D&D General IF D&D were for sale ...

[GreyLord]

With the latest hubbub of false rumors, IF someone could buy D&D, who would you like it to be? Doesn't have to be a case of they could really afford it - assume they won the lottery or somesuch and could manage to pull it off. And, once acquired, what direction would you like to see them take it in?

Spoiler

If you'd asked me a few years ago, it would have been Paizo. Though recently, I'd rather the whole of D&D went to the public domain where no one individual/company could monopolize it, you just pick and choose your favorite game maker and products.

Me...personally...who would I prefer. It's a conflict. On one hand I want the powerful collective to control and earn money. as that allow the game to flourish the best (IMO) as it has advertising, networking, and everything else behind it (which is what Hasbro/WotC have currently, but on the other having someone who treats it as something for everyone seems like it would also be great (though it may also cause something to wither and die to a small fraction of what it was against the giants).

My take then, on if it had to be someone other then the mega corp and how they treat the game would be...

Linus Torvalds.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I was hoping the one word plus the specific edit down to that line, would do it. So much for my trying to be clever, I guess.

Yeah fair

So, having just said this wasn't the thread for discussion internet discussion dynamics, here I'm going to do it anyway.

Note, I am not speaking about the specific person you were responding to - I don't read individual minds. I am making a generalization....

The key is in "willfully". Much of how people suck is in how we aren't actually making considered, willful choices. If we don't realize a consequence, we don't willfully choose that consequence. They probably didn't see that it makes something less fun for others - they just had a thought and posted it.

My level of social pessimism isn't that people willfully choose to suck, but that we often don't think enough to avoid sucking.

I see that as an optimistic thing, because people aren’t that hard to teach to pay attention to certain things. Like there are cultures with more and with less thoughtfulness toward others than modern US culture. If it was always willful, I’d give up and live in the mountains.

Someone would probably put a superhighway through my mountain, of course…

Little 30-50 page paper back splat books with city/town settings, or adventures like the old style modules would be something I could really get behind.

I think that is a great place for magazines to return, that are primarily digital but with POD options.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

So far ~30% of this thread answers the OP in good faith, the other 70% is talking about things tangential or orthogonal to the OP. Just another day on the interwebs I guess...

For me, here are some publishers of games I like, I'm going to think out loud whether them winning the Super Lotto and buying controlling interest in D&D would be like...

Burning Wheel HQ - hmmm. Thor and Luke at the helm of D&D? Well, Inspiration and the flaws/ideals/bonds/etc of the background may actually have some mechanical use. Maybe in some way tie into the advancement system in some way. Social interaction would actually have some rules that wouldn't be boring or depend on the GM to make ish up. Might get too complicated. Overall, rank that as a B+

Lumpley Games - well, I love Meguey and Vincent's Apocalypse World and all that came after in that geneology of games, at least in gestalt. However I'm not sure how much swearing I want in my D&D, and how much anarchic spirit D&D can handle. Let me be clear - I don't think the Lumpley principals have ANY interest in recapitulating PbtA rules into D&D - that ship sailed a dozen years ago. But I"m pretty sure once Vincent and Meguey figure out what they want D&D players to experience while playing the game, they could deliver like BOSSES on that promise. But I doubt the current group of players would want that, at least 95% of them. So A- for me personally, C- for the D&D brand as a whole.

Dire Wolf Digital aka Cortex Prime - Cam Banks and company would do an amazing job of modularizing D&D and also making it cross compatible with a bunch of other genres. Want D&D Supers? Done. D&D Noir? Done. Personally, from a pure gaming standpoint, I think a Cortex Prime D&D would be the best D&D ever. Existing fans may even be able to adjust - although it would be a starker change than the one from 3e to 4e... New fans I think might pick up Cortex D&D easier. I'd give this an A- overall

Speaking of cross-genre, what about Steve Jackson Games (GURPS) or Pinnacle (Savage Worlds)? Well, I've played GURPS many years ago, and frankly that system feels super dated and clunky - and very poorly suited for the streaming/AP world that's required for an IP like D&D. Savage Worlds I"ve actually never played, but I have heard good things about SW Rifts. Maaaaaybe it would work? Exploding dice are always cool.

Last one, and of course I'm saving my A for the end is Arcane Library. Shadowdark is kind of already the D&D we needed, deserved, and didn't even know we wanted. Maybe a "brighter, more heroic" version called DayLight or something could be released? I don't know, but I would trust Kelsey Dionne to do the right thing, first, last and to the end.

So to recap this tl;dr:
BWHQ: B+ - intriguing, but "we're not ready!"
Lumpley: A-/C- Niche play, but "we're not worthy!"
Cortex: A- I could see this working! And yet...
GURPS/Pinnacle: I don't think so
Arcane Library: Straight A - yes please

 

[Greg K]

Savage Worlds I"ve actually never played, but I have heard good things about SW Rifts. Maaaaaybe it would work? Exploding dice are always cool.

I like Savage Worlds and have heard great things about the licensed Savage Pathfinder

 

[Clint_L]

I would leave it with WotC but split WotC off from Hasbro again. Or just take the D&D team from WotC and make them their own company; they've done a pretty good job. And then they could hire back the folks Hasbro laid off.

 

[Bluenose]

Darrington Press. Let's see what Matt Mercer and crew would do if they had control of the game they're done a huge amount to popularise. And as a bonus they'd probably tear the Forgotten Realms out as the primary setting.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yeah tbh I’d love to see it.
And I love a lot of the 4e classes that wouldn’t be in the 4e Revised PHB, like the Avenger. But IMO you don’t want a 600 page PHB. As for the SRD, I’d be down to put every class in it. Why not? Just organize it so that the core 12 or so are in the main section, and then there is a secondary “uncommon classes” section after that.

It's not 4E without the Avenger (like, even more than Warlord, I feel like the defining/emblematic class of 4E), you could drop Barbarian or something for that - Avenger is genuinely a much better and more important class than Barbarian in 4E. You'd need Warlord too (but obviously without Warlock there's a spot). You drop Avenger you might as well be dropping Tiefling and Dragonborn!

(I jest slightly but I do genuinely think 4E would want a different "core classes" array to other editions.)

And DDB would be expanded dramatically to encompass every edition, classic and revised, and try to partner with or buy demiplane to support other games and make our platform the hub of the TTRPG community, not just D&D.

That would be ideal.

Like the roadmap would be ambitious, and I wouldn’t give a damn about profit for the first few years, and aim to break even after paying for labor and all that in later years.

What you're describing wouldn't even cost a significant fraction of what they're spending on the 3D VTT right now, I note.

Because I really believe that would lead to the brightest future for D&D and the TTRPG community.

So long as it was well-managed and stayed idealistic, for sure.

 

[Darren Bellisle]

I've said it elsewhere: co-op. Let the fans own it (it works for the Packers!).

 

[Velderan]

I've said it elsewhere: co-op. Let the fans own it (it works for the Packers!).

I'm fairly certain the people who wear wedges of cheese on their heads in public are more rational and easier to reason with than the collective D&D fan base.

 

[Velderan]

I would leave it with WotC but split WotC off from Hasbro again. Or just take the D&D team from WotC and make them their own company; they've done a pretty good job. And then they could hire back the folks Hasbro laid off.

It's less fun to talk about, but agree 100%. All of the other folks people mention are already doing cool things and I'm generally happy with how things are in the TTRPG industry. I'm a big fan of what Paizo and Chaosium are currently putting out and as much as I think they'd do a good job being stewards of D&D, it's basically impossible for them to keep the same focus on the cool stuff they're already doing while managing D&D. WotC on the other hand has been doing fine with the brand, it would just be nice if they didn't have the baggage that comes with being under a struggling Hasbro (such as laying off employees when WotC was doing just fine).