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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MoogleEmpMog" data-source="post: 3468902" data-attributes="member: 22882">I actually think it's kind of interesting how WotC/Hasbro, and TSR before them, have pretty much divested all the value from the D&D brand.  Not the game, mind - AFAIC, they've all been pretty good stewards of the actual product that shows up on shelves, despite some bad periods under all three companies.  The actual D&D brand, though - the reason an IP is valuable in the first place - has been systematically dismantled over the years.Electronic rights (probably the most valuable) here, film and television rights there, etc.Thinking about it, if I were Wizards, I would look strongly into DROPPING the D&D name from a flagship RPG.  I know, it's nuts, the D&D brand name sells the vast majority of the books, people buy just because it's 100% official - hear me out.Let's say Wizards decided they wanted to push a brand - I'll say Eberron, though in their shoes I'd have used an RPG version of Magic the Gathering.  They release it first with the D&D brand, accepting that this will initially hurt the value of the new IP by tying it to the dead-end deals TSR and WotC/Hasbro have made.  Once they establish the new brand's popularity and get RPG players hooked by tying it to D&D, they revitalize it, taking advantage of the superior design work they can do by building off all that's come before (Eberron Saga Edition?), and drop the D&D name from a new Eberron line.  They make it clear that the transition will be smooth and the rules (which they themselves gave an OPEN license for years before, clearly divorcing them from the D&D brand) largely compatible, though the new version is better.  Suddenly, you have an RPG and a novel line that has value as an IP - an IP you can actually manuever and market as you like, without the bonds the D&D IP has been shackled in.I have no idea if that would work, legally-speaking, or if it would go over, but it IS an intriguing scenario.  If WotC/Hasbro could reclaim some of the lost odds and ends of a brand, I can't help but think they would consider it.</blockquote>

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