D&D 5E Weekend Chat: What Official Property for a 5E Adaptation

[Reynard]

Just a fun, casual discussion for the weekend.

Ignoring cost, existing licenses, probability or any other constraints, what property getting an official 5E adaptation by WotC would fill you with joy and have you hurling money at Wizards?

A quick rule: it doesn't have to be fantasy, but the adaptation will be as close to 5E rules as is practical/possible for the setting and genre, more Star Wars d20 than Star Wars Saga Edition if that makes sense.

Also "property" can be anything: movie, television series, comic book, novel, video game, other ttrpg, concept album, whatever.

For my part, I would want to see a an official 5E adaptation of The Stormlight Archives, if for no other reason to see how the designers would handle a very different take on magic with a more super-powers feel.

 

[jgsugden]

Honestly - nothing. I don't need to a see Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Dresden Files, 100, Walking Dead, or any other IP. I can do these things with little effort, but most of them seem like they should be another system that doesn't build around the leveling system of D&D. I'd rather do most of them in a system like Gurps with a flatter development system.

 

[Steampunkette]

Sins of the Scorpion Age.

... what? "Ignoring Cost" means I get to charge as much as I want for them to license the idea. >.>

 

[Reynard]

Honestly - nothing. I don't need to a see Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, Dresden Files, 100, Walking Dead, or any other IP. I can do these things with little effort, but most of them seem like they should be another system that doesn't build around the leveling system of D&D. I'd rather do most of them in a system like Gurps with a flatter development system.

One of the reasons I picked Stormlight is because it very much included a power ramp in the fiction that 5Es leveling could model.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm of the belief that almost all properties are better served by game mechanics built specifically for the style of that property. Using any d20-inspired rules for all game usually does not result in the best quality.

We saw that in the early 2000s as almost every game came up with a d20 version... and invariably they were not that popular and nowhere near as good as the original mechanics the property had. For instance... any game like D&D that has levels that increases a character's power and is expected to go up to level 10 or even 20... is the exact wrong system to use for any C'thulu horror game where the PCs are expected to be unable to handle any of the monstrosities.

 

[TwoSix]

Warcraft
Castlevania
Pokemon - for the bestiary, if nothing else.

 

[Reynard]

I'm of the belief that almost all properties are better served by game mechanics built specifically for the style of that property. Using any d20-inspired rules for all game usually does not result in the best quality.

We saw that in the early 2000s as almost every game came up with a d20 version... and invariably they were not that popular and nowhere near as good as the original mechanics the property had. For instance... any game like D&D that has levels that increases a character's power and is expected to go up to level 10 or even 20... is the exact wrong system to use for any C'thulu horror game where the PCs are expected to be unable to handle any of the monstrosities.

Okay, but why go through all that effort just to yuck someone else's yum?

 

[Parmandur]

The Legend of Zelda.

 

[Reynard]

Warcraft

I remember really liking the two 3.x versions. I bet they would make a killing.

 

[TwoSix]

I remember really liking the two 3.x versions. I bet they would make a killing.

Tough to say. Warcraft is certainly less popular than it was 10-15 years ago, but there's a heck of a lot more people playing D&D now, and a good chunk of them probably played some WoW back in the day.