Is the D&D brand name really that important?

[hanez]

I love every version of Risk, Risk 2210 is amazing, a version of risk that with more options, more balanced and more custimized. Even LOTR Risk is cool with the different twists in a fantasy world. Same goes with Diablo, and all the versions of MarioKart and Zelda.

The reason why I like these games and there sequels is cause they are variations on the same theme. I know that the "risk" brand implies certain things. And while Axis and Allies might be better tactically, and more realistic, I know the Risk brand implies things that are not compatible with the Axis and Allies brand, and I can be reasonably confident that I wont get Axis and Allies when I buy a risk variant. Sure I may like one a lil less then the other, but they're all so similar that if I love one, Ill probably like or love the sequel.

So it was with D&D. Until someone decided to change it sooo much that it no longer felt like D&D. Sure, they told me it really was D&D, and they even said it didn't matter because they owned the brand and could call it D&D if they wanted. But after a while, it became apparent even to the designers that they had changed too much and they needed to fix the problem they created. (Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Charting the Course for D&D))

 

[M.L. Martin]

The brand itself? It can be handed over to the OSR or 3.5E loyalists for all I care.

The things I do care about enough to be interested are:
1. There's a lot of interesting creative material and lore developed for D&D, and a lot of it can only be leveraged by TSR/WotC/the rights holder unless they decide to license it.
2. WotC has the most resources and some of the best people in the industry, so if they go in a direction I find appealing, they're likely to do it quite well, such as a lot of 4E.

I really like what I'm hearing about D&DN--I think I proposed the basic concept a couple of years ago (EDIT: Indeed I did--see this post.)--and hope they pull it off. I'm even hoping that they release enough playtest material so that, if the experiment fails and they decide to go 3.5+, 1E Redux, or something similar, I'll be able to scavenge the more modular form of the system. But beyond a sense of 'wish they'd produce something I was more interested in' and perhaps wasted opportunities, I'm not likely to get too upset.

But then, I'm a strange gamer--I moved away from AD&D about a year after I started, and only Ravenloft kept me interested through much of the 2E period, and even for parts of 3E. For me, D&D is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

I think the D&D brand is just well known. I think a lot of people know it by name but I don't think it carries as much weight as it did.

Personally I don't play a game for the name, I play it because I believe it's fun. I also don't buy things because they are advertised on television, I buy those things because I want it regardless whether or not I saw it on TV. A commercial could be in black and white with just the name of the product, what it does and where I can find it.

The only advantage D&D has is it was the first RPG and it's been around the longest.

 

[malkav666]

I imagine the D&D brand is very important to those who own it and make money from that ownership. Its not really that important to me personally. The word D&D is what my group uses to describe our Saturday meetup. We could be playing Warhammer 40k and it would still be D&D day. Kind of like calling a tissue a Kleenex to me.

The brand D&D seems to have recognition in pop culture and that makes it important in the sense that for many it will be their game as because its a known variable. But once people start playing games and decide whether or not it is a hobby the think they want to pursue that the brand name has less potency than the contents of the game.

But thats not to say that the D&D name does not cause any type of nostalgia for me. Because it does in fact do just that. But after recent events I am sad to say that nostalgia alone will not get me on board with 5e. It needs to be good.

love,

malkav

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Yes...

i could make a better 3.5 for myself... and a better 4e... but I want to play D&D...

Pathfinder well and nice... not D&D for me

 

[Hassassin]

For me it doesn't matter if the game is called D&D, but IP like Forgotten Realms and the names of some deities and monsters definitely do.