FR specific.

Legends and Lore - expanded (NO DEITY STATS!!!), updated to 3.5; include Greyhawk Gods.

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I approve this.

Rystil Arden said:

3) Sigil Book-

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I was gonna put this in mine but there was too much crunch, and Greg is really territorial.

The Complete Riding Dog: WotC finally bothers to explain what the heck "trained for war" means.

An environment book devoted to the sky. Finally giving servicable rules for aerial combat. We have the elemental plane of air (plus any other plane with infinite sky which the Astral Plane nearly fits), settings with flying galleons, cloud giants and storm giants with castles in the sky . . . I think time is right for it.

Uncivilized West: an Eberron sourcebook about the nations in western Khorvaire - Droaam, Shadow Marches, Eldeen Reaches, Demon Wastes, and Zilargo.

Savage East: an Eberron sourcebook about the nations in eastern Khorvaire - Mror Holds, Q'Barra, Talenta Plains, Valenar, and Darguun.

-blarg

Book 1

Demiplanes: A Guide to Finite Realities