[Lets's play] You're given total control of Dungeons & Dragons...

[El Mahdi]

Lets's play] You're given total control of Dungeons & Dragons...

What would you do?...

I'm with Morrus on this. But first, I'd actually take the job so I could fire the idiot that would hire someone from ENWorld. I mean, Seriously! What were they thinking?!?!

 

[rogueattorney]

1. Use the D&D brand. D&D computer games for Wii, DS, PS3, XBox 360, and pc. D&D board games. The Ravenloft game is a great first step. Reissue the classic Dungeon! board game with a big D&D logo on it. If I still have an association with Hasbro, D&D Monopoly, D&D Clue, and D&D Risk should be worked on.

The suggestion up-thread of D&D Legos is absurdly brilliant and must be implemented post-haste. I want to take apart my Lego Mind Flayer and Lego Beholder and put them together into a Mind Beflayer!!! I demand that product be produced right now!!!

2. I realize that I am not really in touch with the current version of D&D and the people that play it. I hire someone who is. I want that person to helm the continuing production of 4e.

3. Freeze editions. We're done doing different editions of D&D. There will never be a 5e. We may re-issue older editions of the game, but the only thing that D&D is in the future will be what D&D has been in the past. If one of my designers comes to me with a hot new design scheme, it will be a part of another game.

4. Put out non-D&D rpgs. Single box, relatively complete rpgs, not unlike the original versions of Star Frontiers, Top Secret, Gamma World, and so on. I want to sell more different games and less supplements to games.

5. Put out an "evergreen" version of "Classic" D&D. I want a boxed version of pre-3e D&D that is a relatively full and complete version of the game available in a boxed set that sits next to Clue and Scrabble at Wal Mart. The 1981 B/X version of D&D would be a decent model to go off of, with the two books smooshed together, with a few editorial scrub ups, and some snazzy new art. Add a nice B2-style adventure module, and maybe some geomorphs and other play aids. Add ad-type all over it - "The Classic version of the game!!!"

Customer confusion be damned. D&D players are smart. They can figure it out.

5. Move support for everything online. Every game we produce has support on line, scenarios, rules additions, campaign worlds, and so on. A lot of "teaser" stuff as well as fan created material will be free. Sell professional materials. Create and sell more on a demand basis.

6. Print on demand for as much out of print D&D stuff as possible. Other rpgs, too. If I've got the Avalon Hill and SPI back catalog too, I start investigating means of capitalizing on those titles... If PoD works for them, great. Otherwise, flash CPU games perhaps? Like the various multi-player versions of Scrabble and Monopoly floating around social networking sites.

7. I want my web site to be the home for all hobby gamers on the Internet. I want everyone to be welcome. I want tools applicable to all types of games available to people. When someone wants to put a remote rpg game together - any rpg game - I want my site to be the place they go. When someone wants to advertise a game or convention, I want my site to be the place they go. When someone has a rules question for any version of D&D, I want my site to be the place they go.

But I don't have to reinvent the wheel to do this. Use what's already there. Be more of a clearinghouse than a end source.

 

[Shemeska]

1) Initially I sit down and look at how the brand is doing before deciding on anything for the future. What is our market share now, and how does it compare to during the 3.x period? What is the overall size of the player base now versus what it was during the 3.x period? If the market has shrunk, how much is due to the economy and how much isn't?

If we've lost market share and player base, we've done something wrong and we need to address that fact without ego. If our market share dropped with 4e, we need to determine if we can advertise our way out of it, or if we need to change direction, possibly in a major way. If that requires an early WotC Christmas IYKWIMAITYD so be it. Of the folks still on board after the past few years, put Rich Baker and Bruce Cordell into creative positions on D&D proper, with most everyone else up in the air pending how the economics of the current edition look and willingness to pull a mea culpa if we have to turn things around.

2) Gut the DDI and its management. Start over with a team large enough to handle the updates in timely fashion and another team to handle the development of new material. If the market will support those features that haven't been worked on since the 4e launch, assign people to work on them, and pray to all heck that Hasbro doesn't flip out when they see you going down that road again.

3) Invest in our IP. Settings and fluff are what ensure the future and continued success of the D&D brand and IP, not the crunch treadmill. We have to inspire people to start, continue, and play in home campaigns. People that we can inspire are the people who bring new people into D&D in the first place, and they're the people that we're going to be drawing in as new writers in the future. Nobody ever read a dry, boring as sin rulebook and wanted to immediately go out and write 2k pages of character history, setting material, etc. Well written and evocative flavor needs to be at the center of our future releases.

Flowers don't grow unless you feed, nuture, and water them. Gamers and the gaming community is the same way.

Never again should game mechanics be any driving force towards retcons and abrupt changes to the flavor and atmosphere of a setting. It's poor design, it's creatively bankrupt, and it pisses off the people who draw other players into a given setting.

4) Don't use the RPGA as any sort of primary pool for playtesting. Expand any playtesting pool beyond that, potentially using open playtesting that doesn't require $ for people to playtest our stuff for us (DDI subs, etc).

5) Bring back printed Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and bring them back to being testbeds to cultivate new and future creative talent for the game. Don't use them as a house organ full of paid previews that routinely looks like an afterthought with questionable playtesting.

 

[Stormonu]

Oh, well - if someone's stupid enough to hire me, this is what they would get:

0) Stop production of all future books beyond those announced and sell off current 4E stock of material

1) Get designers to work on a stripped-down version of D&D; the pure basics that would be required to be able to play a game of D&D. I imagine this would very much resemble BD&D. Take this version and put together a RPG-in-a-box that covers levels 1-5 with this system; it would become the gateway into the game.

2) Create two distinct lines that (R)B&P [(Root)Beer & Pretzels] D&D, aimed at casual gaming and a rules-lite "wahoo" sort of gaming and A(dvanced) D&D, designed for those who want sensory-overload levels of detail and options. (R)B&PDD would likely be a single volume expansion, AD&D would be multiple books - an initial base of Player's book (Races, Classes, Feats, Skills, Simple Spells & Items lists), Equipment (Equipment, Magic Items, Spells), DM's book (Advice, Worldbuilding), Monsters (Monsters, Hazards and Traps) and Options (Optional rules and whatnot). After the initial release of this set, settle down to a release schedule of 1 book per year in this category. Try and get the system close enought in compatibility that using adventures and whatnot from previous versions is a breeze with the new game.

3) The rest of the line would consist of adventures and campaigns-in-a-box. The initial campaign world would be a brand new world, and from there release one campaign setting a year. Set all settings as of the time of their 1st release and scrap metaplots (but perhaps mention them as "if you want to follow these events, here's what you need to do...")

4) Dole out computer support to a reputable 3rd-party vendor to have a character creation/DM's helper tool out at or before launch of the new system. Return PDFs or other ways of electronically accessing all previous books from the different versions of D&D.

5) Within a year of release of the new version, have a D&D video game out and a TV show (possibly animated) in the wings. Work towards getting a good D&D movie deal.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

First, I don't want to be in charge of the whole line. It's a losing position.

If I were, I'd really approach it three ways.

First, I'd spend six months or so just studying all the data I'd be overwhelmed with. What sells, what doesn't, why things sell, etc. Introduce new surveys with actual prizes so people participate in them.

Second, I'd try to improve on DDI in a couple ways. First, I'd look into moving Dragon and Dungeon more towards the Paizo days when talking about quality of articles. One monthly Eberron and one monthly Realms article for sure. Core Beliefs/Demonimicon style articles every month, but expanded to include Far Realms, the 9 Hells, the Archfey, etc. Second, I'd add support for I-Pads and I-Phones, things like allowing the DM to crib off their player's Sheets on their phones/pads, etc. Third, the game table is a must, and should be added as soon as technically feasible. Again, this mostly comes down to dollars and hiring the right firm to make it a reality.

Third, I'd hope to establish more ties to the entertainment business as a whole. New board games (which they are doing), new video games, more novels, a new comic book, new cartoon. The movie thing has pretty much failed in DnD because it's always been generic fantasy. If you're gonna do one, focus on a major setting (Dragonlance or the Realms) and try to make movie in that setting.

All in all, I think the design of 4th Edition is the right way to go. With DDI, you really don't need to sell as many books as long as people pay for their monthly fee. Make (an improved) DDI the centerpiece of the business.

 

[Lanefan]

2) The second approach would be to create a 5E that draws from the strengths of all editions and appeals to as many folks as possible. Impossible? I don't think so. The reason why this hasn't worked, imo, is that WotC has not adopted a modular model for the game. It is quite straightforward: Start with a simple, core rules set and then expand outwards from there with interchangeable parts. The simple core is the d20 + modifier vs. target number; it includes ability scores, AC, defenses, HP, and that's about it. Skills may vary, feats and powers will definitely vary, alignment is optional, as are healing surges, etc. The core system would not be dependent upon magic items, and it would not have a default mode that is more like WoW or Hong Kong cinema than it is like Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. Yet the modularity would allow for both styles of play and others besides.

The main reason I went with a 5eA-5eB model is that I honestly don't think you can mash all four editions into a single playable game, no matter how modular you make it*. They are just too different. Were it completely up to me I'd ditch 5eB altogether, but there seems to be lots of demand out there for a 5eB-style game so I might as well be the one producing it...thus, two versions.

* - hell, just mashing 3e and 4e together would be challenge enough - I'm certainly not about to try it!

And for both versions, I'd try to make the writing style a bit more arcane - maybe not quite up to Gygaxian standards, but much less dry than what we're getting of late.

One other aspect I forgot to mention: the standard in 5eA would be slow advancement and long campaigns, the standard for 5eB would be fast advancement and short campaigns; and the opposites would be presented as options - perhaps even as examples of how to tinker and what unintended consequences to look for.

Lan-"my ENWorld level finally matches my Fighter level"-efan

 

[corncob]

I'd build a time machine that only went back to the year nineteen-whatever-year-it-was-I-started-playing; back when D&D still meant something, and when that other thing I was fond of was how it used to be.

Plan B is finding out what works, then keep doing that.

 

[WheresMyD20]

"You can have any color you want as long as it's black." - Henry Ford

First off, acknowledge the fact that no single edition of D&D will satisfy all customers. Right now, there are three main groups of customers: the old-schoolers, the 3e/Pathfinder players, and the 4e players.

They're current business model for D&D can be summed up as: "You can have any edition you want as long as it's fourth." WotC does not make earlier editions, even the fairly recent and wildly popular 3/3.5e, available to its customers. If Paizo can turn a profit on Pathfinder, then WotC is leaving money on the table. If Troll Lord can turn a profit on Castles & Crusades, again WotC is leaving money on the table.

WotC should treat old-school, 3e, and 4e as separate product lines. However, in order to avoid consumer confusion the D&D brand should only be applied to one of those product lines, namely 4e.

Here's an idea:

1. Make an old-school RPG that takes the best of OD&D, AD&D, and BECMI. Tie that RPG directly to the Greyhawk setting. Call it "Greyhawk Roleplaying".

2. Make a new, cleaned-up version of 3e/3.5e. Tie it directly to the Forgotten Realms setting and call it "Forgotten Realms Roleplaying".

3. Keep 4e more or less as-is. It's the flagship and it keeps the name "Dungeons & Dragons". It stays pretty much setting neutral. Don't make a 5e, just keep periodically patching 4e.

There is the issue of the three product lines competing with each other. The fact is, however, that with Pathfinder and Castles & Crusades on the market the competition is already there. There are already separate product lines. Why not own them all? That way, you'll be sure to keep all of your customers, both past and future, loyal to your brands.

 

[The Human Target]

Not that I can do better, but most everyone's model would seemingly bankrupt WotC in like 6 months.

 

[Wik]

Some fun posts here. And I've actually mulled making this exact same thread myself, but was always afraid it'd turn into edition warring. All that being said, here's my take:

1) Build it around a very simple base, and in such a way that modular elements can be added on top. Stress in the books that it is NOT a kitchen sink game - that every table will use different combinations of elements. Joe's game might have Gamma World mutants combined with the gritty "realism" rules in a game that has many feat and power options; Bill's game, meanwhile, is a very bare-bones sword & sorcery game set in a land very much resembling medieval Norway.

2) Aim the game towards the computer gamers, but market it in such a way that "there will never be a computer game that can do THIS". Reduce and simplify the math as much as possible, and then throw in modular parts that can increase the math for those who like that level of tweaking.

3) The goal? To make a game where my little sister (who is math-challenged and has the attention span of a gnat) and my little brother (a computer geek who has been gaming for most of his life) can sit down at the same table and have characters of relatively similar strength WITHOUT the GM having to sit in and moderate things.

4) Get rid of player splat material in a rules-sense, and expand upon the idea of gaming itself. Let it not be a game of "he with the most books, wins" and instead do something else. Rather than thousands of feats and powers, let's make it hundreds... and have each one of them grant many useful benefits ("My guy is great at prohibiting your movement and combat options due to his staff fighting style"), rather than a hyper-defined characteristic that can limit gameplay ("My guy can trip you and then hit you when you get up... and not much else").

5) Shorter campaigns being the preferred means, allowing for more of the optional elements to be slapped together to make new campaign worlds. There could even be a style where each player chooses one mod they want to add, and then the group gets together to figure out how the "Arcane Magic" mod meshes with the "Psionic" mod, and how both of those mesh with the "Barsoomian Supermen" mod and the "Steampunk" mod.