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

[Lizard]

Run it like a business, not a hobby. I'd expect it to turn a regular profit, and lines which showed no, or only a tiny, profit would be cut back. Low or non-existent profits are a sign the market doesn't want what you're producing.

That said, I wouldn't expect to make megabucks. The company should be profitable enough to stay in business and weather lean times. I don't need to be a gazillionaire. I'd keep my salary low (~100K).

So long as the profits are good enough, produce at least one book a year I know is going to lose money (but not too much...), just because I want to see it.

Place all the 'dead' games (Top Secret, Alternity, Boot Hill, etc) under the OGL.

Work towards a true 'generic' D20 core book. D20 Future (generic sci-fi) would be a high priority.

Publish an annual, thick, hardcover of 'the best of OGL', cleaned up and made consistent with the core rules. All such material would become 'officially optional'.

Focus on crunchy bits. Limit worldbooks to one-off 'cool' settings or let Polyhedron/Dungeon do them. Keep FR around if it can earn its keep.

Try to move into MMORPGs. License the D&D engine and possibly settings (Planescape or Spelljammer would be perfect!) for MMORPG use.

Try to grow the market by targetting potential gamemasters. A single gamemaster can suck in 4-6 new players.

Try to increase awareness among average gamers of what the D20 logo does and doesn't mean. A "Look For The Logo!" marketing campaign.

Possibilities: A "D20 Prime" or "D20 Premiere" license, which isn't free, and which requires a high level of quality to earn. A (partial) solution to the problem of picking the good D20 stuff out of the muck. This might cause a major backlash among D20 publishers, however, so I'd float this on industry forums to see if the major D20 publishers would consider it a good thing or a bad thing. I can think of arguments for both.

(For some reason, this reminds me of a bit from Citizen Kane:
"At this rate, we're going to lose a million dollars a year!"
"Well, then, we can keep going another fifty years!") (Quoted from bad memory)

 

[Silverthrone]

...is a sure way to go bankrupt

I am not in it for money. I am in it for the love of the game, and I would happlily take quality over quantity any day. The people who wouldn;t are the ones I would be trying to get rid of.

If my tactic got rid of people, it would likely be the exact people I would be hoping it would get rid of.

 

[Tsyr]

I am not in it for money. I am in it for the love of the game, and I would happlily take quality over quantity any day. The people who wouldn;t are the ones I would be trying to get rid of.

If my tactic got rid of people, it would likely be the exact people I would be hoping it would get rid of.

You say you would basicly replace DnD with the Fuzion system. Ok, fair enough. That's not gonna go down very well with the people who like the basic system as stands, but fair enough.

What's wrong with just playing Fuzion though, and not destroying an existing game?

 

[cybertalus]

First and foremost do whatever it takes to rehire Sean K. Reynolds. Give him enough authority that people in the company have to listen to him.

Set up a company-run DM training course. Hire the best graduates of these classes to DM games in the WotC stores at no charge to the players.

If the above proves popular enough, replicate it online using custom-created software in the vein of OpenRPG.

Spin the Forgotten Realms off into a seperate company which I still own. Double the number of Realms gaming products released in a year. Launch a bi-monthly Realms-only magazine in the vein of Dragon, but also including at least one adventure each issue.

Branch the novels division out into non-RPG related fantasy. Try to build it into a top publisher of fantasy fiction.

For companies who wish to focus their skills on producing the flavor text of their products, maintain a couple of designers who are well versed in rules issues and are available to be contracted out to do rules work.

I like the suggestions others have made about TV commercials, cartoons, and action figures as well. The only thing I would add would be supplements and adventures specifically tied to the cartoons. Perhaps too a battlemat which allowed the action figures to be used as minis.

 

[Ranger REG]

If I bought Wizards I'll...

I'll sell the entire TCG division to Decipher. I want nothing to do with Trading Card Games, ever. Well, maybe the patents I will keep. Might as well squeeze more money off of that. Hehehe.

 

[Griswold]

I would make Bigby's Pimp Slap an official spell.

I would take gnomes out of the game and replace them with kobolds.

AYE! Don;t trust the little buggers

Three words: More Chainmail Bikinis.

add Pasties of defense to the DMG.


Gris.

 

[Nightfall]

And why would they want that when they already have The Scarred Lands which is in every way (but name recognition) superior to the realms???


P.S. - I just realized who posted this, and am even more shocked.

Eh I figured it would funny to see some Realms fans be shocked with a next door neighbor. I wasn't THAT serious BJ.

 

[Ace]

Well I wouldn't buy WOTC in the first place but if Aunt Helga bought it on a whim before she passed on and I was the owner

Simple

I would sell it. I don't want to own and run a game company. Write a few games, sure
Play them? Yep

Before I sold it I would OGL a lot more stuff, finish up the SRD and have a few gimmies for all the years of fun I spent with games

Also I would have a few certificates made that would be legally binding that would say "You will print what I say" and boy would they would have legal weight.

I would clause myself 5% of the profits after an independant audit and 2 seats on the board. Both those would go to EN Worlders as proxy for me

I would get two of myworthless friends a job


Oh yeah and I would have an everything collection like Sigil suggested. RPG and TCG both

Once I was done I would enjoy the 100 muill or so I got for the IP. Shoot I might even be able to afford GW stuff then

 

[Hand of Evil]

Hire a few good people that know more than I do about running a business in the game industry. I would give them deadlines and budget but trust them to provide product.

 

[Garmorn]

Besides using this thread as reference and research paper, I would publish a core rules books that had the SRD and OGL clearly marked in them. I would add a section/chapter in the DMG explaining what SRD/D20 and OGL are and how to use it to the DM's advantage.

Re edit and mark Psionic, ELH, and similar books as core expansions. Place in them and the in the DMG suggestions on using core expansion books (CEB) to change in published and homebrew worlds. Select the best books of a similar vain published by other D20 companies to add to the list and ask them to use the designation "D&D Core Expansion Book" in exchange for an expanded OGL type licence. If they are good enough and sell well enough I just might try to licence them from the smaller company paying them a fair rolality(sp?).

Create and print a new book called the Wizards Workshop that gave an expanded rules on creating magic items and how to modify them for low, medium and high level of magic.

edited: Added last paragraph.