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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6664520" data-attributes="member: 5834">What would I do?1. I would probably start using extensive metrics, surveys, and play-testing to ensure the product was appealing to the largest possible segment of my customer base. Use these tools to refine and improve the game while ensuring I kept the elements people really liked.2. I would keep it easy to play. Overly complex rules appeal to a certain segment of the customer base. Games like GURPS do a better job for that particular group. Simple rules that keep the entry level math and system mastery at a level where just about anyone can pick the game up and play it quickly would be a priority. 3. High quality adventure support. My opinion is the reason D&D has succeeded over other RPGs is not the quality of its rule system, but rather the robust adventure support whether it be modules that provide a quality adventure framework or the monster manuals and easy encounter building rules. I would very much focus on robust adventure support making it easy for a DM to run a fun game. If a DM can grab a module, read it in a day or two, and run an adventure that lasts a few months to a year, that makes the game easy to use. If a DM can pick up a monster book, find some challenging monsters to run for nearly any level, you make the game easy to run. Making the game as easy as possible to run for a DM would be a primary goal. DM's are the ones that keep the game going. The easier they can run it, the more players they can bring into the fold.4. I'd foster a network of DMs that would act as word of mouth advertising and a ready group for play-testing material. I'd give them access to surveys that don't go out to the general player population. I'd entertain discussions of various issues amongst DMs like game balance and resolution mechanics. I'd possibly even take submissions for rules, monsters, and the like from my DM network fostering a feeling of involvement in the creative process of the game. I'd encourage DM workshops that help newer DMs learn to run the game. Any DM that can run the game well and can attract a group of players into the hobby would be a marketing success. The more DMs, the more players will be attracted to the game. 5. I'd keep aware of trends in entertainment. I'd create adventures that mirror those trends. I'd possibly create classes and races that take advantage of the trends. I'd release them initially as PDF material to get a feel for the number of people that would use the material. If sufficiently large, I would create hardcopy material for their use. Popular entertainment trends are important to take advantage of. 6. I'd make sure was I profitable. I wouldn't produce unprofitable product lines if possible. If I found a line was not meeting the profitability metrics I had in place, I would kill the product line or reduce it until it was. I would try to keep my margins as high as possible. I would keep budgets tight and try to remain as frugal as possible.7. I would maintain a strong online presence including eventual access to the rules. I would invest in robust mapping tools including producing active maps for modules that allow DMs to run adventure material online. Rather than simple PDFs. I would produce a digitally supported adventure that interfaced with online gaming tools. I would let some 3rd parties build online adventure tools supporting them with adventures that tie into their tools. When one of the 3rd parties became dominant, I would purchase them and use their online platform to build a robust online network for playing D&D including a mapping tool, a combat resolution system that eased rolling, encounter creation system, and character creation system. Make it easy for a DM to create and run a game online. Then deploy digital adventures that can be purchased and used with the system. 8. Most importantly I would hire a larger company and spend a greater deal of money to create a D&D MMORPG that would dominate the market. I would model it on Everquest 1 or World of Warcraft incorporating the amazing amount of intellectual property D&D has amassed into a very detailed world including individual racial cities. I would probably use Forgotten Realms to do it. I would bring that world to life in a way as yet unseen. I would take a huge financial risk to do it because I am 100% confident that if I spend the money to do the game right, it will be a huge hit with the MMORPG community. It is obvious that D&D was the inspiration for fantasy MMORPGs. No game has a larger library of fantasy material that would translate into MMORGP than D&D. The fact they haven't leveraged this into the ultimate MMORPG is a criminal underutilization of D&D's intellectual property. Someone has been unwilling to spend the cash to make the ultimate D&D MMORPG. I would be the guy that finally said, "I will show you that the investment is worth it. Do a D&D MMORGP right, you will make WoW and Everquest look like what they are: imitations of the Grand Daddy of fantasy games."</blockquote>

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