GTS 2009 D&D Seminar - the Rouse discusses D&D

[Scott_Rouse]

Scott, you are on fire! I am really enjoying these great responses from you.
I'm going to push my luck and ask you about the halo effect you mentioned in your first post. When you develop a marketing campaign, how do you expand that halo effect?
I'm thinking of the idea that I've sucked my wife into the hobby, my friend got his girlfriend playing, and I'll probably play with my kids when they are old enough to play.(I did see you mention some of this before.) Are there things that WotC can do that encourages this? Is this effect measurable so that you can assess it?

The halo effect happens organically like you describe. Friends and family are the number one way that people learn about and learn to play D&D. The internet is second and retailers are third. So word of mouth is very important to get more people to pick it up.

Products themselves can be a goo way to get the next generation. We have our Mirrorstone line of books that all are based on the worlds and monsters of D&D. Practical Guide to Dragons is an example of this. These books are now including a small D&D logo onthe back to indicate they are part of the brand.

Finally is PR, Advertising, Events, and Merchandising. We get a halo effect from existing player focused marketing when a non player sees a story in a local paper about a game day, sees a game product or the game itself being played at a store, goes to PAX and sees the booth, sees an advertisement on a video game site, sees a comic about it on Penny Arcade or the game featured in an episode of Futurama.

Also, I think I recall some generous donation of gaming materials to US service members by WotC. That got me thinking. Do you have any information that might indicate that targeting service members for marketing is worthwhile or measurable?

It is hard to market dirrectly to the military but we do support the troops in many ways including product donations, author siginings at bases, conventions like Ziggurat Con, and we sell products through AAFES.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Wait a minute, I have a question.

What exactly do people mean by "supporting" an edition?

What actions are required in order to "support" an edition?

 

[ashockney]

Scott,

Thank you for your responses and interaction. Very cool.

Quick editorial on 4e:
4e rocks it out in tactical combats, elegant villian construction rules, elite/solo/minions=awesome, class balance is incredible, new race and class options are compelling, treasure packaging is brilliant, skill challenge concept is compelling, foundational rules simplifications work (damage types, skills, defenses)

Thank you for all these things. Job well done.

4e Obstacles:
Character balance is currently character blandness. Break your generic character building system to allow for individual characters to be unique and compelling.
The heroic tier modules are not strong. The story elements, rp, skill challenges, do not do the game justice. The encounters are good, and maps are strong, but it is challenging to engage players when introducing the game to them.
Your DM's versimilitude is off. How does a recurring villian fit into a campaign? What are villians motivations (beyond their three powers), and how does this affect the game? What advantage do the villians have over the PC's, and how can they convice the PC's to react/behave? Magic items got so nerfed, it's been tough to reconcile why they're relevant.
There are several foundations that don't compartmentalize well and are annoyingly cumbersome: Marking, DoT's, Save Effects - please elaborate on these or help DM's to understand how they can tweak or remove them if we desired.
Online support and resources remain uncompelling.

I appreciate your sentiments and comments about where things are headed. I'm a huge fan of the brand, and hope that all your best plans are successful.

For more detailed analysis, check out our podcast (Amorphous Blobcast):
Amorphous Blob Games (Home)
Also, please check out the great thread from LostSoul about his experiences running the heroic tier modules, especially Keep on the Shadowfell. Excellent stuff in there that helps to provide concrete examples to all of the above.

Questions:
What are your most profitable and fastest growing divisions under the D&D brand?
If you could provide advice from where you sit to those that might take advantage of the GSL, what strategy do you think could be successful for a third party publisher if executed properly?
What is something that your most dedicated brand fans, including most of the members of this community, could do to support, grow, and nurture the brand, right now?
Given the enormous gap between your revenue streams and those of competitor (or arguably substitute) products such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMORPG, what strategic ground do you feel you hold and/or do you desire to take, in order to be able to effectively compete in the long run?

Good luck in all that you do, and good gaming!

 

[Scott_Rouse]

snip

For more detailed analysis, check out our podcast (Amorphous Blobcast):
Amorphous Blob Games (Home)
Also, please check out the great thread from LostSoul about his experiences running the heroic tier modules, especially Keep on the Shadowfell. Excellent stuff in there that helps to provide concrete examples to all of the above.

I'll check it out

Questions:

What are your most profitable and fastest growing divisions under the D&D brand?

Can't say, publicly traded and all.

If you could provide advice from where you sit to those that might take advantage of the GSL, what strategy do you think could be successful for a third party publisher if executed properly?

Be creative and look for the white space. Use the templates: there is a ton of room to add new powers, monsters, magic items, flavor, etc. If people want roleplay heavy adventures, make them.

What is something that your most dedicated brand fans, including most of the members of this community, could do to support, grow, and nurture the brand, right now?

Teach a kid to play
Buy a book in a game store
If you are not a DM become one and start a new game group
Subscribe to D&Di
Buy a book from a GSL publishers
Give me some XP

Given the enormous gap between your revenue streams and those of competitor (or arguably substitute) products such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMORPG, what strategic ground do you feel you hold and/or do you desire to take, in order to be able to effectively compete in the long run?

Imagination - you tell the story, determine the rules, define the boundaries (or lack there of)

Good luck in all that you do, and good gaming!

Thanks!

 

[Lanefan]

If you are not a DM become one and start a new game group

This.

It is *the* most significant thing a person can do to grow the game and the hobby in general, regardless what specific system(s) or editions you end up playing.

Without DMs, there is no game.

Lan-"DMing since 1984"-efan

 

[RefinedBean]

Fair enough but we love us some Wil Wheaton.

I imagine it's because he helps create customers out of the specific demographics you're looking for, rather than pull in tangential targets.

Begs the question of what areas of geek-dom/nerd-dom you guys should target most, and how much overlap there is. Is it worth advertising at Trekkie conventions (if that's even possible)? Would something like that see decent results?

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I imagine it's because he helps create customers out of the specific demographics you're looking for, rather than pull in tangential targets.

Begs the question of what areas of geek-dom/nerd-dom you guys should target most, and how much overlap there is. Is it worth advertising at Trekkie conventions (if that's even possible)? Would something like that see decent results?

I don't think geek necessarily translates into D&D play. Geek-dom is so broad now that you need to start to look for the pyschograpic similarities of the audience to see if connections can be made with D&D. Furries are super geeky (IMO a pretty weird) but may not be into D&D but LARPers, historical war reenactors, and the rennaisance fair crowds may be more enclined to like D&D due to their appreciation of fanatasy and /or war gaming.

If I were to target areas of geekdom outside of hobby gaming I would choose:

Video game (eg PAX)
Comic book
Action Figure
Anime/manga
LARP/SCA
Roller Derby
Garage Bands and Local Metal Scenes
Urban Vinyl
Low Brow Art

 

[The Ghost]

First, and I think this bears repeating, what is good for Wizards and 4e is ultimately good for every edition of D&D.

snip

Different strokes for different folks. I guess what I'm saying is I don't think there's any need for more rules around role playing, just more guides and hints as to how to do it.

I purchased the 4th edition core rulebooks set last June. I read through the books, printed out a character sheet... and then sat there for over an hour with a pencil unable to make a character. Not because I lacked ideas but because I could not decipher the character sheet and how to apply the rules and numbers. (I say this as a person with degrees in Finance and Economics and one who has owned and operated three successful businesses.) I went back a few days later and purchased H1 just to learn how to make a character. Even then I had trouble replicating what was done.

It is not additional rules I am looking for but a product that would have given me basic rules, pre-gens, minis, and tiles all in one package. One that would have allowed multiple game sessions. One that would have sparked my imagination through multiple play sessions. One that was easy and quick to learn. Basically, an expanded version of H1. Something more like Hero Quest or Descent. As it turned out, I just became frustrated and put the books on my shelf and I have not touched them since.

When I say it makes a great board game or minis game - I really mean it! I would love to see more products embrace that notion. Delve Night seems like a good step in that direction. I would love to see a convient way to emulate that at home - and with people who may not have ever gamed before. While I may not want to play long drawn-out campaigns with 4e that does not mean that I do not want a way to utilize the system.

 

[RefinedBean]

If I were to target areas of geekdom outside of hobby gaming I would choose:

Video game (eg PAX)
Comic book
Action Figure
Anime/manga
LARP/SCA
Roller Derby
Garage Bands and Local Metal Scenes
Rock-a-billy

I could get behind Roller Derby.

And SOME famous comic artist/author has a good thing to say about D&D, surely!

What you need is a systematic method for outing every celebrity who plays D&D.

 

[cdrcjsn]

If I were to target areas of geekdom outside of hobby gaming I would choose:

Video game (eg PAX)
Comic book
Action Figure
Anime/manga
LARP/SCA
Roller Derby
Garage Bands and Local Metal Scenes
Urban Vinyl
Low Brow Art

Might I make a suggestion? Have someone in your office scour the internet for fantasy/RPG webcomics. There are hundreds out there, convenienty organized into various lists.

Individually, they might not have more than a couple thousand readers or so (some in the tens of thousands), but taken together, they have a readership much larger than Penny Arcade. Do something with this list. Anything. Advertise through them. Hold a contest and encourage them to participate. Anything.

There is a ready made audience out there that is receptive to fantasy stories that is sitting there untapped.

I've seen advertisement on this forum and elsewhere for D&D. I've never, ever seen D&D advertised in any of these sites, and I visit a lot of them.

I know you said that blogs and online forums are a focused target according to the initial post on this thread. Just don't forget to hit the webcomics scene which is similar but are often forgotten. You've had a good start with Penny Arcade. Don't stop there. They might be the most visible because of PAX and Child's Play, but they are certainly not the only one that has a huge readership and a couple of webcomics actually have more readers (going just by Alexa figures).

Cedric Atizado
PS You might want to have your advertising guys look at Project Wonderful. Cheaper ad rates than Google Adsense and most ad services and targets pretty much most of the list you mentioned above.