D&D Advertising & D&D Lite

[Zaruthustran]

Tie advertising to media events. If there's an advertising blitz for D&D pre-Christmas, leading up to the fantasy movie releases, it might generate more business.

Taking advantage of Harry and LOTR is a great idea.

I used to work for Disney, taking notes on audience's reactions to movie trailers and emailing said notes back to Disney HQ. I also noted such things as in-theater promotions (standees, mobiles, stickers, promo drink cups, etc.). People responded to such things, in a big way.

D&D needs to get into theaters showing LOTR and Harry.

Now, I'm sure there are rules that prevent non-movie advertisements in theaters. And everyone would assume a poster of Mialee is advertising an upcoming movie, not a game. But you could hire folks to hand out promo fliers or D&D Lite, maybe give a quick demo to interested folks.

Think about it. Joe the fantasy enthusiast and his pals are standing in line for LOTR: Two Towers or HP: Sorc Stone. Up walks a man in scale mail accompanied by a hot chick wearing little more than a belt of spell components. They're handing out stuff. Joe goes over. "Mialee" hands him something about a game called D&D. "Regdar" tells him a little bit about it, says they're having a demo every hour down at the food court. Joe enters the theater and, while waiting for the movie to start, he reads the flier given to him by Mialee. After the flick, he and his buddies wander down to the food court.

There, they encounter two Displacer Beasts and are horribly slain.

Whoops! Uh, I mean, they learn about D&D and spend lots of money.

-z

 

[Zaruthustran]

I think something more along the lines of a GURPS lite idea would be better. Lite as in less rules, not as in less control.

Well, control means choices. Making informed choices requires spending time reading rules. While you and I probably are willing to spend time reading rules, Bob Average doesn't want to expend that effort. Think about it: most people are barely able to stomach reading the inside of the Monopoly box in order to figure out the correct amount of starting cash.

The entirety of the rules for D&D lite, including weapons, monsters, and spells, should be printable on the inside cover of a standard board game box. Stuff like character progression can be on the back of the character cards (as in the excellent, dearly departed, much-longed for Warhammer Quest).

-z

 

[JeffB]

Here's some ideas, Anthony:

DMs are your most powerful sales force -- they're the ones who make it possible for others to play the game, so they're the ones you need to be supporting. Happy DMs whose job is made easier are DMs who can support more players -- which means more sales to you. Make your DMs happy.

That means less splatbook/player oriented stuff and more sourcebook/DM oriented stuff. Make the DM's job easier and more people will play the game.

DMs are also your adoption bottleneck -- the penetration of the game is always going to be limited by the number of DMs in the market. Players can't play without a DM -- so reduce the barrier to DMing, support your existing DMs and encourage them massively, and they will do your work for you.

It's all about the DMs. Said the DM.

But seriously, if I felt like WotC considered me important, and wanted to help me be a better DM, I'd be even more evangelical than I already am...

Well said. DM's are the ones who present the story/game...they are KEY. If they are not having fun becuase of too many or too complicated rules, or they don't have enough tools, then people stop playing.

 

[barsoomcore]

Well said. DM's are the ones who present the story/game...they are KEY. If they are not having fun becuase of too many or too complicated rules, or they don't have enough tools, then people stop playing.

And I'm a DM, and I should get free stuff.

 

[LostSoul]

So I ask all of you. What could WotC do that would make it easier/ more attractive/ cooler, whatever to bring more people into the game.

AV

That would take:

Sex

and

Violence

(where's hong?)

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Stop printing 3E and bring back Basic D&D with an endless stream of adventures to support it.

The next step would be to sign up for unemployment.

 

[tieranwyl]

"The next step would be to sign up for unemployment.-ColonelHardisson"

You mean like what's happening now with all the layoffs?

 

[JeffB]

And I'm a DM, and I should get free stuff.

Yeah! and BCore should get some FREE STUFF!

YEAH!

And me too!

 

[Bagpuss]

See if you can get adverts in the back of Fantasy Novels.

The fantasy literature readers are probably much more lightly to consider playing D&D. You put an advert in the middle of the Super Bowl and I don't care how many people see it most of them still won't be interested.

At least you know with someone reading a fantasy novel, that...

a) They enjoy reading.
b) They like fantasy.
c) They have an resonable imagination.

They just need to develop a love of dice and you have them hooked. (Perhaps lace dice with cocaine).

Trouble is would one publishing company want to advertise the product of another, not likely.

So you need something like Dragonlance which sold outside just the exsisting D&D players, and had a product tie in. I'd be interested to know if Dragonlance did anything to boost the sales of the D&D game at the time.

 

[Bagpuss]

Think about it. Joe the fantasy enthusiast and his pals are standing in line for LOTR: Two Towers or HP: Sorc Stone. Up walks a man in scale mail accompanied by a hot chick wearing little more than a belt of spell components. They're handing out stuff. Joe goes over. "Mialee" hands him something about a game called D&D.

And a group of lawyers appear as if by magic, to defend Decipher's license of the LotR RPG.