D&D 4E Hasbro, Greyhawk, and 4E speculation

[Numion]

I'll believe any unidentified internet source over some fancy D&D Brand Manager every time

 

[Mercule]

Maybe he doesn't know you're the D&D Brand Manager.

Bah! You say that like it gives him special insight into how the D&D brand is being managed. Everyone knows that true wisdom comes best from an fat, unwashed teenager with a bad case of acne and mangy, unkempt facial hair, living in his parents' basement. I've never seen Mr. Ryan, but I doubt he lives in his parents' basement, at least. So, unless he can prove stench or acne, we need to discount everything he says.


(Actually, I really appreciate it when WotC employees -- especially execs -- find the time and inclination to post anything to a message board. That's simply extraordinary.)

 

[Belen]

Bah! You say that like it gives him special insight into how the D&D brand is being managed. Everyone knows that true wisdom comes best from an fat, unwashed teenager with a bad case of acne and mangy, unkempt facial hair, living in his parents' basement. I've never seen Mr. Ryan, but I doubt he lives in his parents' basement, at least. So, unless he can prove stench or acne, we need to discount everything he says.

Mangy basement kids no longer play D&D. They moved to warhammer. Now, we get the anime loving, Harry Potter, Pokemon metrosexual kids. The guys still freak you out, but the manga girls rock.

...tongue firmly in cheek....

 

[Einan]

Bah! You say that like it gives him special insight into how the D&D brand is being managed. Everyone knows that true wisdom comes best from an fat, unwashed teenager with a bad case of acne and mangy, unkempt facial hair, living in his parents' basement. I've never seen Mr. Ryan, but I doubt he lives in his parents' basement, at least. So, unless he can prove stench or acne, we need to discount everything he says.

Worst. Post. Evarrrr.

Einan, who resents being called mangy

 

[Waldorf]

Maybe he doesn't know you're the D&D Brand Manager.

I know full well who he is and I seriously doubt he has 30 million dollars. The man manages the brand, NOT the license.

 

[Greatwyrm]

I know full well who he is and I seriously doubt he has 30 million dollars.

But he does have sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads.

Come on, if Charles Ryan doesn't know what's going on with D&D, nobody does.

 

[Waldorf]

But he does have sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads.

LOL

Ok, I give you that. But seriously, as a poster mentioned previously, if D&D were actually up for sale (and underlings were let in on it), no one would breathe a word about it for fear of losing their jobs in a nanosecond. They would lie to our faces first, telling us any number of things.

Think back: how much notice did we have about Hasbro's acquisition of D&D?

 

[MerricB]

That's a joke, right?

If only. Conspiracy theories abound.

This is a joke: Charles, if you had any respect for my limited shelfspace, you'd stop making D&D books immediately! I'm running out of room!



Something that has just occurred to me: Does Wizards care about the health of the d20 System industry? I've seen a few doom-and-gloom comments from people about the d20 System publishers of late - although a few of those publishers has popped in with a "we're doing ok" as well.

There are network synergies in having them around, and I'm sure there are many personal friendships involved as well.

Are the reported troubles to them more a reflection of the current state of the economy, or are there other issues as well?

Cheers!

 

[CharlesRyan]

But seriously, as a poster mentioned previously, if D&D were actually up for sale (and underlings were let in on it), no one would breathe a word about it for fear of losing their jobs in a nanosecond. They would lie to our faces first, telling us any number of things.

Actually, what we'd probably do is not post anything on EN world about it one way or the other. I'm not in the habit of telling unsolicited lies; if there's something I don't want to discuss on the internet, well, I just don't discuss it on the internet. Even we mere underlings have a jot of common sense.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Why does the roleplaying hobby (or at least the online community of RPGers) have such a low opinion of itself?

I must admit, I myself was kinda caught in the whole 4e conspiracy theory thing until Monte gave me a reality check and I started thinking exactly what Charles confirmed above. How can D&D possibly not be one of the most lucrative licenses to own? Especially considering the millions it makes just through video game sales (look at Diablo II) and book sales (need I mention Drizzt?).

When I hear about print runs of WotC products, and look at the failure of other popular licenses that didn't do well as RPGs (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings), I can only come to the conclusion that D&D is doing exceedingly well for itself, especially since last year was the biggest year for D&D ever.

Another thing about D&D, is it has a lot of market penetration throughout other areas and excels in many of them. Miniatures, books, movies, comics, video games, etc. Even MageKnight is now defunct. There is something in D&D where it has an 18 Constitution and it never dies. D&D really is everywhere the more I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that it can only be very healthly considering they are doing a sequel to a movie which didn't do very well. I don't know about anyone else, but I sleep easy at night knowing D&D is fine.