D&D 5E (2024) D&D Universes Beyond - what should they do?

[Misanthrope Prime]

A D&D game based on an anime that was based on a D&D game.

To quote another Hasbro property; "Till all are one!"

 

[Parmandur]

If they do Potter, they will lose a lot of us permanently

Ironically, the main reason I don't see it happening is Rowling's personal distaste for the idea, not any scrupple on the part of WotC.

Unfortunately, I can imagine Ayoub attempting a charm offensive to get a feather in his cap.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ironically, the main reason I don't see it happening is Rowling's personal distaste for the idea, not any scrupple on the part of WotC.

Unfortunately, I can imagine Ayoub attempting a charm offensive to get a feather in his cap.

Yeah. Exactly my thought.

Oh well, hopefully are being very mean and unfair and he is a great standup guy who would never sell out trans people for a feather in his cap...

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah. Exactly my thought.

Oh well, hopefully are being very mean and unfair and he is a great standup guy who would never sell out trans people for a feather in his cap...

I would honestly be delighted to discover I am overreacting on that front. Time will tell.

But Rowling really does hate the idea of TTRPGs, so at least we have that...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I would honestly be delighted to discover I am overreacting on that front. Time will tell.

But Rowling really does hate the idea of TTRPGs, so at least we have that...

Such a weird thing to hate, but she is literalky known for her irrational hate of a group of people, so...

 

[Chaltab]

But Rowling really does hate the idea of TTRPGs, so at least we have that...

Fingers crossed. It really is bizarre when she seems to have no problem with video game RPGs using the IP.

 

[Sossij]

Fingers crossed. It really is bizarre when she seems to have no problem with video game RPGs using the IP.

I'm sure many people don't see them as the same thing.

 

[RageKage2250]

Thinking more about this, even though I don't think I'd ever buy a Universes Beyond, I think I'd selfishly like to see One Piece and maybe Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK).

Just so people on Reddit that constantly ask how to make those specific anime properties work in D&D can be directed somewhere productive.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Fingers crossed. It really is bizarre when she seems to have no problem with video game RPGs using the IP.

Rowling knows just enough about TTRPGs to think that they're both deeply uncool (she is at her heart, a "mean girl", even by her own self-serving 'poor little me' accounts of her time a school, she was part of a mean girl clique), and to get very angry at the idea of someone potentially roleplaying characters from her novels but outside her control. This is a woman, who when only the first two HP novels were out, semi-famously gave an interview in a widely-read British magazine (I forget which) where she basically got into a fight with the interviewer because the interviewer took-as-read that HP was fantasy (which it undeniably is!), and asked about Rowling's fantasy influences, and Rowling absolutely excoriated fantasy literature, saying HP was definitely not that, and that fantasy was basically just wank-material for spotty fat dim 13-year-old boys (barely paraphrasing and I 100% believe that was her genuine "mean girl" opinion, given the sort of school she went to). Much later she changed her mind on this (about when four or five books were out I think) because she realized how much her readers crossed over with general fantasy readers (like, huge crossover) and that maybe insulting them directly wasn't a great plan.

And remember she also only through gritted teeth barely tolerates HP fan fiction, and I strongly suspect if she could legally shut it down now without blowing up the brand, she would.

I think the core issue for her is not just that TTRPGs are for losers, but more "nobody should be allowed to RP any characters I created, without my explicit permission". To her, videogames are mostly safe because they are simply retellings of her works, or don't really feature her actual characters/story, just HP branding. This is, I think, how the most recent HP game, the big one, I forget the name, got away with it, it's set deep in the past of Hogwarts, and doesn't really feature main HP characters as a result. So even though it's a lot more like an RPG than most previous HP games, you're not going to be able to use Harry to say "trans rights" or something. Also even there the one trans character in the game has a pretty insulting name ("Ima Mann" or something equally depraved and Rowlingesque), so I suspect she made some edits.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Other option could be an alternate timeline where Harry Potter and friends are within Stryxhaven. I know it sounds very weird. But also they could do the same with a fusion of Games of Thrones and Birthright. Disney could dare for a mash-up of Dragonlance.

A "collab" with a no so famous IP is possible but it would be like "secondary line", like the "beta" armies of Warhammer wargame.

Or a collab with several IPs, the "pilot episode" would show the most popular franchise as bait, and after other titles would be introduced. For example a isekai mash-up of Scooby Doo in the begining and after other titles like "Wildfire" or "Pirates of the Dark Waters". The goal would be those forgotten characters to recover "brand power".

Or a "pocket universe" could become the gathering point for a crossover, like Fortnite island.

* It is funny when you think Mrss Rowling can't avoid her characters used in parodies for adults, the worst use. But it is not the only coke bottle in the dessert. There are more options if wizardry academies.