D&D 4E My Business Model For 4e

[Andre]

Collectibles sell, period.

Um, no they don't. Some collectibles sell - most flop.

1) To expand the audience of adventures, they ought to include collectibles that appeal to players.

And as a GM, why exactly do I want my players buying the same adventure? So they can tell me they want treasure x and feat y included? Not at my table.

3) Adventures should be released as series adventures, or different levels of a dungeon.

Don't we already have this with Adventure Paths? Which I personally dislike anyway, as they require too much control over what happens in the early adventures, or you end up completely re-writing the later ones (which kind of defeats the whole purpose of an AP). There's a market for these, but it's not universal.

4) To provide variability to adventures and allow DMs the ability to customize their adventures, randomized packs of monsters and villains (and only monsters and villains) would be available for each adventure series including a number of creatures suitable for substitution within the adventure.

You know, I like this idea. It does not, however, require any kind of collectible aspect. Just include the occasional sidebar in the adventure for GM's. For example, one encounter may be with a particular type of undead. The sidebar could give one or more alternatives that the GM might consider using, with suggstions for tactics, flavor, and such. And if the publisher provides the stats for the alternatives as a web enhancement, so much the better.

5) Expansion sets including items, feats, and spells serving as suitable replacements for those in the adventure would be sold.

Ditto.

I think a business model like this would sell like hotcakes...

I don't. Sorry to be so brutal, but I see absolutely no merit in the collectible aspects of your business model - not for GM's, players, or a game company. Airwalker, I like many of the ideas you post on the boards, but - for me at least - this one's a non-starter.

 

[Jared Rascher]

Post this idea on Gleemax and I wager they will have the 'same idea' within a few years. By then I'll have to take out a loan to keep buying their product.

"I bought a scratch card character generation pack today, and I got all 18s, I'm a dwarf paladin, and I get the extra ability to Great Smite at 1st level."

"Crap, I got a kobold rogue with all 8 except for one 20, and his special ability is Cower in Corner. Looks like I'm picking up another pack before we play this week."

 

[cerberus2112]

Role-playing is not a card game. The Core Rulebooks have to give you the pieces you need to play the game. However, a realistic approach to this idea can be taken: each adventure could introduce new class features, spells, magic items, and monsters (much as they did in the old days). That way, in addition to a scenario you only play once, you get game crunch that you can continue to use in your campaign.

 

[Blastin]

come on folks...this is a troll........don't feed him please

 

[Plane Sailing]

come on folks...this is a troll........don't feed him please

If you think something is a troll, report it. Don't call people names in the thread (especially as you'll note that a moderator has already been in the thread (Hypersmurf) and not commented on the original post).

Thanks

 

[JVisgaitis]

1) To expand the audience of adventures, they ought to include collectibles that appeal to players. Adventures should include random treasure in the form of randomly assorted items, as well as random feats or spells the players can learn from parts of the adventure. Items would be represented and collected by players on standard-size playing cards of varying rarity schemes.

Collectible items in an adventure? Man, collectible miniatures are bad enough. If this was ever even considered I'd quit playing just based on principal. How can you possibly think that this is something that people would not only agree with, but also want to spend their money on?

The game would be designed to facilitate fast combat, the longest and most involved part of the game. Rules like grappling would need to be streamlined if not overhauled completely.

See 4e for streamlined rules. The current issue with older folk isn't how long the game takes to play, its getting enough people together to play in the first place. The digital initiative works fine to solve those problems. I don't think dumbing adventures down so they are completed in a 4 hour block is going to solve anything. The biggest sellers are mega adventures and adventure paths. That's where the money is. Most of everything else you said was pretty much the same as it is today aside from the insanity on making the game collectible.

I think a business model like this would sell like hotcakes, as well as being incredibly fun to play. The pocketbooks of gamers might be smarting, but do you ever pay for stuff that you don't really want or at least need? MtG wouldn't sell so well if it wasn't such a fun and compelling game.

Sell like hotcakes? I would say if there was a sure fire way that you were looking to drive a stake through the heart of the game we all know and love, then this is it. IMO this would cause D&D to go down faster then the Titantic. If anyone says otherwise, I seriously question their knowledge of the RPG industry.

 

[crazy_cat]

Sell like hotcakes? I would say if there was a sure fire way that you were looking to drive a stake through the heart of the game we all know and love, then this is it. IMO this would cause D&D to go down faster then the Titantic. If anyone says otherwise, I seriously question their knowledge of the RPG industry.

Agreed. I don't mind the collectable aspect for minis as it makes them cheap - but making the main game collectable would be a killer for me.

 

[Minicol]

Agreed. I don't mind the collectable aspect for minis as it makes them cheap - but making the main game collectable would be a killer for me.

I do. And they are UGLY as well. Well, enough of them are that they don't justify the cash anymore.

 

[airwalkrr]

I think some people are forgetting what you get in exchange for collectibility. You get affordability. Just like minis got cheaper when they started making them collectible, game rules would become cheaper. No longer would you have to shell out 30 bucks for a new splatbook to use two feats, 30 bucks for another splatbook to use three or four spells, and 30 bucks for yet another splatbook to use a prestige class. And don't tell me there are not people who do that. I know many and I know you do as well.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I think some people are forgetting what you get in exchange for collectibility. You get affordability.

No, you don't. You get the illusion of affordability. But it winds up costing as much, if not more, to get a "complete" set. And it costs a lot more in intangibles, such as the goodwill of the market.

This is still a bad idea, to say nothing of impractical. It would alienate far more people than it would bring in to the hobby, and it would--not might, but I firmly believe would--kill D&D as the RPG market leader, if not actually damage the RPG market as a whole.