Why are board games being sold as D&D?

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

Does the D&D brand mean anything to board game buyers? Board games with an element of role-playing?

What are these products supposed to mean to me as a D&D player? Are they accessories or additions to the game for me to use during our weekly game sessions?

While I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, I honestly don't get it.

 

[Dungeoneer]

There's already a thread for this.

 

[twilsemail]

It's a borad game inspired by D&D... Just like Arkham Horror is a board game inspired by the Cthulhu mythos.

It even uses D&Desque elements. There's AC and a d20 to hit...

What's not to get? It's a D&D board game. It's fairly "what it says on the tin."

 

[Morrus]

Various types of merchandizing for a brand is very common; RPGs are actually well behind the curve on that. From comic-books (which have movies, video games, RPGs, action figures - the list is endless) to automobile brands (Ferrari clothing and cologne).

D&D itself has had a cartoon, a couple of movies, a crapload of novels - why not boardgames, too?

It's (a) another way to leverage the brand for profit; and (b) a gateway product which could result in people upgrading to the RPG.

 

[Matt James]

Morrus pretty much summed up everything I was going to type.

 

[the Jester]

Does the D&D brand mean anything to board game buyers? Board games with an element of role-playing?

What are these products supposed to mean to me as a D&D player? Are they accessories or additions to the game for me to use during our weekly game sessions?

While I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here, I honestly don't get it.

Well, there are also novels, computer games and even movies that bear the D&D brand name.

Board games with the D&D brand should mean the same thing to your home game- absolutely nothing. However, if it spreads awareness of the game and sparks interest in new gamers, I'm all for it. Which is why I totally hated the first D&D movie- it drive people away from the game by making it look terrible.

To me, "Here, beholder- FETCH!" is a far more offensive travesty of the game than anything in the board games could ever do. Hell, that movie was worse than the book Spellfire, which I didn't even know was possible!

 

[Scribble]

Jester- I get what you're saying, but the game has a long history of "mixed media" modes.

So a board game could very well mean something to my game if it seems like a fun way to resolve a particular element of the campaign... Like playing chainmail to resolve the "war scene" or something.


Thats one of the many things I love about RPGs... In the grand scheme of things they're way easy to mod however you want.

 

[Mirtek]

D&D itself has had a cartoon, a couple of movies, a crapload of novels - why not boardgames, too?

Actually D&D has had boardgames, both decades ago (even D&D Cluedo) and fairly recent (although only in Europe, but it even made it to two expansion packs and [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EuyMKswwDs]TV Spot[/ame] with actors playing D&D heroes and monsters).

Actually there's hardly something that D&D didn't have a few decades ago (puzzles, towels, action figures, plush figures, ... basically you name it and D&D had it at some point), no matter how little it had to do with the tabletop RPG

Edit: Why can't I just include a link to the video via ['url=xxx]whatever[/url'] anymore?

 

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

I missed the previous discussion. Thank you for the link.

But since there have been so many replies to my thread, I'll reply here.

Are the board games showing up anywhere besides core hobby game stores?

What about the board games would bring players back to the table-top role-playing game? Is there any support in the box or from WotC for players making that leap?

Is the D&D brand big or healthy enough to leverage new sales to people who don't play the traditional RPG? Or is this just taking more money from existing players who might have otherwise not spent it or spent it on a non-WotC product?

 

[Dungeoneer]

What about the board games would bring players back to the table-top role-playing game? Is there any support in the box or from WotC for players making that leap?

Is the D&D brand big or healthy enough to leverage new sales to people who don't play the traditional RPG? Or is this just taking more money from existing players who might have otherwise not spent it or spent it on a non-WotC product?

This just seems strange on a lot of levels. How is this 'taking money' from existing players? And what guarantee do you have that someone who bought Castle Ravenloft was prevented from instead going out and buying Indie Game X? Presumably as players of TRPGs we are able to decide for ourselves what products we want to purchase. Free will and all that.

I actually think the Ravenloft game looks very cool and have held off buying it only because I don't think I could currently find anyone to play it with. When I do buy it, it won't be at the expense of some other product. At least, if there's a competing gothic horror-themed board game based on Fourth Edition rules, I am not aware of it. And that's what I'm in the market for.