If You Had Unlimited Funds for RPGs in General

[John Morrow]

What would you do with unlimited funds?

With respect to role-playing?

Buy the license for The Fantasy Trip/In The Labrynth and give it to Steve Jackson. Buy the license for Car Wars from Steve Jackson Games and give it to S. John Ross. Ask S. John Ross to write an article on his five elements of a commercially successful role-playing setting as promised. If Steve Jackson won't give up the Car Wars license at any price, then release TFT/ITL as an OGL game.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Well since it is unlimited funds and it seems geared towards wish fulfillment this is what I would do...

1. Purchase the rights to The Scarred Lands Campaign, set it at 3.5 along with ALL the books and supplements that support it. Then I'd have some really cool modules made. I'd also make certain that the artists and writers understood the feel and flow of Scarn's history.

2. Redo all of TSR's classic 1e modules into 3.5 while keeping them in their simple text and layout.

3. Have a team of editors and writers search the countries of the world for the best homebrews and campaigns and print a series of adventures for the general public based off this "best of." Of course the original authors would have a say, be paid, and given credit. Ever play Never Winter Nights? Ever play fan made modules based on the Aurora engine? Some fan made modules are better written and plotted than the original and its sequals!

4. Lastly, some how and in some way revitalize Greyhawk. I don't like "Out of the Ashes" in the least. That's my opinion, of course.

 

[DMH]

Buy the license for Gamma World and do it right...

I would make GW a more generic PA game with 5-6 settings with different levels of grittiness.

I would get the rights to Army Ants, Aria and Mechanical Dream and create new editions powered by Fudge (maybe dual stat with d20) along with new settings. Alternity 2nd ed would see the light of day and many people from A.net would be working on it full time.

What is really needed: lots of advertising. Prime time tv commericals Weds-Sat for years and radio and newspaper ads. We need a lot of new blood and this is a good way of getting it. Gaming demos are libraries in cities and towns all over the world. And it would be evenly divided between historical, fantasy and sci-fi games and settings.

 

[WayneLigon]

I would create a production company to create a D&D TV show in an hour-long episodic drama format, with a beginning and an end to the story, ala Babylon 5. Writers and actors of such a quality as to rival Lost or Buffy in popularity and penetration. Keep doing the show, but in 5-year chunks with a new story, new characters, set in the same 'universe'. That, coupled with the occassional mega-million blockbuster movie, to interest people in tabletop gaming.

My own pet project of course would be to buy the Batman TV rights and have the company produce an hour-long episodic drama about the Dark Knight and company.

 

[sniffles]

I'd pay for someone to watch my kids and take my wife (for a few years anyways..favors would probably cost extra)..so that I could play in peace!

jh

I'd build the perfect gaming house. I'd give all my friends enough money to live on without ever having to work again. Then I'd pay for someone to babysit my best friend's kids so he could have enough time to game with me whenever he wanted to. I'd also figure out something to buy for his wife so she wouldn't whine at him about not spending enough time with her.

 

[mythusmage]

More DJ Stuff

(I'm human, it doesn't come to me all at once. )

Console and PC games for all platforms. With an absolute ban on back story and transition scenes. (Bloody waste of resources.)

Online games

Co-sponsor the RPGA. (The have the structure and people in place, why not make use of that?)

Sponsor DJ school clubs.

Speaking of school, classes on writing rule books, source books, setting books, adventures etc. Also classes on editing, proof reading, layout, printing, distribution, and retail.

License DJ in other systems. GURPS DJ, DJ d20, and DJ Tristat for example.

Dangerous Journeys: Traveller and Dangerous Journeys: Ars Magica

DJ movies, television shows, radio programs, and Internet entertainments. A DJ channel featuring programming on various subjects, all tied into DJ.

Game stores with game space. All stores would have recipricol arrangements with nearby eateries.

(How could I forget for so long?) DJ miniatures and paints.

Promote in both industry and mainstream outlets.

DJ GUIs for both Windows and Macintosh. (Java based, much like what Sun Microsystems has been working on.) Have the Mythus or Changeling look on your monitor.

DJ action figures. DJ clothing and toys.

DJ comic books and comic strips.

DJ Clue and DJ Monopoly. Also DJ wargames, board and miniature.

Let's not forget Mythus Risk and Changeling Risk.

DJ LARP, and sponsor historical re-enactment groups. Also sponsor science and space exploration clubs.

Sponsor the ENNIEs and community sites such as ENWorld.

Last (for now), Dangerous Journeys: Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards would reciprocate by doing Dungeons & Dragons; Dangerous Journeys. )

 

[Ringmereth]

I would build a perfect gaming shop. This would include:

-A collection of every gaming and gaming-related publication known to man, both for sale and to rent for game sessions, as well as minis, dice, props, music, movies, etc.
-A staff of talented game designers to help DMs with their campaigns, houserules, and homebrew material, as well as running their own games.
-A cafe with every caffinated product worth drinking, as well as nop-notch food.
-A multi-level dungeon for LARPing underneith.
-Gaming rooms containing a specially designed gaming table (with built-in DM screen and computer with applications to easily keep track of combat, and a large battlemat on a rail so it can be moved between players), a stereo system, and a projector.
-Electronic gaming rooms (everyone needs to take a break from PnP games and frag each other in Halo or BF sometimes) with top-of-the-line computers and large monitors for PC gaming, and projectors and consoles for console gaming, as well as a large collection of games and surround sound for both.
-A movie theatre constantly running D&D-related flicks (martial arts, fantasy, sci-fi, action, etc).
-A full-service spa, a theatre constantly running chick flicks, and a shopping mall to keep significant others happy whilst wasting the day playing games.
-A gym with a focus on D&D-related activities: martial arts, fencing, archery, climbing, acrobatics, and other fun stuff, as well as more mundane workout equipment.

More to come...

 

[mythusmage]

Just so you don't think I'm totally hung up on Dangerous Journeys {Oh, we don't think that. Emily Bronte-saurus} ...

Criminalize rules lawyering. Dipping the miscreant in sugar water and staking him naked on an argentine fire ant nest seems appropriate punishment.

Classify munchkinism as an obsessive/compulsive disorder. Use Munchkin from Steve Jackson Games as a diagnostic tool. Anyone who takes Munchkin seriously is most likely a munchkin.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Planescape

Then I'd get Monte, Colin, and the rest of the boys and bring the band back together.

On a mission from god?

 

[mythusmage]

On a mission from god?

More important, Col. Pladoh.