WotC What Official 5E non-D&D Game Do You Want To See from WotC?

[LuisCarlos17f]

Sci-fi is a genre that gets old too badly. The new generations realises the old titles didn't imagine things today are normal, for example the social revolution of the mobiles or social nets.

A d20 setting with modern technology, but 5Ed is not ready for the metagame impact of the firearms. Have you played any battle royal videogame? Then you should understand the radical difference when you shoot with only a bow or a machine gun. Any time have you killed the boss of a videogame with only one shot, or a low number, because you saved your best weapons until the end? Even driving a truck could be used to hit over a dozen of zombies. Have you seen anybody with a homebred version of Urban Arcana for 5Ed? The stats for the modern firearms can be found in the SRD.

I doubt seriously a new d20 Star Wars, althought I would love. Now the current owner of the licence is Edge Studios, and no more titles have been published, and my theory is after the Marvel Multiverse RPG the next it will be Star Wars with a varian version of the 616 system.

My opinion is Gamma World is the closest option to be added to the D&D multiverse, because the high-tech weapons although powerfuls aren't easy to be found, repaired or bought in a shop, and then to keep the power balance should be easier for the GM. Other reason is it has a lot of exotic creatures could be sold as miniatures, toys, videogames or skins for Fortnite.

I suspect there is a reason because Hasbro doesn't want to promote a own sci-fi franchise (but Transformers). The licence of Star Wars is too important, and Disney wouldn't like other company creating a potential rival. Paramount, owner of Star Treck, neither would be very happy.

* I see a new subgenre, the vintage speculative fiction, imitating the style from previous decades. Star Frontiers could be published as a retro-style "affectionate parody" of old sci-fi fiction, but with an updated version of modern technology, for example the tablets, or the glasses of augmented reality.

* Some subline within d20 Modern, for example Dark*Matter, could be an easier option for a action-live production.

* Other point is even if WotC publishes a new d20 Future setting, Star*Drive or Star Frontiers, there is a serious rival, Starfinder, with a lot of crunch published.

 

[Umbran]

A return to Alternity would also be good...

I believe Sasquatch Games now holds the trademark rights on Alternity (at least, the Alternity rules they put out in 2017 says so).

 

[DarkCrisis]

Mass Effect

 

[Parmandur]

I believe Sasquatch Games now holds the trademark rights on Alternity (at least, the Alternity rules they put out in 2017 says so).

Yeah, WotC let Alternity and some others slip out of trademark. Boot Hill, Star Frontiers, and Gamma World are actively in print through the DMsGuild now, however.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

I believe Sasquatch Games now holds the trademark rights on Alternity (at least, the Alternity rules they put out in 2017 says so).

I'm fairly certain you're correct

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Very few people remember Star Frontiers, probably, but it was sold in major American chains for years, and being retro can be a marketing pivot even for younger people if handled well (see also, Spelljammer). I could still see it being a thing. Heck, they emphasized that the video game is an ew property, but they could well decide to name it "star Frontiers" because they own the trademark and copyright for the name, and use it as an opportunity to radically reboot it. All sorts of possibilities.

I would not be entirely shocked if Archetype's videogame was called Star Frontiers, I admit. It's a bit generic, but it's not so generic as to be entirely forgettable (the same could be said of Mass Effect), and it sounds like the right sort of name for that game.

 

[LordEntrails]

It would have to be pretty different from Deadlands to break into that niche, I'd think.

I don't agree. WotC has a market visibility and draw that Deadlands doesn't.

I think it's more likely they'd come out with a TTRPG adaptation of the new IP. Star Frontiers is a totally forgotten/unknown IP outside the nerdiest of nerds (soz everyone including me).

Hey! I resemble that!

Very few people remember Star Frontiers, probably, but it was sold in major American chains for years, and being retro can be a marketing pivot even for younger people if handled well (see also, Spelljammer)

Ah how nice it would be to sit in my rocker on the front porch and watch the children play on my old Star Frontiers grass.
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Though SF has a hundred times more interest for me (I just finished playing in a multi-year campaign last year), I could also enjoy Top Secret or Gang Busters. Those both hold fond memories, but I would only buy into them if the reviews were good.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

World of Darkness d20!

Classes for Vampire, Garou, Mage, Created etc with archetypes being the bloodline/auspice.

But what I'd really like the most is a low-magic, grittier fantasy game that just isnt possible with regular D&D as presented in 5e. Instead of butchering and modding and molding 5e rules, just create a fantasy game from scratch using the 5e engine and following the basic premise.

This is also how I think they should do Darksun: its own 5e system.

 

[Parmandur]

I would not be entirely shocked if Archetype's videogame was called Star Frontiers, I admit. It's a bit generic, but it's not so generic as to be entirely forgettable (the same could be said of Mass Effect), and it sounds like the right sort of name for that game.

It gets that Star Trek-y space explorer vibe across.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Btw if anyone thinks Dark*Matter is coming back, they need to go read their Dark*Matter books, the conspiracies/setting bits particularly, and double-especially the Final Church sourcebook. Warning: you will take at least 2d6 SAN damage and not in a good way. WotC very likely don't want anyone to even think about Dark*Matter, let alone to essentially suggest people go back and look at the original, because holy crap, that stuff would absolutely not fly now, especially not post-Qanon etc. I've written about it before and can link if necessary, but essentially Dark*Matter targets quite a number of real-world non-government groups (including at least two RL religions) and makes those conspiracies be true, and unfortunately a lot of it lines up with what a certain kind of internet nutcase around today believes, the kind of internet nutcase that is sadly more relevant today than they were in, say, 1999. It's also kind of weird in who it paints as the good guys, because it's representative of a certain perspective, one at odds with most well-regarded conspiracy media (like the X-Files or Millennium). Back then it was surprisingly dark and weird to target RL groups (like, say, the Freemasons, which Dark*Matter does), something other conspiracy RPGs shied away from, making up fictional groups instead, but not that shocking. Now? When we've had people commit a lot of acts of violence and even some (inept) terrorism over similar theories? I don't think so. The Final Church stuff in particular closely tallies with a lot of nuttier Qanon stuff (as in agreeing with Qanon theories). There's no way WotC would find that slightly obscure IP valuable enough to risk the reputational damage they'd sustain for even proposing a Dark*Matter RPG when the RPG blogosphere actually re-read that stuff, in 2022, even if ultimately they were not intending to go the same way conspiracy-wise. If they did a conspiracy RPG (unlikely, it's not safe as it once was), it'd be with a new IP and some nice safe fully-fictional conspiracies. Conspiracy X looks likes a totally safe and normal setting by comparison.