Orcus said:
Poorly designed adventure, poorly prepared pregens, they never posted the "guidelines" to write your own adventure for the game day, and it didnt even have good tie ins of the retailers (for isntance, the was a suggestion that the adventure had something to do with ravenloft, but nothing in the adventure really linked that up). the retailer kit was crappy and it was "limited" so not every story that wanted them got them.
I run Necromancer Games. I supported my local game store. I volunteered to be a guest DM for the game day. i recruited 4 other DMs. I got people pumped. I brought in over $200 worth of Necro give away items for the day. But the CRAP that WotC put out was pathetic. This was D&D FREAKING GAMEDAY!!!! ONCE A YEAR!!!! THE CHANCE TO HELP NEWBIES GET INVOLVED AND TO HELP RETAILERS KEEP D&D A VIABLE AND VISIBLE PRESENCE AND THAT WAS IT?!?!?! A JOKE!
It sounds like someone had the idea for "D&D World Gameday", and someone approved it as the great marketing idea it is, but they then failed to allocate the resources needed to do a really good job.
Which is totally unacceptable. The single best form of marketing WotC have for this game is so-called 'evangelical' marketing from existing gamers. D&D Gameday is a brilliant way to tap into that, but it needs supported, and it needs supported properly. If it's a lame day, it does more harm than good.
I was obvious that no one spent any real time making the pregens. I mean, I dont even know if the person who made the pregens actually plays D&D. I find that impossible to believe.
And the adventure, it could not possibly have been playtested with those pregens. Not by anyone that actually plays D&D.
My understanding is that a 'good' marketing guy needs to know a fari amount about the product he's selling, but doesn't need to be a true technical expert. So, the guy responsible for D&D Gameday had probably played a few light games, but may well not have ever created a character, and had almost certainly never actually run a game.
But, really, how hard can these things be, right? So, he sat down with the rules, and whatever computerised character generator Wizards have hidden away, and put together some characters. And he sat down and put together a simple adventure that, technically, works.
Then, to make it a really good marketing kit, he put together the package of goodies for people to get. 'Cos it's the free toys that people remember, isn't it? (The fact that they didn't produce enough was a glitch - I'm sure they will do better next year.)
The problem is, when presented to people who know the game well, the flaws in that approach really become apparent. We all know that the toys are nice, but they're beside the point. What matters are the characters and, crucially, the adventure.
Edit: Having looked at Wizards.com a bit further, it looks like they did have Rich Baker put together the adventure. So, I don't know quite what happened there. I guess they had him do the adventure seperately from the creator of the PreGens, when for a one-off they really should be created together.
And no good tie ins for retailers at all.
Right, here's how Wizards can better spend their marketing dollars for D&D Gameday:
Each year, have the design group (or, hell, subcontract it to Paizo - they're the experts) to produce a short D&D adventure, suitable for about 4 hours of play, start to finish. It should present the 'iconic' D&D experience, which means a low-level dungeon crawl, using the Core Rules only, and make it exciting. Package it up with 6-8 pregenerated characters suitable for use with the adventure, and make those characters similarly iconic - clear representatives of their class, good at one or two things each, and not using any funky rules if they can be avoided.
Debut the adventure at D&D Gameday, and encourage as many DMs to run as many games in as many stores as possible. In addition, produce the adventure as a 'real' D&D module, with proper artwork, cover, maps, and all the rest, including those pregen characters. And, for the rest of the year, give a copy of that adventure away free with every "Dungeon Master's Guide" that is sold. (And, each year, produce a new adventure to give away, and make the previous year's adventure available as a free download at Wizards.com.)
At the same time, develop a set of fast-play rules, which present the minimal ruleset, a micro-adventure, and some 1st level PreGens. Give this away free to anyone who wants one at D&D Gameday, and make it freely available to download at Wizards.com.
Next, produce a big poster, or a few big posters for retailers to display in their windows for the month before Gameday. And some sort of small promotion for everyone who takes part in a game. Hell, give the player the mini they used for their PC that day. (And, ideally, offer a 10% discount on all core rulebooks sold that day. Or, even more insidious - a free minis Starter Box with every PHB sold.)
Finally, to encourage DMs to run the game, don't bother with gimmicks and nonsense. Give every DM who runs a game a voucher redeemable for a 10% discount on any one purchase of WotC product, any time in the next year. We're your best customers, so reflect that. What's more, by arranging it like that, the more we spend, the more we save, but also the more you make. (If 10% discounts would reduce margin too far, reduce the amount. But 10% is a nice round number.)
The thing is, as we all know the fun from this game comes not from the use of the minis, or the fun little sticker, or the free pen, or any of the other things that marketing guys are really good at thinking up to put in promotional samples. The run comes from playing the game, so that's where the effort is needed - a really good adventure, really good pregen characters, and, if possible, some sort of 'shared experience' across the player base for early adventures. So, give away your "The Caves of Chaos" adventure free with the DMG, and then when people talk about how they dealt with the strange little 'dog men' they'll wax nostalgic, and head on down to your next Gameday, cash in hand. Or something.
HERE IS MY PLEDGE: NEXT YEAR, I WILL WRITE A FREE ADVENTURE FOR D&D GAMEDAY AND MAKE IT AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE AND I WILL TAKE THE GAMEDAY PREGENS AND TWEAK THEM TO BE ACTUALLY PLAYABLE PREGENS!!! Then we can call it Necro Gameday.
That would be cool. ENWorld should do something similar. If Wizards are going to drop the ball, let's pick it up for them.
By the way, I say this loving WotC. I love the people there. I think they have been doing great stuff recently. I love their products the last year or so. Which makes this disappointment all the more surprising and troubling. Its like they didnt even bother...
Indeed. It's actually good when people call Wizards out on a poor job with D&D Gameday (at least in their opinion). It means they care, which ultimately is good for the hobby, and good for WotC's bottom line, even if only in the tiny way that D&D contributes.
