If I bought WoTC I would......[your answer here]

[MEG Hal]

This could be fun, if Aunt Helga passed (god rest her soul) and left you XXXX million and you decided to buy WoTC what would you do?
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Disclaimer:
Aunt Helga is a fictious aunt and any resemblance to anyone's aunt living or dead is purely coincidental.

 

[Umbran]

I would recognize that I don't have even a first good notion about how to run such a thing, and turn to Mr. Adkison and a few other industry insiders for advice

 

[Crothian]

I'd concentrate on the role playing games and probalby get rid of the the other parts of the company like the CCG and computer games. I realize those sections make money, but I'm an RPG pureist and would want to concentrate my efforts on that.

After that I'd clean up the SRD (make sure everything that needs to be there is there and the latest errata is in there). Next, I'd clean up the source books with actually errata and not this sage advice and FAQ stuff.

However, truth be told if I was to purchase a RPG company I'd go with one of the smaller companies that are known for their quality (there are many out there). These people seem to do it for more for the love of the game then anything else. Depending on how much money I had, I would produce full color, hardbound books of great quality and sell them a little cheaper and wouldn't care about making a profit. Heck, I might even lose money doing it but as long as I was okay finacially it would be worth it.

 

[The Sigil]

I would immediately declare all text published in any 3rd edition book WotC has published as Public Domain.

I would then use more of my money to purchase rights to as much artwork by Elmore, Otus, Lockwood, DiTerlizzi, and every other D&D artist and release IT as Public Domain.

If I could get the rights, I would declare all work published by TSR - for any edition of D&D (1st, 2nd, 3rd, oD&D, etc.) as Public
Domain.

Not Open Game Content. Public Domain. Anyone can use it any way they please! More D&D for everyone! Yay (yes, I understand the implications)!

Of course, this would forever destroy the business model on which profitability was made, but I'm sure I could keep the "worthless" D&D brand name as my own and turn around and sell off the rest of WotC (Magic, Pokemon, et al) to some other corporation and live quite comfortably - especially with the knowledge that my favorite hobby was now completely safe from all future corporate depredation.

Oh, and BTW, I would use the extra money I had to set up a website and make available for free download all of those things in high-quality, low-size PDFs (IOW, PDFs where the text is text and not graphics - helping keep the file size down)... or even RTFs or HTML.

--The Sigil

 

[Tsyr]

I'd renovate the product line to include all the suggestions from this board, make DnD 3.5E, make WotC a success again.

Then I'd milk it for all I could, gradualy driving the company into the ground. Just before bankrupcy, I'd sell the rights to DnD to White Wolf, the rights to Greyhawk to Kenzer, the rights to Forgotten Realms to disney, the rights to Dark Sun to White Wolf, the rights to Planescape and Spelljammer to FFG, the rights to everything else to someone, then hightail it out of doge just skirting the edge of legality.

But, then, I'm not a terribly moral person where money is concerned

 

[Dr Midnight]

I'd get Adkinson, Monte, pretty much everyone who's been laid off- especially Lockwood- and put them back in charge.

I want Mike Mearls as my right hand man.

I want Kevin Kulp as my second right hand man.

I'd steer 3e's (or 4e's) style back to classic fantasy stylings of the 70's. Simple archetypes, familiar settings.

I'd publish D&D basic.

I'd kill off the entire Chainmail mess and salvage the minis.

I'd organize D&D demos and booths at Renn Faires everywhere. An optimal place to introduce Joe Schmuck to the game.

I'd find whichever of the ENboards posters had the idea for the sequential TV commercials involving fantasy action followed by players separating for the night saying "That was great!" and put him in charge of making about five TV spots to play during after-school hours and Saturday Mornings.

I GUESS I'd let WotC keep publishing Planes and Psionics stuff...

I'd buy Feng Shui from Atlas Games and treat it with respect.

 

[Thorntangle]

I'd name all the spells after myself and people I know.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I would recognize that I don't have even a first good notion about how to run such a thing, and turn to Mr. Adkison and a few other industry insiders for advice

You don't play Bob "Damn the Torpedos!!!" Barbarian very often, do you? I sense a lack of recklessness ...

I, on the other hand, would immediately outsource everything except the "vision" folks who keep an eye on "the big picture", and a dozen or so really creative R&D guys and gals who come up with the "concepts". I forget who these people were (I remember one was "the math guy" who came up with the OGL in the first place), but if I inherited Aunt Helga's fortunes, I would find out real quick.

Most projects would be on a open call "this is what we want, please submit ideas" independant writing basis. This way we can get Monte and Ed Greenwood when we need them (which is good for us), but leaves them plenty of free time to do their own things (which is good for the industry and gamers).

I would keep an ear close to the gaming-ground. I might even make reading message boards (and other means of communication) a part-time responsibility for a bunch of employees.

Of course, all good plans last until contact with the enemy. So, maybe none of this would actually get done. Who knows.

I think I would definately, come Hell or High Water, make Hennett lose the S&M gear and put a darn shirt on. Yeah, I know I could pull that off anyway.

Irda Ranger

 

[Maraxle]

I'd publish my campaign setting. Hmmm... I might just do that anyway... We don't need no stinkin' WotC.

 

[Taren Nighteyes]

I'd halt any new 3E product development and launch 4E in a year and make a butt-load of money!

Taren Nighteyes