D&D 5E Short One-Off RPG Boxed Set Games based on the 5e engine

[Mistwell]

I raised this in another thread but it's really a tangent.

I noticed when playing the Adventurer's League at a local game store that it gets some random drop-in players who happen to be in the store playing other games like Magic the Gathering and board games. People see us and say "Hey, how can I try that?" and they can just pick up a pregen character and start playing for two hours. If they like it they might come back next week, maybe get interested in making their own character and buying the PHB from the store...or not. But, it's the same sort of dynamic as a board game for that player.

And Mearls has said he likes the board game model, and the expansion model for those board games that succeed.

So what if WOTC came out with a series relatively inexpensive boxed RPG games, with rules based on the Basic D&D rules and then a small sheet of variations from those rules for the particular genre of that game. It would also include a stack of pre-gens (no character creation rules needed), a set of 5 or so 2-hour adventures, a map (or several), and some cardboard chits.

So for example:

Star Frontiers - space-themed tweaks to the Basic D&D rules, along with 5 space adventures which each take 2 hours to play, and a stack of space-themed pre-gen characters.
Boot Hill - Western tweaks for the Basic D&D rules, along with 5 western adventures which each take 2 hours to play, and a stack of western-themed pre-gen characters.
Gamma World - post acoplytic
Top Secret - modern (or cold war era) spy game
Ravenloft - Horror (perhaps 1920s era)
Modern Fantasy - similar to d20 Modern
Etc.

The goal here is not for it to be a campaign-based game. In fact it would say that on the cover. The goal is for it to be a single 2-hour game, intended for you to pick up a pre-gen and start playing right away. You don't need the character for another game. It's the convention game model, or the party game model. You walk into a game store, sit down and start playing, like a board game. The rules are familiar because they are based on D&D, and the genre tweaks will be short and easily understood. So for example you might use a wounds system (from the DMG) for a western game, and less armor is available, and some weapons/equipment might replicate some spells, but that's about the only major changes. The sort of changes you could have on a single sheet or a couple of sheets, like some board game rules.

I know I'd be up for a two hour game of any of those.

And if any of those took off and were really successful, WOTC could publish an expansion game for it. Maybe more pre-gens that have different classes, and more adventures. Or an inexpensive pack of 5 more 2-hour adventures. Perhaps even campaign rules and additional levels, if it really seemed to take off. But they don't have to - the game will be self-contained.

I know WOTC experimented a bit with this sort of idea during 4e with Gamma World. I heard it was a great game, but I never got a chance to play, and I don't know if it sold well or not.

Could this work? Would people buy it? Would they play it?

 

[machineelf]

I've found that the beginning part of the Basic Boxed Set (The Mines of Phandelver) works perfectly for that. Folks can get through the first section with the goblin cave in a single setting. If they are interested in continuing to play, they can keep going with that adventure, and usually they are interested in continuing.

 

[ninjayeti]

Its not a bad idea. I think the beginner experience could be improved with a streamlined rule set designed for more boardgame like play. Even the beginner box has tons of rules that could be ignored for simplicity sake without really impacting the core gameplay.

I think the real issue would be replayability: how many times are you really going to want to play through "Craigmaw Hideout - The Boardgame!"

 

[Parmandur]

It's a cool idea, and at a price point like the Starter set could be very successful. Even before different genres, though, thus could be a model for setting support: Forgotten Realms box Eberron box, etc. With this sort of quick pick up board game model combined with setting detail...that could really work.

As to Gamma World...never played it, but they had oodles of copies laying around Half-Price Books around here. A lot of left over overstock, at least.

 

[Mistwell]

As to Gamma World...never played it, but they had oodles of copies laying around Half-Price Books around here. A lot of left over overstock, at least.

I was afraid of that. I heard it was a great game, and that even people who didn't like 4e liked it when they played it because they felt the 4e design was well suited to that type of game. But...I think it may have been caught up in the edition wars nonetheless and been tagged as unsupported 4e stuff near the end of the 4e run.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I really like that idea. One could argue that Wrath of Ashardalon or Temple of Elemental Evil are already "D&D Boardgames", but that's not really true. Those games are merely about the least-interesting part of D&D: the tactical grid-based combat. A D&D board game should instead focus on heroic questing, clever solutions to interesting obstacles, and roleplaying.

The trick is translating that to a board, cards, tokens.

But yes, I'd love something like that. Those of us who started with Basic D&D in the 80s are having families, and acquiring non-gamer friends (usually due to kids in same daycare/school/neighborhood). I could really use an easy, non-intimidating intro to this lifelong hobby of mine.

Tossing a textbook (the PHB) at a newb, or sitting them down to the current nothin'-but-combat "board games", simply does not suffice.

 

[Wik]

I love the idea. The Gamma World 4e boxed set was one of the few 4e products that I actually loved. That being said, I'd offer a few small tweaks to your idea:

1. Let players make their own characters. It doesn't need to be in depth, but the option has to be there.
2. Have a few short adventures, not just one, and make sure there are notes for other adventure ideas.
3. Have all the needed pieces, cardstock minis, etc.
4. While not necessary, conversion notes so you can use some of the cool stuff in other D&D boxed sets would be super cool.

Except for #4, Gamma World 4e already does all this. It's boxed up like a board game, and plays kind of like a board game with RPG elements. It really is an amazing game, and I wish I had bought more of the collectible cards for it when I had the chance.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I think the problem is there is actually a lot of re-playability in Board Games, because (like a multi-player shooter video game) your fellow players are the challenge. So your game map/board/rules/whatever can be quite simple but there is also a lot if fun replaying them - the challenge changes. Even if it is the luck or tokens etc that your opposition gets. Whereas in D&D the challenge is provided by the game itself, the DM just runs that challenge. So playing the same map again is not very satisfying. I have played the Disc World boardgames dozens of times and have played some maps in BattleField hundreds. But it takes a long while to get stale. Playing a one-shot, or even a bunch of one-shots, is not the same. It is not a good monetary or challenge or interesting proposition, unless they come up with some clever ways to vary it.

 

[Parmandur]

I dunno, the proposed idea seems to be to take the Starter set as a model, and supercharge it: have ab Eberron themed box, with special rules, maybe multiples adventures, setting information and maybe something physical like some minis or what have you.

And replaying Lost Mines? Very rewarding in my experience. I hear tell of people playing through Temple of Elemental Evil, Keep on the Borderlands or some other module over and over again. It's a specific design challenge, but potentially a great idea.

 

[S'mon]

I very much like the idea of game-in-a-box D&D. 4e Gamma World's problem was just that it needed another 6 pages to include prodedural content generators, random encounter tables especially, and a 1-page sketched out starter setting, the way eg Labyrinth Lord does.

This would also be a great way to get the settings out there; a Dark Sun box, an Eberron box, a Mystara box et al, no more than 64 pages of setting material & aimed at immediate playability, but do include a world map. Price at $30-$35 not $20 though, the 5e box hasn't quite enough content.

A good example of this approach is Legacy of the Crystal Shard - it just needs 5 pregens, dice, and a
brief rules-summary book (24-32 pages) like the one in the 5e Starter Set, to go along with the
campaign book and the adventure book (32-64 pages each, or maybe 1 64 page combined book
split between setting & adventure).