Years after completely ditching the system, WotC makes their move!

[Orius]

My guess? Hasbro. Despite hiring the people, they probably still don't understand the hobby.

I'm not really sure how much Hasbro is influencing WotC over D&D. I mean, most of the time when ther are the various threads posted here about Hasbro's earning reports and the like, there doesn't seem to be a lot of mention about D&D. I have to wonder how much of it is unwarrented geek paranoia over the big bad corporation everyone thinks is going to take away their fun.

I think D&D is valuable to Hasbro as an IP since it does have some brand recognition, but I do agree that Hasbro might not know exactly how to market the brand. It's not like their big name board games or toy lines, the customer base is somewhat different from the two.

And I don't think any fantasy races except the Halflings & Kender have anything to worry about from NAMBLA.

Especially dwarves. I think dwarf kids look like the kid in this commercial:

[ame=youtube.com/watch?v=DTAtsKkBWOo]YouTube - Capital One Vikings Commercial - 2009 (3).wmv[/ame]


Not sure NAMBLA's into that.

 

[frankthedm]

The KKK is probably fine with most Dwarves...

Well, Dwarves are routinely described as clannish and having race based hatreds.

And I don't think any fantasy races except the Halflings & Kender have anything to worry about from NAMBLA.

Some folks' settings {2e & OOTS] have elves growing up slowly over their first century. 3.5's races of the wild used the assumption they "physically" grow up as fast as humans. Either situations implications may call for for a tall glass of BRAIN BLEACH.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, Dwarves are routinely described as clannish and having race based hatreds.

And how! They hate orcs, giants, elves, goblinoids.... I don't think there's a more racist race in the game! And they never forgive a grudge. Even the ones they don't openly hate and wish death upon, they look down on for not being as tough/brave/able to hold liquor/making crap liquor...

And yet everyone calls elves the haughty, arrogant ones and hates them for it. Dwarves are perfectly suited to make up a D&D verison of the KKK, the rules already sort of imply it.

EDIT: NAMBLA...wouldn't transmutation/polymorph magic in D&D let people take child-like forms while still having their adult intelligence and emotional capacity? Not to mention the whole "modern sensibilities" thing. If you're recreating ancient Greece or the Shudo of medieval Japan, or some other setting based on real life...yeah.... Feel free to reach for that brain bleach now.

 

[rgard]

EDIT: NAMBLA...wouldn't transmutation/polymorph magic in D&D let people take child-like forms while still having their adult intelligence and emotional capacity? Not to mention the whole "modern sensibilities" thing. If you're recreating ancient Greece or the Shudo of medieval Japan, or some other setting based on real life...yeah.... Feel free to reach for that brain bleach now.

Right before I apply the bleach...think of the possibilities for law enforcement.

 

[rgard]

Bleached my brain, good to go now.

Anyway, if they did do DDI for 3.5, I'd sign up in a heartbeat. Well maybe after I was able to once again download The Veiled Society I legally purchased at rpgnow.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Right before I apply the bleach...think of the possibilities for law enforcement.

Well yeah, if you're going for the full-on modern day sensibilities, the law has no qualms using blatant entrapment to lull people into attempting to commit vice crimes, you could have a very evil society in your game where the guards spend most of their time baiting people into commiting crimes, using magic to help them trick (or even "gently" coerce, this is an evil empire, afterall) innocent people into attempting to break X crime. And then, BAM, free prisoner slave labor for 50 years. The horrible, awful things a despotic government could use magic to inflict on its own citizens is far more disturbing to me than some NAMBLA person paying an 80 year old mage to turn into a 10 yr old boy and...you know...

 

[Orius]

EDIT: NAMBLA...wouldn't transmutation/polymorph magic in D&D let people take child-like forms while still having their adult intelligence and emotional capacity? Not to mention the whole "modern sensibilities" thing. If you're recreating ancient Greece or the Shudo of medieval Japan, or some other setting based on real life...yeah.... Feel free to reach for that brain bleach now.

Or halfling gigolos that specialize in dresing like children.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

One of my favorite D&D games was an Eberron one not long after it came out. We worked closely with a thief's guild for a while. One of their best pickpockets was a NPC halfling that disguised himself as a human child to look less suspicious / get closer to potential marks. In retrospect, he probably could have made a good assassin, too.

Great game.

 

[Orius]

No, I got that whole halfling idea from a post that wsa made here several years ago. I think it was a thread on mystery plots for a campaign, someone posted something about a dead halfling prostitute who was wearing a schoolgirl costume, murdered by strangulation or something. I'm not going to go looking for that thread right now, because I don't remember anything about the name or how long ago it was.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And some thing you just don't want to look at more than once...