D&D 5E D&D Next: Let's discuss it's mass multimedia goal.

[Mistwell]

I'll call into question a different aspect of the OP's position: that of the universal appeal of Marvel or DC.

Agreed. Particularly in this sense - Marvel's biggest successes were for some of their least recognizable characters. Iron Man was a second or even third tier character. Same with Captain America, and particularly Thor. Black Widow? And next Guardians of the Galaxy and Dr. Strange? Those last two are like 5th or 6th tier characters. Even serious comics nerds never cared much about Guardians of the Galaxy!

Basic vague brand recognition is all they needed to get people to try the movies out. That, and good stories, good casting, those carried the day. All of which Hasbro is capable of doing with a D&D movie, or TV show, or whatever. There's no worse public associations with D&D as there were with Thor or Iron Man or Captain America - all considered to be silly characters by the general public before the movies came out.

Same goes for other nerdy franchises. Lord of the Rings had a negative nerdy association with many people, before the movies. Twilight STILL has negative association with it despite massive success. Hunger Games had fewer people who knew of it before the movies than people who know of D&D, and I bet Game of Thrones did before the TV show as well. And as people have mentioned, Transformers is a good example of this concept as well.

 

[Remathilis]

Lets twist the question: What elements of D&D can translate OUT of the TTRPG its known for? Or, what is valuable about D&D that can be used in other medias?

What's funny is that D&D KNEW what to do at one point: they had a lot of marketed media that wasn't bad. We all cringe at how bad the D&D movies were, but we forget there was some decent things as well. Scourge of Worlds, Midnight Syndicate's Soundtrack, D&D Clue, posters that I bought in K Mart, comics, novels, games like D&D Heroes and Neverwinter Nights. It showed they had some good ideas and that the brand had value beyond gaming and game-related material.

The big difference between D&D and a comic like Spider-Man or Batman is that comics are primarily CHARACTER based. We can make and remake those characters because they don't change much, just the situation around them does. D&D, with some exceptions, don't have a strong character presence since the players are supposed to provide the characters. Sure, D&D has some iconic characters (Drizzt, Raistlin, Strahd) but on the whole D&D isn't strong on the whole iconic heroes department. It'd be better as an anthology (more akin to Final Fantasy, where each story has its own heroes and villains) then trying to cram the D&D experience into "Drizzt in the Realms".

So lets see some more comics, animated movies, soundtracks, branded games, books, etc. Get T-shirts at Hot Topic, Funko figures, posters, and apps. Hell, an animated series on Cartoon Network could drive more sales than a dozen box sets.

 

[The Black Ranger]

Yar, to become REALLY successful, you've gotta be successful enough in the first place to absorb some pretty catastrophic failures. If you can't afford to fail -- if you can't afford to take a risk -- you're not going to grow much.

D&D is successful enough to take risks and fail. CLEARLY. We all know about the movie.

I would like to chime in a moment.

Businesses do not try and try again to obtain certain goals. I am a business owner and I can tell you that you want to minimize your mistakes, especially ones that you might have learned before. An author trying his hand at being a writer is not the same as a major corporation continuing to take that same risk over and over. The problem with a product like D&D being in the hands of a corporate giant is they would drop the brand in a heartbeat if it continues to fail and reach that expected, and sometimes unrealistic goal. Saying a company should keep trying until they go out of business is absurd.

 

[Mistwell]

I would like to chime in a moment.

Businesses do not try and try again to obtain certain goals. I am a business owner and I can tell you that you want to minimize your mistakes, especially ones that you might have learned before. An author trying his hand at being a writer is not the same as a major corporation continuing to take that same risk over and over. The problem with a product like D&D being in the hands of a corporate giant is they would drop the brand in a heartbeat if it continues to fail and reach that expected, and sometimes unrealistic goal. Saying a company should keep trying until they go out of business is absurd.

And as a business owner myself, of a family company my family started in 1946, I think you're quite wrong. Yes, you try and minimize mistakes, but the idea that you just stop trying because you've encountered failure (and success) in the past, is what is absurd. And that is what ForeverSlayer said. My business has had huge successes and huge failures, and sometimes we simply tried again on a huge failure and it became our hugest success. You learn from what worked, and what did not, and you try again. Otherwise, you stagnate, and slowly fail over time until you can no longer afford to take a risk.

 

[The Black Ranger]

And as a business owner myself, of a family company my family started in 1946, I think you're quite wrong. Yes, you try and minimize mistakes, but the idea that you just stop trying because you've encountered failure (and success) in the past, is what is absurd. And that is what ForeverSlayer said. My business has had huge successes and huge failures, and sometimes we simply tried again on a huge failure and it became our hugest success. You learn from what worked, and what did not, and you try again. Otherwise, you stagnate, and slowly fail over time until you can no longer afford to take a risk.

I run a data protection company and I can tell you that I do not try the same mistake over and over again is not a good way to operate, no matter how much money I have. Huge corporations, with their vast sums of money, usually don't try the same mistake twice, even though they can afford it.

I also want to say that a good business will know the strengths and weaknesses of their product. I think the big problem here is that while Dungeons and Dragons has been through this before, Hasbro hasn't.

 

[Mistwell]

I run a data protection company and I can tell you that I do not try the same mistake over and over again is not a good way to operate

What happened when you tried again but tried to avoid the parts which didn't work well? Or did you simply not try again, and you're guessing what would have happened?

 

[Zaran]

My problem with using the DnD brand name in other media is that many times it's just the name. Making a Facebook Pinball game with Dungeons and Dragons attached isn't doing anything to promote the RPG. The brand needs to promote creating characters and stories in medieval fantasy world.

 

[DEFCON 1]

My problem with using the DnD brand name in other media is that many times it's just the name. Making a Facebook Pinball game with Dungeons and Dragons attached isn't doing anything to promote the RPG. The brand needs to promote creating characters and stories in medieval fantasy world.

I think the point is that the brand is promoting the brand, and not the RPG.

Getting people to play the RPG is not the end-goal anymore. Sure... if some people who played the D&D Clue game decided to go looking for the baseline of what the D&D brand was, found it was an RPG, and started playing it... that'd be awesome. But the point of making the D&D Clue wasn't specifically for that.

I know that it's hard for all of us players of the RPG to accept... but the RPG isn't the hub on the wheel anymore. All these things that use the D&D brand are not meant to spiral everyone into the RPG. The RPG is now just one more spoke on the D&D wheel... just like every novel, film, video game, and licensed knickknack is. We don't want to believe that's true... we want to think that all of this is some grand plan to turn the actual RPG into the central focus of the entertainment (or at the very least game) world... but it isn't true. The D&D RPG is what it is... one entertainment out of thousands. And the D&D brand is no longer focused on that one entertainment above all else.

 

[DMZ2112]

Saying a company should keep trying until they go out of business is absurd.

Yeah, I had a similar thought. All the entities in [MENTION=2525]Mistwell[/MENTION] 's list are people. People fail and get back on their feet. Companies fail and disintegrate. A single successful person will often leave a trail of collapsed corporations behind them, those organizations having absorbed most of the consequences of his or her failures.

I figure D&D has one shot. I differ from some of our friends here in that I think it's a fair shot, but I do think it is alone. The odds that there will not be a D&D after this D&D are higher than they have ever been.

 

[fjw70]

I think the point is that the brand is promoting the brand, and not the RPG.

Getting people to play the RPG is not the end-goal anymore. Sure... if some people who played the D&D Clue game decided to go looking for the baseline of what the D&D brand was, found it was an RPG, and started playing it... that'd be awesome. But the point of making the D&D Clue wasn't specifically for that.

I know that it's hard for all of us players of the RPG to accept... but the RPG isn't the hub on the wheel anymore. All these things that use the D&D brand are not meant to spiral everyone into the RPG. The RPG is now just one more spoke on the D&D wheel... just like every novel, film, video game, and licensed knickknack is. We don't want to believe that's true... we want to think that all of this is some grand plan to turn the actual RPG into the central focus of the entertainment (or at the very least game) world... but it isn't true. The D&D RPG is what it is... one entertainment out of thousands. And the D&D brand is no longer focused on that one entertainment above all else.

This really seems to the the case. Going forward Hasbro doesn't want D&D to be an RPG. It sounds like want D&D to be a brand to sell games, toys, movies, etc. and the RPG will probably just be a small piece of the overall D&D pie.

Will D&D succeed as this new brand? I have no idea, but I look forward to seeing them try.