D&D 5E Brand Vs RPG

[billd91]

Here's a question...do we really want more of the D&D "brand"? Do we want D&D movies, D&D TV shows, D&D lunchboxes? Do we need those things.

From a localized "we" perspective, no we don't need any of that. But do we, more broadly, need it? Yes, if we want a corporation like Hasbro to continue to invest money in our niche hobby with the D&D IP they own. Sadly, that's the deal. Hasbro has to see ongoing value in the property to justify it.

 

[Mistwell]

Here's a question...do we really want more of the D&D "brand"? Do we want D&D movies, D&D TV shows, D&D lunchboxes? Do we need those things.

A friend and I were talking about World of Warcraft the other day, and I said I only really learned to like WoW once I realized it wasn't a vehicle for telling my own stories but living the stories that Blizzard gave me. And that's fine and all, but D&D is supposed to be about living the stories I and my friends create. Yet more and more, they want to make D&D a shared experience that's the same for everyone who sits down at the game--the only problem being; from my perspective--that's a really bad experience. Pretty much everything they create to reinforce their brand--their art, their trade dress, even the way they choose to present the rules, actually adds negative value to their product.

The more they position D&D as a brand, the less interested they are going to be in catering to the kind of stories that I and other homebrewers may want to tell. While I want more fantasy movies and TV and books; I don't really want the kind of fantasy they look willing to give me.

Yes. I want all sorts of branded crap to buy. Seriously, give me Beholder everything!

 

[robus]

The whole movie idea seems really weird to me. Would it be a pure fantasy story? That seems risky (and generic). Contemporary folks whisked off into another reality? Maybe - but hard to pull off and not seem kind of dorky.

It seems to me that the best way to spread DnD "the concept" is to utilize celebrity enthusiasts and have it be a "reality" TV type show. Show the celebs having fun playing their characters in a tightly edited production. Books and movies, as a commenter above noted, just suck the core creativity out of the brand and present D&D enthusiasts as passive consumers.

And for those suggesting a movie could have the impact of "The Lego Movie" or "Frozen" - it could also be another "Battleship"... And my money would be on the latter.

 

[Rhenny]

Are we absolutely sure of that? My guess is it's more a combination of the D&D brand (as a RPG) and the content of the game. After all, despite Paizo's success with Pathfinder, I suspect WotC was more successful in volume with 3.5 than Paizo has been with PF. And I figured that D&D's brand would allow it to reassert dominance in the market over PF as long as it wasn't saddled with game content that people didn't want (as seems apparent with 4e). In other words, I don't think bounded accuracy, simplified math, and rulings not rules would be sufficient to put 5e where it is on the RPG map. It also needed the D&D name.

I agree with this completely. D&D as an RPG and had been losing market share to Pathfinder prior to 5e. Interestingly, it seemed as if D&D (The Brand) could not maintain a strong hold on consumers since consumers were willing to buy out of brand. 5e has reversed this. Now, the RPG elements of 5e are what has re-established D&D's strength.

 

[Corpsetaker]

The problem I see is "D&D" isn't enough to get ordinary non gamers to buy into it. I keep hearing the "pop culture" excuse but I don't buy it. While many people have heard of D&D, doesn't mean those people are going to go and see the movie etc...

At the moment the fantasy/sci-fi genre has heavy competition and it's going to be difficult for D&D to find something that sets it apart from the others and attract the masses to buy into it.

I also just want to say that your Game of Thrones type of interest doesn't come along very often so saying "well they did it so D&D can' isn't a true statement. Some shows just tend to take off with the populace while others fade into the background.

When it comes to table top games, the D&D name doesn't hold the weight that it used to. We have loads of other TTRPGs that are just as popular so thinking the name will pull the brand through on it's own would be a foolish move.

 

[Rhenny]

The idea that there will be a movie scares me.

D&D as a name and a brand has overcome a lot of stereotyping and bad publicity from the 70s and 80s. The past movies have been horrible, and quite frankly, I feel they hurt the brand and public awareness of the brand.

I don't want the new movie to do the same.

Some people believe that any publicity is good publicity, but I'm not too sure of that.

 

[Hussar]

Hiya!



I don't think so. take on it (or a higher chance of it). Just keep the RPG stuff to what they said they were going to do... not favor any campaign setting over any other.

Right now, they don't have a "D&D Brand", they have a "Forgotten Realms D&D Brand". I'm curious as to how many things they have put out or have planned that are D&D-oriented...and NOT related to Forgotten Realms as a world or with regards to FR specific characters/names? ... So, is this whole "D&D as a Brand" a thing they are doing, or are they just trying to blow smoke up our keesters by claiming that, when in actuality they really are pushing for a "Forgotten Realms as a Brand" and hoping nobody will notice?

Give me "Blasted Desert" over "The Anuroch Desert" any day of the week. I'll take "evil, secret cabal of spellcasters" over "the Red Wizards" any day of the week. I'll take "defeat the followers of the God of Evil!" over "defeat the followers of Cyric!" any day of the week. etc...etc...etc...

^_^

Paul L. Ming

And, yet, funnily enough, if you look at the front page of En World, you'll see a poll asking what settings people are playing in and FR is almost equal to homebrew. I'd say they're doing something right if that's true.

 

[Hussar]

I agree with this completely. D&D as an RPG and had been losing market share to Pathfinder prior to 5e. Interestingly, it seemed as if D&D (The Brand) could not maintain a strong hold on consumers since consumers were willing to buy out of brand. 5e has reversed this. Now, the RPG elements of 5e are what has re-established D&D's strength.

See, I'm not really sure how true that is. D&D as an RPG lost market share to Pathfinder after it stopped producing books entirely.

 

[Hussar]

The problem I see is "D&D" isn't enough to get ordinary non gamers to buy into it. I keep hearing the "pop culture" excuse but I don't buy it. While many people have heard of D&D, doesn't mean those people are going to go and see the movie etc...

At the moment the fantasy/sci-fi genre has heavy competition and it's going to be difficult for D&D to find something that sets it apart from the others and attract the masses to buy into it.

I also just want to say that your Game of Thrones type of interest doesn't come along very often so saying "well they did it so D&D can' isn't a true statement. Some shows just tend to take off with the populace while others fade into the background.

When it comes to table top games, the D&D name doesn't hold the weight that it used to. We have loads of other TTRPGs that are just as popular so thinking the name will pull the brand through on it's own would be a foolish move.

The Transformers movies made all the money in the world. Like them or hate them, they are monstrously successful. Do you honestly think that ticket sales were being driven entirely by toy fans? How many people went to see the movies that had never seen the cartoons? (I'll cop to that one, I was aware of the original cartoons but never saw them - My first Transformers cartoons were Beast Wars)

And, note, just because the D&D movie isn't on the same level of success as Transformers or Avatar or whatnot, doesn't mean it will fail. That's a common problem - if it doesn't do better than the absolute best, it's a failure doesn't really follow.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Personally, there have been few D&D products released that I want that aren't the RPG, but not because I'm opposed to them. Just that few of them are something I want. I don't play MMOs. I was really looking forward to Sword Coast Legends, but that turned out poorly.

I'm not interested in the board games they've been releasing recently, but I would love more stuff similar to Lords of Waterdeep.

I'm not very interested in Forgotten Realms fiction, though I've been enjoying some of the comics.

I don't wear t-shirts, but I'd buy an Ampersand polo or tie in an instant. Even a necklace. There's lots of potential merchandise I'd be interested in, just not what they've released.

So, I'm not sure how it's doing generally, but for me it's not firing on all cylinders.