it is nightmare to balance,
all features in the game must be coded and balanced around being feats and/or half-feats.
I.E: paladins aura.
take a feat at 6th level.
+1 to all saves to all within 20ft
take it again at 12th level:
+2 to all saves to all within 30ft
take it again at 18th level:
+3 to all saves to all within 40ft
For clarity, I will call this product "6e"/"6th Edition"/etc. rather than any variation of 5th Edition, because...yeah this is a new game, it's not gonna be backwards-compatible with 5e.
Pay only lip service to the grognards. Instead do extensive product research on what current 20-something and 30-something folks are interested in buying. Focus 85% of idea-creation on this research. The remaining 15% is to give enough of a grognard-appeasing veneer that they don't notice it isn't actually "for them" until it's too late and they're already hip-deep. It's not a stance I would take if you hadn't specifically said it MUST make the most money, because I consider it immoral to deceive your customers like that.
Hire a reputable software company to design a slick, feature-rich, content-rich 2D and 3D VTT, which must be ready on release, and not a day later. Support for using past editions with the VTT--oldest first--will be a promised update if sufficient subscriber count is reached.
Develop robust rules for things D&D has long lacked: novice levels, incremental advancement, true quick-start rules, lite battles (what I call "skirmishes"), etc. Further, consider restricting the initial publication to only the first ~10 levels, so that we can include more classes and more diversity. Most campaigns never reach past level 10-12 anyway, so levels 11-20 could be published as separate book(s).
Rigorously playtest. I'm talking spending at least 25% of the overall budget JUST on getting lots and lots and LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of playtesting done. We don't publish rules we don't have playtesting for, basically.
Reach out to major youth-/"new adult"-demographic entertainment and media things to develop, as much as possible, a genuine grassroots campaign. It's kind of trite, but Fortnite is (or at least was) sort of the go-to youth-facing collaboration option. Collab with as many people as will have us. LOTS of the people who work on these projects, at least in the US, are people who played some form of D&D at some point in the past, so collaborations shouldn't be too difficult to develop.
Just as rigorously as the playtesting, rigorously test the design and layout. Make sure it has the look and feel of D&D to grognards, even if it's entirely opposite to their mechanical preferences.
Something that only has to appeal to me would not be the edition that makes the most money. I think this is sort of a general truism, so it's weird that you open with "you HAVE to make THE MOST MONEY EVER", and then follow it with "but y'know do whatever you want mang it's only for you".
However, something designed specifically to make money could still sneak in my preferences, Trojan Horse style. Because at this point I'm about 90% convinced that how the books LOOK and what the prose READS like are just flat-out more important for early success than whether the game itself is constructed well or poorly. Appearance matters more than reality--not that reality doesn't matter at all, but people will champion something that looks right but plays wrong far more than something that looks wrong but plays right.
The rules themselves would be a hybrid of 3e, 4e, 5e (but I repeat myself), and 13th Age. 4e would provide the backbone and the overall structure, but more of the obfuscation from 3e and 5e would be present (again, because perception > reality), albeit with some things genuinely ported in from those two, usually through the lens of 13th Age (since it was designed by some leading designers of 3e and 4e!) An emphasis on avoiding complexity unless it serves a clear, beneficial function wouldn't hurt, but I am leery of simplicity solely for simplicity's sake, as I've seen too many computer games move in that direction and piss fans off as a consequence.
The aforementioned extensive marketing research might turn up new class archetypes, but honestly I don't really expect it to. There are only about 25 mainline class concepts in the general fantasy milieu that D&D carves out, and D&D is already covering around half of those archetypes (some, notably, that D&D itself created, such as the specific weird idiosyncrasies of a "Cleric" as opposed to any other way a priestly character might become an adventurer.) Most ideas folks could posit would either work much better as a subclass for one of the below classes, or as some kind of add-on option, such as an alternate spell list or feat tree.
I have articulated these class-fantasy archetypes before, but if folks would like them, I'll spoilerblock them here.
First, the ones already present in 5th edition, in alphabetical order.
Artificer, the engineer-as-magician, with shades of other professional fields (blacksmith, surgeon, sapper, etc.), where craft-ken is magic
Barbarian, the warrior-of-passion, whether it be warp-spasms or altered states of consciousness or spirit-indwelling.
Bard, the artist-as-magician, whether that art be music, dance, oratory, fencing, whatever--the magic of the fine and performing arts.
Cleric, the devotee-as-magician, servant and shepherd both, remembering that a shepherd's crook was both tool and weapon.
Druid, (these days) merging shapeshifter-as-magician and geomancer-as-magician, calling on the magic of land and beast.
Fighter, the warrior-of-skill, who transcends the limits of IRL mundane soldiers through grit and tenacity.
Monk, the warrior-of-discipline, who transcends limits through enlightenment and practiced form, often semi-spiritual in nature.
Paladin, the warrior-of-devotion, power manifest through purity, both in keeping promises and in inspiring others by their example.
Ranger, the warrior-of-the-hunt, who straddles the line between man and beast, city and wilderness, tools and nature.
Rogue, the warrior-of-trickery, who knows the ways of not being struck or spotted, and of striking and seeing, of locks and keys.
Sorcerer, the inheritor-as-magician, who has magic power not because it was sought, but because it is part of who they are.
Warlock, the bargainer-as-magician, who represents the power of Faustian bargains and clever swindlers cheating evil powers.
Wizard, the scientist-as-magician, who represents pure knowledge unlocking ultimate power, the deep secrets of reality.
Second, those I consider to be missing, in (loose) order of how likely I think they are to actually get implemented.
Assassin, the warrior-of-shadow, whose skill with all the subtle ways to stalk (and un-alive) someone transcends mortal limits.
Warlord, the warrior-of-tactics, who transcends limits by cooperating with others rather than purely through her own mettle.
Swordmage, the warrior-as-magician, for whom swordplay is magic, and magic is swordplay (or other weapons), one and inseparable.
Shaman, the spiritualist-as-magician, who straddles the line between material and spirit, the bridge connecting these realms.
Psion (etc.), the telepath-as-magician, who draws on ESP, the paranormal, occult "science" etc. to bend the rules of reality in their favor.
Alchemist, the chemist-as-magician, who uses magical ingredients and concoctions to control the world...or themselves.
Avenger, the warrior-of-zeal, whose absolute focus is both shield and sword against their enemies, who executes the turncoat apostate.
Warden, the warrior-of-the-land, who wears Nature's power like a cloak, and wreaks Her wrath where he walks.
Summoner, the overseer-as-magician, whose magic lies in getting other beings to use magic for her.
Invoker, the emissary-as-magician, who calls down disaster upon the foes of the faith, Elijah calling fire down against the altar of Baal.
"Machinist" (not my fav name), the warrior-of-technology, who uses guns, machines, and tools to overcome their foes.
Sorry to be clear it's 3 different products. Q for you, one for cash, and one you would present to others. In every case do whatever you like subject to what I laid out.
it is nightmare to balance,
all features in the game must be coded and balanced around being feats and/or half-feats.
I.E: paladins aura.
take a feat at 6th level.
+1 to all saves to all within 20ft
take it again at 12th level:
+2 to all saves to all within 30ft
take it again at 18th level:
+3 to all saves to all within 40ft
I've got a rough prototype that uses feats and talents. Subclasses become talent trees. Some trees are locked eg if you pick this talent you can't pick this tree.
You can pick 100% general talents if you want though.
5e launch was damn near perfect so that's the model.
Hodgepocalypse did a lot of what I wanted to do with dnd
Namely use what I liked in 4e in 5e while keeping what worked in 5e.
1. The warlord: I added the soldier path to fill that niche.
2. Loads of viable species.
3. Bring back the tier system so you know roughly when to drop an item. I'm sorry, but consumables should be on a different track. They aren't worth the requirement slot.
4. Skill challenges with...what's the word...agency. I have used it for chases, iron chef challenges, and surviving weather conditions. it works so much better when you can use your powers and abilities to tweak the numbers.
And I'm sorry, the writing in 5e is terrible. It's the first edition I can't read as a coffee table book. The writing just doesn't work compared to other editions (my gold standard is 3e Forgotten Realms campaign guide, so yes, I expect good writing).
I never did it, but I prefer Ref, Fort, and Will for save. They are easier to define, and they never followed their own rules regarding which stat refers to which spell.
Lock the execs in a closet and only let them out if necessary. The ogl fiasco gimped the best damn dnd movie we ever got and their push for greater profits often means they end up with less money. dnd did its best work when they were ignoring us.
it is nightmare to balance,
all features in the game must be coded and balanced around being feats and/or half-feats.
I.E: paladins aura.
take a feat at 6th level.
+1 to all saves to all within 20ft
take it again at 12th level:
+2 to all saves to all within 30ft
take it again at 18th level:
+3 to all saves to all within 40ft
