WotC WotC will do what you say for 5 years. What are your instructions?

[Campbell]

@Randy_Robertson

Offering up the game to the fans sounds nice, but would be seriously detrimental to the continuity you seem to want to preserve. Instead of one standard that occasionally changes you would have 1000+ standards that are constantly in a state of flux.

Everyone likes different things about the game. When you make a change to appeal to one group of fans you inadvertently will turn other fans off. Given the capability to turn out uniquely tuned versions of the game many fans would and the market would be all over the place. It would make those previous transitions look tame in comparison.

Fifth Edition is not my favorite version of the game, but it is a pretty good game and it continues to sell extremely well despite being 5 years old. There is no incentive currently for Wizards to make any changes to the core system. If things continue as they have with the game selling well with minimal staff needs continuity of the game will be in a very good place. Disrupting that is contrary to your stated aims.

Continuity is good business for Wizards right now.

 

[pneumatik]

Update Greyhawk for 5e, because I like Greyhawk.

Play around more with different rules as drop-in replacements for existing classes. Like Book of Nine Swords, but with classes as drop-in replacements for Fighter, etc. Psionics as a drop-in replacement for arcanists, or clerics. I want more people playing with a wider range of rules without needing to be in a particular setting. And you can still add the new classes to your campaign without replacing the existing ones if you want.

Start pushing better ways for people to play together remotely. Things like AR / VR that make it more like you're actually at the table with your friends. Partner with other companies if computers are still too hard for us.

More official smaller adventures in official settings that groups can put together into campaigns. I want 5e to be like 1e, with lots of official adventures that can be strung together in different wants to make campaigns.

A new setting that represents what 5e is, whatever that means. Whether or not you like material, Eberron was radically different, in part because it started from the premise that everything published in 3e was in Eberron. I want something similarly defining for 5e, and I want some other good writer to figure out what that is for 5e.

Release 4e under the OGL.

More official monsters. Put them under the DM's Guild if no one wants to buy hardcovers full of them.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Overall, WotC's business model is reminiscent of a Wall Street speculator who's going for the high-turnover fast cash regardless of how damaging that can be to the long-term health of the market. The best thing they can do for the RPG industry is finish their slow, grinding withdrawal from it and let other companies carry on in their place.

Is this the conclusion you arrived to based on Wizard's slow release cycle and the quality of their products? Do you live in the real world?

Are you not conflating them with Hasbro?

 

[Zardnaar]

Is this the conclusion you arrived to based on Wizard's slow release cycle and the quality of their products? Do you live in the real world?

Are you not conflating them with Hasbro?

It was WotC until around 2010. 3 versions of D&D in 8 years, 3 editions of Star Wars same timeframe.

 

[Xenonnonex]

It was WotC until around 2010. 3 versions of D&D in 8 years, 3 editions of Star Wars same timeframe.

My question was referring to current practices though.

 

[Zardnaar]

My question was referring to current practices though.

Perception sticks though, it's not accurate atm.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Perception sticks though, it's not accurate atm.

True that bruv.

I would argue that what is more "harmful" is been stuck in the past and continuing to nonsenically criticize current practices through that lens.

 

[Sacrosanct]

True that bruv.

I would argue that what is more "harmful" is been stuck in the past and continuing to nonsenically criticize current practices through that lens.

That's kinda our culture in a nutshell though. D&D is way more accepted among the masses and much more diverse as players now than it was in the 80s, but still, there is a lot of people who hang on to those old stereotypes.

 

[ccs]

His take on Heroscape is 100% correct.

Well, not completely.
I think he fails to realize that Heroscape has always been Hasbro's to do whatever they wished with. Including shifting which of their brand logos it's produced under (Milton Bradley vs WoTC), trying to reduce production costs (or use it to help promote D&D) by sharing D&D figure sculpts, or ultimately cutting it.
So being mad at Wizards for this is pointless.
He should be thankful that Heroscape had as long a run as it did. 6 years is a respectable life span for that type of game, at that price point, at mass retail.

 

[Lanefan]

I'm in charge of WotC for the next 5 years? Lookout, gaming world! By game, with some general bits first:

CORPORATE STUFF:

1. Make sure we immediately return to having a full corporate presence at the four major Cons - GenCon, Origins, the big UK one, and the big German one (I forget the names of those last two) and that we're running the core sessions and tournaments of our major games (most notably D&D and M:tG) in-house rather than farming it out to third-parties who, IME, do a less-than-stellar job.

2. Pick half a dozen other significant Cons around the world and do the same there; and GaryCon.

3. Do what I can to give our people at least some job security for as long as I'm in charge.

4. Branch out into a few gaming-themed businesses such as restaurants and pubs.; start in Seattle and work outwards from there, using our IP and games to promote the pub or restaurant and using it to in turn promote our games. Maybe shoot to have ten of each in North America within five years, with no two in the same city.

D&D:

1. design and release a complete conversion guide between all 5 main editions plus BECMI and OD&D, such that material published for any edition can be easily ported over to any other. (this expands our new-material market to anyone playing D&D, not just those playing the current version)

2. design and release a decent guide to worldbuilding and setting design. (amazed we've never done this)

3. write a bunch of not-necessarily-connected small (16-32 page) adventure modules with detached hard-card covers (a la early-era TSR), covering all types of adventures and at all character levels. Release these at a rate of 3 to 5 per year.

4. put all settings not named Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms under the OGL such that people can re-release them or update them or whatever (settings are expensive to produce, and we've got other things that need funds).

5. design a decent D&D website that supports all editions and includes the following for each: character generator, online play space, discussion forums, allowance for house rules, complete spell lists combined from all editions, complete item lists (and costs!) as per each edition, a master list of monsters statted out for each edition, and so forth. (I know we have it in us to do a good website, as we already have one for M:tG)

6. for any past publication that isn't ever going to be reprinted, put a free-access .pdf of it up on our website. For any past publication that is going to be reprinted, reprint it now and get it into the market.

7. take one of our major D&D franchises (Dragonlance?) and license someone competent in Hollywood to make a good movie (or a few, a la LotR) or TV series (a la GoT) out of it.

8. reach out to some who have in the past done third-party design based on D&D (Judges' Guild, I'm looking at you) and invite them into the company.

9. over time, re-work 5e into a series of systems each fully compatible with the others, where one is quite simple, one is roughly as it is now, and one is rules-heavy. Make each as modular as possible, such that someone could mix and match between these editions if so desired (e.g. use all the rules-heavy stuff for exploration but use the simple combat module).

10. tied to our website, design and implement a set-up where people can get gaming minis 3-d printed to spec, at a reasonable cost to the consumer and reasonable but not crazy profit to us.

M:tG:

1. do away with the 'reserved list' and start reprinting the old power cards; even if they're not legal for tournaments people will still snap 'em up.

2. I've no concrete ideas on how to even start this, but do something to make the game fun again; even if only by perception. It's become far too serious and cutthroat over the years.

3. re-work the deal with our card artists so we're not shorting them any more.

4. bring back the randomized 60-card 'starter packs'.

5. release a D&D themed block or two - make use of our IP from this and other games (e.g. in an Eberron expansion there could be some artifact creatures named after the robots in Roborally). Cross-pollinate like mad!

OTHER GAMES:

1. get our old properties e.g. Diplomacy, Roborally, various Avalon Hill games, etc. back in active circulation if they are not already. Cross-pollinate where possible when designing and releasing new games or rebooting old ones.

2. don't aggressively acquire other gaming companies as such, but keep an eye out for any that fail on their own and try to snap up their IP.