D&D General On making 5E versions of other games

[Thunderfoot]

then it is a question of what system they end up picking that already exists?

It might be. That's the problem when announcements are made, often development and PR aren't on the same page. PR just has to release a statement and or pictures and some buzzwords to stay in the brain, development has to release an actual product.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It might be. That's the problem when announcements are made, often development and PR aren't on the same page. PR just has to release a statement and or pictures and some buzzwords to stay in the brain, development has to release an actual product.

so we are likely months out from any hard data?
also, what is with the name are you supposed to be a lightning bigfoot?

 

[Thunderfoot]

so we are likely months out from any hard data?
also, what is with the name are you supposed to be a lightning bigfoot?

My nickname. I'm a former pro drummer.

 

[Jer]

While I enjoyed your post immensely.... I really seriously doubt it. Marvel has tried to drop rules several times before (Even using Mutants & Masterminds and a failed attempt at d20 Modern) Marvel doesn't have the patience to support any gaming system for long.

I don't remember an M&M or a d20 Modern attempt but I do remember when they released their own diceless RPG system and then when they licensed it to Margaret Weis productions for a hot second to produce a very short-lived (but well received) Cortex system version.

The first one of those was shortly after Marvel came out of bankruptcy - in 2003 - and long before they were stable again or before they were bought by Disney. IIRC from stories out at the time it sold fairly well, but Marvel had no idea what the RPG market was like and considered anything that didn't sell like D&D to be a failure. And let's remember that this would have been D&D in 2003 - pretty much the middle of the initial 3rd edition rollout. So they axed it. They're a very different company at this point but that attitude might still be there and it will kill this new project if it is.

The second came out within a few years of the Disney purchase and I don't know the whole story behind it but I strongly suspect from the hints that were out there at the time that MWP paid too much for the license compared to what they could get through sales and when the license came up for renewal they just didn't have the money to spend to renew it. It's not so much Marvel not having the patience to support a system as the market being unwilling to pay for what Marvel wanted in licensing fees for their properties.

I have no idea what the new game will be like from a corporate perspective given how much Marvel has changed over the years. Marvel isn't a game company but they are a publisher, so depending on how seriously they're taking this and if they understand that D&D is a unique RPG that you'd have to invest a lot of time and money into competing with it could go either way. (The fact that they're offering "alternate covers" for their playtest rules coming out in April make me leery, but the fact that their playtest rules are only $10 makes me interested again - they do have an opportunity to get their game onto shelves that no other gaming company really has).

 

[Thunderfoot]

I don't remember an M&M or a d20 Modern attempt but I do remember when they released their own diceless RPG system and then when they licensed it to Margaret Weis productions for a hot second to produce a very short-lived (but well received) Cortex system version.

The first one of those was shortly after Marvel came out of bankruptcy - in 2003 - and long before they were stable again or before they were bought by Disney. IIRC from stories out at the time it sold fairly well, but Marvel had no idea what the RPG market was like and considered anything that didn't sell like D&D to be a failure. And let's remember that this would have been D&D in 2003 - pretty much the middle of the initial 3rd edition rollout. So they axed it. They're a very different company at this point but that attitude might still be there and it will kill this new project if it is.

The second came out within a few years of the Disney purchase and I don't know the whole story behind it but I strongly suspect from the hints that were out there at the time that MWP paid too much for the license compared to what they could get through sales and when the license came up for renewal they just didn't have the money to spend to renew it. It's not so much Marvel not having the patience to support a system as the market being unwilling to pay for what Marvel wanted in licensing fees for their properties.

I have no idea what the new game will be like from a corporate perspective given how much Marvel has changed over the years. Marvel isn't a game company but they are a publisher, so depending on how seriously they're taking this and if they understand that D&D is a unique RPG that you'd have to invest a lot of time and money into competing with it could go either way. (The fact that they're offering "alternate covers" for their playtest rules coming out in April make me leery, but the fact that their playtest rules are only $10 makes me interested again - they do have an opportunity to get their game onto shelves that no other gaming company really has).

Wait, they are charging for a playtest??? Red flags already...

 

[Jer]

Wait, they are charging for a playtest??? Red flags already...

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest Rulebook - Kindle edition by Various, Various, Various. Humor & Entertainment Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest Rulebook - Kindle edition by Various, Various, Various. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest...

www.amazon.com

I don't think it's a red flag at all - it's to build up hype for the game. They're putting it on comic book store shelves and to get the store owners to put it on their shelves they need to have the product be for pay. It's how the comics market works and they're trying to leverage the comics market share that they have into their game. Plus it gets a starter version of the game into people's hands who wouldn't see it even if it was offered as a free download. We'll see what the binding looks like but I suspect it's more "comic book" than "rpg" in appearance.

I suspect that's also why they got Matt Forbeck to write a new d6 system for it rather than anything else. They want the game to be easy to get into the hands of new players and making people go buy a d20 probably won't happen, but people can easily scavenge their Yahtzee sets for 3 dice (plus then you get to name it the 616 system, and who wouldn't want to do that?)

 

[Thunderfoot]

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest Rulebook - Kindle edition by Various, Various, Various. Humor & Entertainment Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest Rulebook - Kindle edition by Various, Various, Various. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game: Playtest...

www.amazon.com

I don't think it's a red flag at all - it's to build up hype for the game. They're putting it on comic book store shelves and to get the store owners to put it on their shelves they need to have the product be for pay. It's how the comics market works and they're trying to leverage the comics market share that they have into their game. Plus it gets a starter version of the game into people's hands who wouldn't see it even if it was offered as a free download. We'll see what the binding looks like but I suspect it's more "comic book" than "rpg" in appearance.

I suspect that's also why they got Matt Forbeck to write a new d6 system for it rather than anything else. They want the game to be easy to get into the hands of new players and making people go buy a d20 probably won't happen, but people can easily scavenge their Yahtzee sets for 3 dice (plus then you get to name it the 616 system, and who wouldn't want to do that?)

See I think of playtest and I think of feedback for development. This sounds less like a playtest and more like a starter set or teaser set. @Aramis Erek and I were both part of the Star Trek Adventure RPG playtest. All materials were free and the rules changed...a lot, between those first sessions and the final product. Modephius had planned on just releasing the system based on the system they already used in Conan and another property I can't think of off my head. It didn't work. Their timeline crashed and they had to work overtime to fix it because damn it, if it ain't broke, we ain't trying hard enough.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The games have been indirectly a great influence in the comic industry. How, why? The gamers are used to main characters designed with a balance between power and vulnerability, success and failure. Then the "mr. perfect" from the superheroes comics who always are saving the day thanks a new trick, a new bunny in the hat, aren't interesting, but too close to the annoying "Mary Sue/Gary Stu". After reading lots of stories, we know this or that character will die or survive when it was screenwriter's choise.

If Marvel and DC did a good work, the TTRPG could save the superheroes franchises when the movies and videogames became "old-fashion" by fault of the saturation of the market.

I can understand there some fear if D&D becomes too popular, then the rest of titles by other publishers could fall in the oblivion. Any suggestion? To publish TTRPG for children, as Tiny Dungeons, "Little Monsters Detective" or "Magissa" (not translate to English yet), with simple rules.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I guess the target audience is people who like D&D, not people who don’t like D&D.

That's kind of the point, though; on one hand people shouldn't get soggy because its targeted at the former, but neither should people be surprised that the latter don't consider that a virtuous design choice. The assumption that the D&D chassis is the all-purpose power tool is just that--an assumption, and one I think doesn't survive being pressed on all that well. Other people are welcome to feel otherwise, but I think it requires at least a bit more than "It's what people are used to" for it to be a strong argument. And I think it gets harder to make the farther away you get from the original sort of experience it was aimed at.

 

[Morrus]

That's kind of the point, though; on one hand people shouldn't get soggy because its targeted at the former, but neither should people be surprised that the latter don't consider that a virtuous design choice.

Sure, but the latter should also not be surprised that their opinion just isn't relevant to this decision.