If You Had an Unlimited Budget How Would Enhance The D&D Experience

[Christoph the Magus]

When I was in High School the basement was the "play room" for my brother and I. Most of my early D&D experiences took place in that basement and since then I've always associated D&D with basements. When my fiance and I finally buy a house the only requirement that I have is that it must have a basement. I've always wanted to decorate a basement with faux brick walls (gray-like an old castle wall) and put in sconces with faux torches. Add a few other halloween props (like skeletons, rats, etc) and I'd have my perfect gaming area. Then I'd just need a nice, big table and a fridge to be master of all!

 

[The Shaman]

One of the things that has always intrigued me about RPGs is the variability of imagination provided by all the people at the table - the GM can describe a scene, but each player turns that description into something unique inside her/his head. The players build on the world of the GM in this way.

I don't think I'd want to see that replaced with video, audio, or VR. It's part of what makes pen-and-paper gaming distinct from computer games.

A comfy game room would do nicely, though.

 

[crow81]

Wow

I just want to thank everyone for the great ideas.

 

[Imperialus]

Ok unlimited budget...

First I would buy one of the castles in Wales that the Germans bombed during WWII. It would then be lovingly restored to as close to historical accuracy as possible with the addition of modern amenities such as plumbing, central air and electricity.

The great hall would be my gaming room. The Tudor take on the Round Table found hanging on the wall in Westminster would be purchased and become my gaming table. A professional art restorer would be hired to maintain the table and prevent it from being damaged. I would then buy the entire Wallace collection of armour and rotate displays of it through my gaming room while loaning the remainder of the collection to museums around the world. Any books I would be using I would have transcribed onto vellum by professional manuscript artists complete with hand drawn artwork done in a 14th or 15th century style.

 

[Psionicist]

I'd fly to US, buy Piratecat lunch and then see what happens.

 

[mythusmage]

Buy D&D.

Produce 4th edition.

Produce a coherent base setting (mit history und cultures, und geography und all ).

Free license for 3rd party publishers to do adventures for the setting.

Develop a 3d printer (a prototyper) capable of producing custom miniatures.

Establish a school for game designers so they can learn about and get hands on experience with subjects they may have no real knowledge of.

Establish a soft sell advertising campaign promoting D&D to the general public.

Sponsor research to learn what kids are really like and how they really learn. Establish private schools across the country and staff them with instructors trained to use this knowledge. Set a sliding tuition scale based on ability to pay. Make enrollment open to everyone. Establish D&D clubs at all schools in system.

Produce a good D&D movie.

Produce a good D&D tv series.

Buy ENWorld a high-end server with maxed out everything and T3 connections.

Sponsor research into history, myth and folklore, and science. Also whatever Fusangite and alsih20 would be interested in. (But I'd expect results, guys. And functional pottery and porcelin, none of this artsy fartsy stuff. )

Buy Microsoft and Apple (but that's veering off on a tangent).

 

[Romnipotent]

make RPG's a course at high schools and universities. Have a "Library" ov everything RPG related, and licenses to reprint. an Offset printing press out back. and that very very special thing we all call paintball skirmish tea break

 

[jmucchiello]

Okay, but I'm not sure I could pay them enough to spend all their time with me and ignore their families.

Pay their families too!!! UNLIMITED!!!

 

[fusangite]

I'd endow the Center for Role Playing Game Research and Development as an interdisciplinary academic think tank with offices at MIT (in association with their Applied Mathematics Department), the University of Toronto (in association with the Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies) and UCLA (in association with the Indo-European Studies Department). It would do free research and system design for game publishers.

Then I'd blow the rest of the money on whores and ale because, as we all know from D&D, whores and ale enhance any experience.

 

[fusangite]

I hadn't read TB's post when I posted my first response. Obviously, I would also create an equivalent of one of those ultra high-end aristocratic businessmen's clubs that every major city has but base it around D&D instead of yachting, international trade or whatever it is that most of these clubs are centred on.

This club would naturally have to maintain the $25,000 entry fee and $5,000 to 10,000 per year annual dues these clubs charge their members but these fees would be waived for competently GMing two or more sessions per month.

The great thing is that these clubs have all those great things: open bar, cute waitresses, air conditioning, plush leather furniture, a kitchen with no menu where you just order whatever you want from wherever you are in the club and their bring it to you... oh yeah -- that's where we're gonna game...