WotC Should WotC buy a Fantasy Novel Publisher like Tor next?

[Urriak Uruk]

Eldraine is good, I loved it, but it does get WotC were it needs to be.

And War of the Spark is more then just the Ravnica battle porn novel, its the mess with the prequel, its the the bad reviews thar undoubtedly cost War of the Spark sales, but worst will likely cost its sequel a ton of sales, its the head aches thar came with dealing with outside companies.

Do honestly think the current situation is where WotC wanted to be, how much money do you think WotC is actually making off the novels like this?

Its time to bring it all back inside one way or another.

So even if this is all true (and there is no evidence the book had bad sales), none of the problems you've listed here are actually fixed by Wizards buying a publisher.

Problem seems to be that War of the Spark is a badly written book. Best way to fix that is by getting a good writer, not by buying a publisher.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I like to tell my ideas and theories about future projects, but I don't see reactions by the others. I would like their own hypothesis about Hasbro's plans. If you are a Hasbro CEO, what would you do? We know they are working in the mystic class and the psionic powers, and in the past they talked about "modules", options as mass battles, kingdom management, sidekicks or crafting.

Here's the thing, LuisCarlos, if I'm the CEO of Hasbro I actually want to meddle as little as I can with what product WotC is releasing.

Think of it this way; you're the CEO of a big toy company, with many different product lines and brands. Many of them are suffering, many of them have declining sales. One subsidiary however, WotC, is not only doing well but is thriving.

Now if I'm that CEO, here's what I don't do; try to "fix what's working." I don't try to tinker with Wizard's plans, because they're already profitable. I don't give orders from high-up about what I personally think is best for that business, because they're already crushing sales forecast. Sure, I invest in them and devote more resources to Wizard's so they can continue to grow and succeed. Maybe a draw in some third-parties to create some video games/movies/TV shows on those brands to capitalize on their newfound popularity. Beyond that however, there is almost no payoff in meddling.

In my mind, there is almost no point in speculating what Hasbro's higher management thinks about Wizard's, because if they have a couple of brain cells to share, they know better than to give top-down orders to perhaps their most successful property.

Speculating on what the management and development of Wizard's is complete fair-game however. They're the ones who drive what actually happens with D&D and Magic.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The best professional writers/scripters works for media pictures, big or little screen, or for videogame studios. Hasbro has got Allspark. If the reboot of "My Little Pony" has been a true success, even the movie, then they can hire the right people.

If you are a Hasbro CEO, what would you do to make money with the IPs as Dragonlance? Which works would be in the "phase 1" or for "phase 2"?

* Do you think Hasbro should produce a new cartoon for young adults based in the comic "Rat Queens"? It couldn't be worse than Conan, Swamp Thing or Toxic Avenger. I know it is a crazy idea but telling it is fun.

* If am a Hasbro CEO and I see D&D start to make money, then I would talk with WotC to ask about how to help them and the limits of the change. The first step would be to find the key to produce true blockbusters, and then the adaptation of the best franchises could start. The first step would be with new worlds starting from zero, as an sandbox, or less famous IPs. For example "Once and Future King" (a campaign setting from Amazing Engines) could be used as a guinea pig for a children cartoon where high-tech allows cyber-knight to use no-lethal weapons. This is a idea as fool than it may work. "For Faerie, Queen and Country" could be as a "Carnival Row" for all ages.

If we want advertising, a way I suggest is to produce short films like Blizzard cinematic trailers, and later they would be used by youtubers to create AMV (anime media videos).

 

[Urriak Uruk]

The best professional writers/scripters works for media pictures, big or little screen, or for videogame studios. Hasbro has got Allspark. If the reboot of "My Little Pony" has been a true success, even the movie, then they can hire the right people.

If you are a Hasbro CEO, what would you do to make money with the IPs as Dragonlance? Which works would be in the "phase 1" or for "phase 2"?

* Do you think Hasbro should produce a new cartoon for young adults based in the comic "Rat Queens"? It couldn't be worse than Conan, Swamp Thing or Toxic Avenger. I know it is a crazy idea but telling it is fun.

* If am a Hasbro CEO and I see D&D start to make money, then I would talk with WotC to ask about how to help them and the limits of the change. The first step would be to find the key to produce true blockbusters, and then the adaptation of the best franchises could start. The first step would be with new worlds starting from zero, as an sandbox, or less famous IPs. For example "Once and Future King" (a campaign setting from Amazing Engines) could be used as a guinea pig for a children cartoon where high-tech allows cyber-knight to use no-lethal weapons. This is a idea as fool than it may work. "For Faerie, Queen and Country" could be as a "Carnival Row" for all ages.

If we want advertising, a way I suggest is to produce short films like Blizzard cinematic trailers, and later they would be used by youtubers to create AMV (anime media videos).

My gut reaction to all of your posts LuisCarlos is to yell "NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN," but I've done it so many times now that I'm kind of tired, so instead I'll humor you (marginally).

The ideas you've posted are pretty huge in scope and ambition so my gut reaction is always going to be, "Hasbro/Wizard's won't do this." But I do know (with my tiny piece of insider information) that a shred of this is true.

Here's what we know Wizard's is working on for IPs;

- The mysterious Texas office; little is known what is actually happening here beyond work on an IP that is neither Magic/D&D. The head of it, James Ohlen, has experience in both video games and RPGs.

- The Rick and Morty projects; for some reason (I guess sales), collaboration with Rick and Morty continues apace. They're onto their second comic run now, and the boxed set will be released soon. I don't think much more collaboration can continue beyond this (although I can see fantasy is playing a role in the new season of the show), but sets an interesting precedent for third-party partnerships.

- The last survey D&D ran asked questions about fantasy properties beyond Wizard's brands. This could mean little beyond general market research, but is potentially interesting if Wizard's is pursuing new partnerships in the same vein as the Rick and Morty one.

- Wizard's purchased a small game studio. I actually find this not interesting at all because whether a game is made internally or externally with D&D has little difference and has no impact on whether the game is actually good.

- Hasbro is pursuing the development of a Dungeons & Dragons film. Rumors say it's for Dragonlance, but the script has been rewritten multiple times so may be something else entirely.

- Magic the Gathering will have a Netflix animated series based on Chandra, run by the Russo brothers.

Take all that together, and what you see is Hasbro/Wizard's stretching their wingspan to entertainment and third-party partnerships. However, they're doing it selectively, strategically, and very carefully. They clearly don't want any missteps.

They also appear to be relying on relationships they've already built, or one's that are already just a good fit. Paramount for the film for example already distributes the Transformers films. Rick & Morty creator Dan Harmon has a show where we plays a TTRPG.

How much Hasbro pursues these endeavors is going to be tied directly to how successful these projects are; if their a dud, they'll stop. If they meet targets, they'll keep trying methodically and slowly. If there are surprise hits, full speed ahead.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If I have learnt something about creativity is the first step is allowing a ideas-storm, even the craziest one, don't say "that will not happen" but "it is not probable". After select the best, or least bad, ones and start to work about that. At least chatting about hypothetical future projects is fun because you are using the imagination.

They want a movie of Dragonlance, but this will not in the "phase 1" yet. The best lines are too valious to risk too much, but they will await to learn to do the right work. At least not with the main story about archifamous heroes of the lance.

* D&D needs a lot of work to allow possible "crossovers" of genres like mage.vs.robot. Have you listened about the sheens, a race of sentient aliens constructs from Dragon Magazine? Do you remember the overseers and raels, two alien races from "Odyssey: tale of the comet"? Have you thought maybe only telling any absurd idea anybody has got inspiration for his own new stories? Then this would be worth.

* I warn you in Spain Dec 28th is our "April's fool", the day for jokes, pranks, and fun fake news. Maybe I tell somebody. ;-)