Chris Cocks says to expect more D&D crossover products

Chris Cocks says that more crossover products are coming from the D&D team. Speaking with GamesRadar this week, the Hasbro CEO confirmed that more D&D crossover products were in the works, citing the success of Magic: The Gathering. "I don't want to take away any headlines from the D&D team," Cocks said, "but I think you can definitely expect more crossovers inside of D&D. I mean, we've had such a fantastic experience with [crossovers] with Magic: The Gathering. D&D is a fantastic play system that I think is very open ended. You already have a fairly wide spectrum with things like Spelljammer to Curse of Strahd. So you already kind of have the DNA for it handled inside the system. So, yeah [...] You should expect more of those."

Wizards has dabbled with crossover products in the past, with multiple Magic: The Gathering campaign setting books, a Critical Role adventure campaign and setting book, and boxed sets featuring Stranger Things and Rick & Morty. While Magic: The Gathering has a more robust crossover lines called Universes Beyond, most of the IPs involved already have bespoke tabletop RPG games of some kind, so looking to that line might not be a firm indicator of what's coming for D&D. We'll note that Hasbro recently entered into a licensing deal with Harry Potter and has also dabbled with the ultra-popular Fourth Wing romantasy franchise, so those could be where D&D could be looking for future crossover products. However, that's pure speculation on our end.

 

[vecna00]

Diablo D&D has so much potential, that was sadly not realized.

WotC had the license for both Diablo and Warcraft from Blizzard at the time, and fumbled both hard.

And yet, I still enjoyed my Diablo D&D books . . . .

I don't know if it's been mentioned after this, but WotC also had the StarCraft license for an Alternity starter set. Sadly, nothing else came of it, I would have loved it if they did more with it.

Side note: I also miss the hell out of Alternity!

 

[Stormonu]

I miss the days when we had Boot Hill, Gangbusters, Gamma World and Star Frontiers as separate ways to play RPGs from the same company.

Free League (perhaps my favorite RPG company at the moment) and Modiphius both make a half-dozen RPGs, most of which could be used interchangeably with little effort as far as mechanics go. I wish the D&D/WotC team would go back to making non-D&D worlds - maybe even dredging up the old favorites (Gamma World and Star Frontiers being the highest on the list for me). Maybe give Renegade the old TSR systems to bring back to life under their current engine (for GI Joe/Transformers/My Little Pony/Power Rangers*)?

* How the heck did they end up with Power Rangers? Is that a Hasbro property now?

 

[Parmandur]

I miss the days when we had Boot Hill, Gangbusters, Gamma World and Star Frontiers as separate ways to play RPGs from the same company.

Free League (perhaps my favorite RPG company at the moment) and Modiphius both make a half-dozen RPGs, most of which could be used interchangeably with little effort as far as mechanics go. I wish the D&D/WotC team would go back to making non-D&D worlds - maybe even dredging up the old favorites (Gamma World and Star Frontiers being the highest on the list for me). Maybe give Renegade the old TSR systems to bring back to life under their current engine (for GI Joe/Transformers/My Little Pony/Power Rangers*)?

* How the heck did they end up with Power Rangers? Is that a Hasbro property now?

Power Rangers is Hasbro now , yes.

I would love a 5E Gamma World or Star Frontiers.

I think the current Neon Odyssey Kickstarter shows there is a market for it.

 

[Reynard]

Power Rangers is Hasbro now , yes.

I would love a 5E Gamma World or Star Frontiers.

I think the current Neon Odyssey Kickstarter shows there is a market for it.

I wonder what a given 5E book makes, even a middling one sales wise. Like, how big would KS numbers have to start getting for WotC to care?

 

[Sossij]

So now that we are getting Garfield MTG cards...Would Garfield be a Ravenloft Darklord?

 

[Stormonu]

So now that we are getting Garfield MTG cards...Would Garfield be a Ravenloft Darklord?

Considering what he's done to Odie over the years, yeah I could see it ...

The Land of Eternal Mondays.

<Edit> If you're aware of the book/animation "Garfield: His 9 Lives", the story "Lab Animal" could certainly be used to make him a Dark Lord.

 

[Maxperson]

Masters of the Universe? Sure its Mattell but the zany powers and animal people sure fit the 5e playstyle.

By the power of Greyhawk! I have the power!

 

[SothFan]

I wonder what a given 5E book makes, even a middling one sales wise. Like, how big would KS numbers have to start getting for WotC to care?

Book margins at retail are higher than other products. 40%-50%.
If the price online is the same at retail, it tells us several things:
Hasbro wants the extra margins with the cost of overhead.
Hasbro wants less personnel devoted to supply.

If I remember, I was once told that the publisher got $2 for every book sold for $4.99.

If this is still true, then just do the math. Book price/1.50 = Hasbro earnings per book, give or take middleman markup fluxtuation.

So now that we are getting Garfield MTG cards...Would Garfield be a Ravenloft Darklord?

Weren't the first cards ever Garfield cards? He even made one to propose.

 

[Sossij]

<Edit> If you're aware of the book/animation "Garfield: His 9 Lives", the story "Lab Animal" could certainly be used to make him a Dark Lord.

There's also one where he "wakes up" to realize he's been alone in an empty house for years that ran for a whole week, and then he realizes he wants everybody back and wills himself back. It's supposed to be a bad dream or something but it very much reads like he is in that house and has made up John and Odie.

Weren't the first cards ever Garfield cards? He even made one to propose.

Oh man, it took me a hot minute to get this!

 

[Remathilis]

There's also one where he "wakes up" to realize he's been alone in an empty house for years that ran for a whole week, and then he realizes he wants everybody back and wills himself back. It's supposed to be a bad dream or something but it very much reads like he is in that house and has made up John and Odie.

That is some Garfield Minus Garfield levels of bleak...