Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
An EN World Special! Two threads for the price of one ...
If you were going to expand the D&D market, attracting new gamers that haven't played RPGs or D&D before, how would you go about it?
Stealing an idea posted by another poster (I forget who you are, but it's a great idea!), I propose an advertising campaign that advertises D&D, specifically a D&D Lite version that acts as a lead in to D&D, but is also a complete game in itself. The question is:
1) How would you structure the advertising campaign? and
2) How would you structure D&D Lite?
The basic outline (again, credit to unknown ENWorlder), intended to be family-friendly and sell D&D Lite as a great family game that encourages the use of the imagination:
Advertising
A TV campaign (with tie-in print & radio ads) that is a series of live-action fantasy spots with an iconic D&D party. Each of the four (or five) spots centers on one character, and closes with a fade to a group sitting around a table, playing D&D (Lite), where the DM asks "What do you do now?". The series of spots together tells one story. Example:
#1: Lidda (& party) bypasses traps & locks to gain entrance to the underground complex ...
#2: Mialee (& party) battle kobold servants, putting them to sleep with her spells ...
#3: Jozan (& party) smites the undead creature that haunts the door to the lair beyond ...
#4: Tordek (& party) strikes the killing blow that brings down the dragon who lairs beyond the haunted door ...
#5: The party wins the dragon's hoard and saves the village.
How would you structure the ads? What iconics? What are teh "must see" images that sell D&D?
D&D Lite
The idea is to make the product an easy way to get into D&D, that steps people into roleplaying and full D&D, but is itself a self-contained game playable by the masses. Like the D&D Adventrue game, it has everything you need in one box, so it can be sold like a board game, but the rules are closer to D&D to make it an easier step to the full PHB. It has enough for lots of play by itself -- sort of like the original D&D boxed sets, which were a complete game by themselves, but encouraged crossover into the larger AD&D product line. (I haven't seen that the 3E D&D adventure game really fills this niche -- I don't see it on shelves everywhere -- and I think many complete novices are turned off by the intimidation factor of starting with the game ... dice, PHB, DMG, MM, etc. You want something a family could pick up and go play.)
I'm thinking some sort of boxed set that retails under $20, that has player & DM rulebooklets, dice, maybe a board/battlemat and either quality counters or plastic figures, a sample adventure booklet, a "quick play" guide, maybe iconic character cards (Spell cards? monster cards? magic item cards?), and an add for the full PHB. (I just described the D&D Adventure Game, didn't I?)
What rules would D&D Lite have?
- What races, classes?
- Maybe no feats, or just a fixed feat chain for fighters?
- Fixed skill lists by character class (no choice, all rogues have the same six skills, for example)?
- Level progression up to 20, but fixed progressions (no feat/skill/etc options)?
- Short spell lists?
- No AOO, grapple, etc in combat (simple move & attack/spell/action)?
- DM's book has a small number of monsters & magic items, plus "running the game" guide and "how to make you own dungeons"?
- Some simple fixed reward/treasure/XP system?
Discuss.
If you were going to expand the D&D market, attracting new gamers that haven't played RPGs or D&D before, how would you go about it?
Stealing an idea posted by another poster (I forget who you are, but it's a great idea!), I propose an advertising campaign that advertises D&D, specifically a D&D Lite version that acts as a lead in to D&D, but is also a complete game in itself. The question is:
1) How would you structure the advertising campaign? and
2) How would you structure D&D Lite?
The basic outline (again, credit to unknown ENWorlder), intended to be family-friendly and sell D&D Lite as a great family game that encourages the use of the imagination:
Advertising
A TV campaign (with tie-in print & radio ads) that is a series of live-action fantasy spots with an iconic D&D party. Each of the four (or five) spots centers on one character, and closes with a fade to a group sitting around a table, playing D&D (Lite), where the DM asks "What do you do now?". The series of spots together tells one story. Example:
#1: Lidda (& party) bypasses traps & locks to gain entrance to the underground complex ...
#2: Mialee (& party) battle kobold servants, putting them to sleep with her spells ...
#3: Jozan (& party) smites the undead creature that haunts the door to the lair beyond ...
#4: Tordek (& party) strikes the killing blow that brings down the dragon who lairs beyond the haunted door ...
#5: The party wins the dragon's hoard and saves the village.
How would you structure the ads? What iconics? What are teh "must see" images that sell D&D?
D&D Lite
The idea is to make the product an easy way to get into D&D, that steps people into roleplaying and full D&D, but is itself a self-contained game playable by the masses. Like the D&D Adventrue game, it has everything you need in one box, so it can be sold like a board game, but the rules are closer to D&D to make it an easier step to the full PHB. It has enough for lots of play by itself -- sort of like the original D&D boxed sets, which were a complete game by themselves, but encouraged crossover into the larger AD&D product line. (I haven't seen that the 3E D&D adventure game really fills this niche -- I don't see it on shelves everywhere -- and I think many complete novices are turned off by the intimidation factor of starting with the game ... dice, PHB, DMG, MM, etc. You want something a family could pick up and go play.)
I'm thinking some sort of boxed set that retails under $20, that has player & DM rulebooklets, dice, maybe a board/battlemat and either quality counters or plastic figures, a sample adventure booklet, a "quick play" guide, maybe iconic character cards (Spell cards? monster cards? magic item cards?), and an add for the full PHB. (I just described the D&D Adventure Game, didn't I?)
What rules would D&D Lite have?
- What races, classes?
- Maybe no feats, or just a fixed feat chain for fighters?
- Fixed skill lists by character class (no choice, all rogues have the same six skills, for example)?
- Level progression up to 20, but fixed progressions (no feat/skill/etc options)?
- Short spell lists?
- No AOO, grapple, etc in combat (simple move & attack/spell/action)?
- DM's book has a small number of monsters & magic items, plus "running the game" guide and "how to make you own dungeons"?
- Some simple fixed reward/treasure/XP system?
Discuss.
