D&D 5E How badly did Sword Coast Legends damage the brand?

[darjr]

Yea, I think the D&D game is doing better than expected. In fact I think they were shocked at how well it was and is doing.

 

[SteveC]

Maybe if the movie bombs, then Hasbro will decide the D&D license isn't worth the time/money/effort and sell it to a company that will dedicate more than a skeleton crew to the TTRPG aspect of the game itself. Maybe I'm overly optimistic.

Sadly, that's not typically how Hasbro works: they'd likely just shelve it for the next big anniversary.

I would love to see the game come out with expansion products to take advantage of the module concept that was discussed in the playtest or to bring concepts from previous editions officially into play.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Hasbro will decide the D&D license isn't worth the time/money/effort and sell it to a company that will dedicate more than a skeleton crew to the TTRPG aspect of the game itself. Maybe I'm overly optimistic.

this idea gets thrown around a lot... I can't believe anyone thinks that a smaller company would do better. WotC has been the steward of our game for 15 or 16 years now... even if you personally don't like the direction they take you have to admit they have fought tooth and nail to keep our game alive...

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

WotC has been the steward of our game for 15 or 16 years now... even if you personally don't like the direction they take you have to admit they have fought tooth and nail to keep our game alive...

It's actually been more like 18 years, since WotC bought D&D in 1997, or thereabout.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It's actually been more like 18 years, since WotC bought D&D in 1997, or thereabout.

OK, your right, I just don't like being that old...

 

[ccs]

I think that it hurts the brand a lot. At the moment, there's a struggle to keep D&D active in the Hasbro lineup. We're not seeing traditional splats because they don't sell enough to be profitable in a company the size of Hasbro, and D&D Next was launched with the idea that the strength of the brand would sell in other mediums besides games. It was the same idea that saved Marvel.

Now we have two huge pieces of that brand: the video game and the movie.

We obviously haven't seen the movie yet, but the game is out. People had high hopes for an A-List game that offered some of the game options as Neverwinter Nights. Maybe those hopes were unfounded, but they were there. Several of my gaming crew were following the game and hoped to use it to run games like we did back in the Neverwinter days. None of us are doing that.

The game seems to be a B list or even C list action RPG. There's nothing wrong with that... heck I still boot up Torchlight of Van Helsing every once and a while, but neither of them have a product line or brand to support.

The point is: WotC's D&D crew is tiny at the moment. Failure for this game doesn't give folks up the chain at Hasbro a reason to keep putting out products.

Let's hope that the movie does well.

There's another front that Hasbro is completely blowing it on - one that they have absolute control over: Toys.
Think of all the cool D&D characters, monsters, ideas etc that you could make a toy out of....
Playmobile does it. (Knights & castles) Schliech does it (knights, monsters, dragons, stupid expensive castles). Fisher Price has made awesome stuff in thier Imaginext line. Even Toys-R-Us managed it a few years back with its orc/elf/knight version of their True - heroes house brand!

So what's Hasbro given us?
A wee bit of stuff in thier crappy KREE- O building line (a crappy Lego knock-off).

What the 9 hells? I want a programable, light up Beholder! A 3.75" scale (or bigger) remote control Aparatus of Kawlish. Etc etc etc. Things that ONLY Hasbro could make because of their trademarks!.

 

[LordStorm]

Yup Hasbro could - if they had faith in D&D.

 

[Parmandur]

There's another front that Hasbro is completely blowing it on - one that they have absolute control over: Toys.

Think of all the cool D&D characters, monsters, ideas etc that you could make a toy out of....

Playmobile does it. (Knights & castles) Schliech does it (knights, monsters, dragons, stupid expensive castles). Fisher Price has made awesome stuff in thier Imaginext line. Even Toys-R-Us managed it a few years back with its orc/elf/knight version of their True - heroes house brand!



So what's Hasbro given us?

A wee bit of stuff in thier crappy KREE- O building line (a crappy Lego knock-off).



What the 9 hells? I want a programable, light up Beholder! A 3.75" scale (or bigger) remote control Aparatus of Kawlish. Etc etc etc. Things that ONLY Hasbro could make because of their trademarks!.

I saw Game of Throne toys in Walgreens last week: come movie time, I am sure it will be like drinking from a fire hose.

 

[Pssthpok]

...about as much as this thread damaged the OP's brand.

 

[delericho]

Sadly, that's not typically how Hasbro works: they'd likely just shelve it for the next big anniversary.

That, or license it out to another company (where my best bet would be FFG).

Which might sound good, but consider that that licensee would then have a limited term in which to make back their money. Which means putting out a new edition in short order and getting out as many of the "big hitter" books out there as well - meaning lots of splatbooks. And they probably wouldn't also get the settings (since those are their own brands), so those would be gone.

And then, five years later, see another licensee pick up the name and go in a completely different direction with it...