Forked Thread: should wotc make a board/minis game to market in toy stores?

[AllisterH]

I'm wondering why WOTC/HASBRO never brought across that Dungeons & Dragons boardgame from Europe. Playing the web-based game, it seems a lot like the old DUNGEON game, or am I wrong?


Then again, I've always heard that Europeans are still big on boardgames and while they are a major videogame population, there's nothing there compared to America or Japan.

 

[jephlewis]

NECRO - Board Game; W00T!

THREAD, ARISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

So, we're getting the Ravenloft board game AND dungeons of Dragonfire mountain, with most of what I've been wanting:

• Between 20 and 50 plastic minis? Check!
• A lot of dungeon tiles [like, ten sheets]? Check [13 sheets]
• Cards for treasure, monsters, powers, traps, and characters? Well, encounter and treasure cards are definite, so I count this as a check.
• Price point of about sixty bucks? Check!

We're missing 3D scenery like chests, barrels, crates and counters and tokens for 2D scenery.

I can't find any information regarding the rules contained in the board game; I.E., are the board game rules a stripped down 4E, or something else?

I'm curious as to what stores will be carrying this. I'll probably be buying mine from [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Ravenloft-Wizards-RPG-Team/dp/0786955570"]amazon for forty bucks[/ame].

As anyone can see from my sig, I'm not as much of a cheerleader for WOTC as I used to be, but I will say this: regardless of how poorly I think the company is being run, how many bad decisions I think they make, and how poorly I think they treat their fans, WOTC is putting out product I want to [and will] buy.

To the design team of these two board games, I extend "mad props from the hood, yo!"

 

[darjr]

I want this game for the D&D bits.

However I also want it for the board game. I think I want it for that. I'm not sure yet. I think it could be a great board game. The premise sounds great.

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, that sounds exactly like playing rpg scenarios with the DDM rules to me. While that's something that is fun every once in a while, it's not what I'm looking for when I'm buying/playing a board-game.

So, for me that wouldn't work. It definitely wouldn't make me buy more minis (though I'm buying quite a few, already...).

 

[S'mon]

I think the Red Box 'Basic' D&D they're bringing out this year is exactly the right way to go. People want to play the D&D game, not a D&D-branded game.

 

[rogueattorney]

People want to play the D&D game, not a D&D-branded game.

That's an interesting observation that I'm not entirely sure about. The range of differences between one edition of D&D to the next sometimes makes me feel that Hasbro could slap "D&D, 5e" on a Monopoly box and some people will still accept it as "D&D." Hyperbole, to be sure, but by how much?

That said, the D&D Heroscape experiment is going to be an interesting one largely because it is just that, a D&D branded game. Aside from the name on the box and a couple recognizable i.p.'s (Drow elves, for example), the D&D Heroscape set is pure Heroscape.

For all the lip service towards the possibility of drawing Heroscape players into 4e, it looks to me to be more of an effort to draw D&D players - especially former DDM customers - into Heroscape. Buy it for the D&D brand, and then add on to it with the non-D&D branded Heroscape products. I don't see Heroscape players, as a result of this product, going out and buying 4e and using it in conjunction with their Heroscape sets.

Of course that may just be my prejudice... I'm a big Heroscape player who's not interested one whit in 4e. The Heroscape D&D set was the first D&D branded product I've purchased from WotC in about 7 years, and at present, absent further D&D branded Heroscape products, I don't plan on purchasing any others. I'd be curious to hear how D&D players new to Heroscape felt about the set.

 

[Stormonu]

At this time, both the Dark Sun book and this Ravenloft game are the only two things that have my interest from WotC. I'd be more than willing to play this as a boardgame, especially if one person is playing "Strahd" (attempting to fulfill a secret mission of his own) and the rest are playing the heroes trying to bring him down.