Same D&D, Different Themes

[Arnwyn]

Anime (manga) theme, without a doubt.

I love my anime D&D DM's Screen that I picked up in Japan.

 

[MDSnowman]

The big problem is that the OVA series condenses the series, jumping past a bunch of books in literally the blink of an eye. The Lodoss TV series (not Crystania) fills a large part of that gap (and they've already killed two of the great dragons by the point they reach Shooting Star). Parn has probably nearly finished his Prestige Class by that point.

I like the think of it as follows....
Watch the OAV up until Ghim dies.... then switch to the TV series. You'll have a few conflicts (like Orson and Shiris showing up early and Beld being killed by a spear [instead of an arrow] in a fight with the old king and not Kashue) But you'll get the idea behind everything pretty well.

As for Parn's prestige class, me and my friend were arguing over that, what prestige class? We can't think of one he fits. Though we were in agreement... Orson is a Frenzied Berserker

 

[Awakened]

Ok..ok...
DEFINITELY a dungeonpunk themed set. I'm sorry, but I just love that
leather-dressed elf with a mohawk look. It's awesome, and I'm sick
of people picking on it! They could make it all gory an gritty!
Ok..ok..
I'm settled down.
DEFINITELY need a homestar runner set. I say we start a petition. Old school look would be nice, I'd also like maybe a surrealistic one with lots of mist and rain and distorted images. It could sit side by side with my Cheat-themed monster manual.

 

[WizarDru]

i'm glad i don't know what the heck WizardDru just said.

Lose that extra 'd', dude.

 

[Desdichado]

i'm glad i don't know what the heck WizardDru just said.

Me too. Do we really need the tangiential discussion about Record of the Lodoss War in this thread?

As for answering the question -- it seems a bit difficult. If all we're supposed to be proposing is presentation, then I guess it doesn't really matter what those are. D&D isn't as flexible as all that, IMO, at least not to do well. Gothic Horror D&D with the core rules would be more trouble to pull off than it's worth, IMO, to use one example. And players like me wouldn't be very likely to pick up these "collectible" boxed sets anyway, without new rules.

 

[thalmin]

That was just my quip about "collectable" sets. If I understand what started this thread, what they are looking for would be a presentation that would get the new, younger people to become D&D players. By using a different theme each year/print run of the starter box, they might attract new players with the fresh new look.
The real growth potential is in the younger crowd, where the kids will introduce their friends to the "new" game they have discovered.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

This could be a really good idea. Unfortunately, as for growing the market, they probably don't care what we want to see -- we already play D&D /d20.

An anime set may very well appeal to "anime-only" customers, bringing them over to the Dark side... I mean RPG side

But even current RPG players may pick up themed sets. Think of what has been done to Monopoly -- exact same rules with different themes (Star Wars, Dinosaurs, Gold Anniversary, etc). same with Risk (Lord of the Rings..), Clue (D&D...), even Chess (every form of miniature under the sun...).

Do I own more than one game of monopoly -- yes I do. Does my son love Dinosaur Monopoly Jr more than "regular" Monopoly Jr -- you bet.

Lots of markets out there and lots of ways to introduce new people to D&D.


Brian
<><

 

[thalmin]

This could be a really good idea. Unfortunately, as for growing the market, they probably don't care what we want to see -- we already play D&D /d20.
(snip)Lots of markets out there and lots of ways to introduce new people to D&D.


Brian
<><

Exactly. We current players already have our books. This is to sell to new customers.

 

[diaglo]

Exactly. We current players already have our books. This is to sell to new customers.

are you calling the rest of us "Sellouts"

 

[Desdichado]

Very strange delayed double post... :\