Spaghetti Sauce

[Sadrik]

Forked from another thread:

The bottom line is that the largest rpg in the world does not have to be in a single form. This talk on ted pretty much sums up how I feel D&D should be developed going forward. Thoughts?
Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce | Video on TED.com

There are a lot of very good points in this talk.
Thoughts on this?

 

[Aeolius]

 

[Wycen]

I got about two minutes into that video before noting it was 17 minutes long and decided I had better things to do.

 

[Mark]

I enjoy a great many of the video offerings on the TED site. Aside from the actual subject matter, if you want to get some public speaking tips, there is much to be had there.

 

[Sadrik]

I got about two minutes into that video before noting it was 17 minutes long and decided I had better things to do.

You have to get past the goofy guys hair. He actually has some pretty fascinating things to say about market trends and why people like and don't like things and most importantly how people can like things more.

Basically for those unwilling to get past his hair, one of things I took away from the research was that 60% of the people were happy with one type of coffee but if you tailor three types of coffee to the various types of coffee drinkers you get 78% of the people saying they like the coffee. He likened that to taking the bitterness off of the coffee. I agree and if this type of business model was applied to the D&D brand you wind up with more happy people. More happy people equates more brand loyalty which ultimately equates more customer dollars.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Im actually predicting a 5e (Quite a few years away) that will have 3 versions. They'll all be derived from 4e, but will push the ruleset in different ways.

"Main" will be a logical refinement of 4e, like 2e from 1e or so.

"Advanced" will be a more simulation derived rules set.

"Basic" will be a more rules light version that ditches the grid in a balanced way. this will be a subset of the common rules of the other variants.

The key trick here would be that all three versions were cleanly translateable in some way. A Basic Monster's stats would work in Main or Advanced. It would just be a simpler monster with less powers and detail.

Of course I'd also have a highly genericized version also compatible called d20 Fantasy...

 

[Sadrik]

I also think this would be a very good direction for them to go. It would allow them to put out a lot of "crunch" which we all know they like to do. If the 3 (or more) versions were in a light/medium/heavy format then you have a lot of happy people. The trick is making sure that the characters are easily convertible between the systems. A module could be purchased and run for all three.

In the talk, the researcher takes every possible variant of spaghetti sauce and then puts them out and "taste tests" rather than simply polling them to determine which one they liked best he grouped them to find where peoples heart lies. As far as systems go get the three or more main ones nailed down and you really have something.

Another important aspect to the talk which resonated with me is that their is NO hierarchy in which version is better, they are simply liked more by one group or another. In the current version, not all needs are being met...

 

[Sonny]

I thought the video was fascinating. I'm just wondering how much harder it would be for one company to apply that to a role-playing game.

After all, creating three flavors of D&D is one thing. but having to continually support and develop several lines could be much more costly and could be, in the end, much less beneficial for a company. Isn't that what people suggest led to TSR's downfall?

Though I'd like to see it done eventually, Wotc has over the course of third and (so far) fourth edition been so keen at not competing with themselves in even the campaign setting arena, that I can't see them doing this any time soon, if ever.

 

[caudor]

To be honest, his speech went a little over my head. I'm really not seeing the link between sauces and D&D.

Well, I guess I never got past the hair

 

[Sonny]

You have to get past the goofy guys hair. He actually has some pretty fascinating things to say about market trends and why people like and don't like things and most importantly how people can like things more.

I was impressed enough with his talk, that I looked up the book he mentions writing, Blink. At his site he mentions growing his hair long and some of the rather negative snap judgments people have about him because of it.

Anyways, thanks for the post Sadrik, have some xp!