What kind of print products would want WotC to produce?

[Ourph]

I want WotC to keep publishing digest-sized softcover books that are significantly cheaper than their hardcover books. I also want lots more tiles and cardboard monster/NPC tokens.

 

[Klaus]

I'll throw my hat in with the "flavor heavy, crunch lite (or at least crunch medium)" crowd.

More books like Draconomicon and Plane Above, absolutely. More campaign settings. And a lot more "mini-settings." Vor Rukoth and the like are a good start, but the potential for that sort of thing in a non-defined setting is limitless. More cities and ruins, sure, but how about a nation? How about a geographical region? How about a "historical" sourcebook, during the Arkhosia/Bael Turath war? How about revisiting some classic locations (i.e. The Temple of Elemental Evil) but presenting them less as adventures and more as location sourcebooks?

A series of small books based around individual locations (be they tiny or large, but in all cases smaller than campaign-sized) is, I believe, an endless well of potential for some truly great books.

The more I think about it, the more I agree that "Fantastic Locations"-style products are some of the best releases, going all the way back to the *original* Fantastic Location: T1: The Village of Hommlett.

I'd like to see a "Fallcrest" product detailing the core city of the Nentir Vale, with NPCs, intrigue, a couple of mini dungeons within the city and a nearby location similar to the Moathouse.

But then y'know what I want? I want to move away from the Nentir Vale. I want a larger scope to that map, or even another "sabdbox" from the same setting, be it a shoreline, the edge of a desert or something.

 

[Wik]

Historical Supplements. I would LOVE to see a product that was, say, 160 pages. And it had 20 pages or so for each of the folllowing historical "eras": Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Egypt, Ten Kingdoms era China, Persia, Celtic Europe, and the Byzantine Empire. Each would contain a short history, some detailed locations (no maps or anything), and a few ideas on how to implement into a fantasy scenario. Each section would also have a few pages of crunch (no more than 2 or 3 pages). Of course, all the locations are in the "ancient world", so it's possible to link them in some way... or even use the material to create a sort of "Alt earth" setting.

That would be really cool.

It's already been mentioned, but a 4e unearthed arcana/house rules book would be neat. GMs like to fiddle, and I think one of the reasons a lot of people are wary of 4e is that the game seems to strongly discourage house-ruling in a way that's never existed before. I don't think the designers intended that, but there's definitely a perception that is the case. So make a house rules book! It won't break the system.

Dungeon Delve #2 would be greatly appreciated, especially if it used templates and the like to create entirely new statblocks. Each should also include a short paragraph on expanding the adventure in a way that makes sense, similarly to how it was done last time, only with perhaps a few more concrete ideas.

And, since this is pretty much already a dream post already, may as well go full bore.... a book containing the SPELLTHIEF class. If wotc included a spellthief in 4e, I would be a complete, absolute convert to the cause.

 

[scourger]

I want more products like Gamma World: simple, self-contained, familiar & expandable. For example, if Hammerfast had included more encounters with maps & tokens, I might have bought 4e to run it. A boxed set that presents an entire adventure setting with maps & counters is more likely to get me into the game. Imagine a Ravenloft boxed set for the RPG presented in the style of the recent board game. Who wouldn't want to play that?

 

[Quickleaf]

Imagine a Ravenloft boxed set for the RPG presented in the style of the recent board game. Who wouldn't want to play that?

I was thinking the same thing, that having a great boxed adventure might be viable. What would you want to see in such a boxed campaign? And how many levels of play would you expect it to cover?

 

[Klaus]

I was thinking the same thing, that having a great boxed adventure might be viable. What would you want to see in such a boxed campaign? And how many levels of play would you expect it to cover?

I'd like to see it cover one tier, with snippets of the others. A Nentir Vale boxed set that has Heroic material, some Paragon stuff and one Epic suggestion. Then a Sigil boxed set for Paragon, with Heroic adventure seeds and some Epic stuf. And finally a Hestavar/City of Brass/etc set for Epic, with seeds for Heroic and paragon.

 

[scruffygrognard]

To be honest, I'd prefer WotC print generic game aids (dungeon tiles and such), merchandise (action figures, apparel, etc) and boardgames based upon the D&D brand.

With the shift towards making digital content and collectible cards less-than-optional components of a "complete" D&D game, I'd rather they not produce the rpg.

Let them license the brand to someone else.

 

[Styracosaurus]

1) My favorite 2e setting was Planescape. Now I do not want a repackaging of that setting, I just want another interesting setting that receives a thorough treatment. My suggestion would be putting out the d20 version of "Firestorm Armada" and incorporate it into a Spelljammer type setting.

2) I want a book of traps and schemes and puzzles and characters to use as a sourcebook. It could be written as a choose-your-own-way-adventure book (like "The Cave of Time") and sold as a five buck novel. They could put out a series of them. This would just be a fun way to package campaign goodies to be implemented into gameplay.

3) Cheap, mass produced miniatures such as Bag O' Skeletons. We need Bag O' Orcs and Bag O' Gnolls and Bag O' Elves,...... I love minis but money is scarce and toys are not high on the agenda. (but toys are on the agenda)

4) Continue with the D&D comic books...... But expand it to include a TV series. If they could pick up the old 1980's cartoon with Ronnie Most and Peter Cullen then it would be a major score with more gritty storytelling.

5) More dice. I want a 12 sided d4. I want a 20 sided d4. I want a 30 sided d6. I want a 100 sided d10. I want a 100 sided d4. I want a 100 sided d20. I want dice.

 

[Mercurius]

I'd like to see heavily revised and expanded core rulebooks, especially the Player's Handbook complete with the information of the deceased Sword & Spell but also errata-ed, and maybe with a more complete roster of races and classes (combining the best of PHB1 and PHB2) - taking out magic items to make more room.

I heartily agree with more setting and theme books. I'd like to see them take the theme books a step further and publish fantasy sub-genre themes that would be modular options onto the core rules. Sword & Sorcery theme book? Check. Off-the-farm classic fantasy novel style? Yes, why not. And so on.

I like the idea of generic locations but I don't see why they couldn't be part of the Nentir Vale world, which I'd like to see explored further.

Mega box-sets are good. How about a Wilderlands-style Nentir Vale sandbox set? Or, as someone mentioned, a Bael Turath/Arkhosia historical box set?

In the vein of box-sets, I'd like to see a real starter set - not just an intro set but something akin to the old basic box set that allows a complete D&D experience at least through level 5. This could be your true evergreen product.

I'd also like to see a a huge magic item book, but with items that are actually interesting and incorporate the new common/uncommon/rare rules.

Finally, my Holy Grail WotC product that I mention every year or so: A "Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons" book that outlines every campaign setting that TSR/WotC has ever published, from very small 3-5 page write-ups (Jakandor) to larger 20-30 page chapters (Forgotten Realms). I imagine a huge 400-page $50 book with lots of art and tons of maps.

 

[Stormonu]

How about revisiting some classic locations (i.e. The Temple of Elemental Evil) but presenting them less as adventures and more as location sourcebooks?

So long as we don't end up with some POS like this: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Survival-Dragons-Fantasy-Roleplaying/dp/0786947306/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2FDIIEXM1MBLW&colid=3BS3PPB462K24"]Dungeon Survival Guide[/ame]