Forked Thread: What if the D&D brand had gone dark?

[dm4hire]

Taking this in the direction I thought the OP of the original thread was going to go:

What if WotC would have taken a more Mature approach to D&D (since the average age of players tends to be more mature)? By this I mean giving the game a more rugged feel, reflecting ideas presented in Book of Vile Darkness but toned down a little so that it became more of a "Rated M" or "Rated 17+" instead of "Rated T"? Giving it a mature feel like WoD and the like.

What mature changes could have been included but kept the majority of the market interested in the final product?

I'll skip the poll.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

mature

Well, mature, they could've -

Book of Vile Darkness

What.

...What.


Snerkiness aside, I think they would've seen much, much fewer sales. The goal with the CORE product is to aim for as many consumers as you can. Add-ons are for the ones that aren't initially drawn in.

 

[delericho]

Snerkiness aside, I think they would've seen much, much fewer sales. The goal with the CORE product is to aim for as many consumers as you can. Add-ons are for the ones that aren't initially drawn in.

I agree. For those groups that want the game to be darker, it's relatively easy to add darker elements. Removing them from the game that includes them by default is a rather more difficult task.

 

[JeffB]

Dark..like BOVD? No thanks. Not built in anyway.

Everyone can go out and buy a copy of Carcosa if they need "dark". I'm sure it will convert easily to 4E

 

[justanobody]

I wouldn't/haven't/won't play Porn and Dragons.

Now if you just mean targeting an older audience, that may have been more to my liking. Some more noir elements rather than new age fantasy, and a more grittier game.

That would interest me more to play than where I now just sleep on a save point and am ready for the next day.

I think the most mature thing that could have been done with a new edition was to not include the healing system, and let people be mature enough to get...characters die. They aren't Marvel superheros.

I mean honestly how many older players really have problems with characters dying as a result of bad choices, crappt situations, ending up in a big battle. That is what the game is about. The younger ones seem to be in the need of super healing abilities Like Hayden whatsherename on Heroes, and Wolverine from X-Men.

So to make it more dark, have death and being hurt play a bigger role.

Put the dungeons back into Dungeons and Dragons as places where bad things happened and they were not pleasant places to be or places that would let you become healthy with minor bed rest.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

90% of what passes for "dark" is really just juvenile horror. Its a very difficult tone to capture on an ongoing basis, and even if you do it right, its unlikely the sales will support it. And as the others have noted, its pretty easy to add that tone to your own games without needing rules support for it.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

D&D 4 might have been called "World of Darknessy" or "Warhammery" instead of videogamey.

 

[rkwoodard]

and

D&D 4 might have been called "World of Darknessy" or "Warhammery" instead of videogamey.

And been accused of catering to the Anita Blake and Twilight crowds.


Hmmm, but then again Laural Hamilton (the author of the Anita Blake books) is a gamer and has written a D&D novel, so that might have been interesting to see her as a game designer.

RK

 

[thedungeondelver]

And been accused of catering to the Anita Blake and Twilight crowds.


Hmmm, but then again Laural Hamilton (the author of the Anita Blake books) is a gamer and has written a D&D novel, so that might have been interesting to see her as a game designer.

RK

I think I threw up in my mouth, a little bit, yeah.

 

[Fifth Element]

What if WotC would have taken a more Mature approach to D&D (since the average age of players tends to be more mature)? By this I mean giving the game a more rugged feel, reflecting ideas presented in Book of Vile Darkness but toned down a little so that it became more of a "Rated M" or "Rated 17+" instead of "Rated T"? Giving it a mature feel like WoD and the like.

I reject your assertion that WoD is somehow more "mature" than core D&D. Gamers can be more mature than others, I doubt game systems can be. So I'm probably not going to very helpful here.