Weird rumor concerning "Book of Vile Darkness"

[EricNoah]

Ok, this comes from what I've been thinking of as a reliable source, but I'm not totally sure. So take this with a grain of salt. (Think back fondly to the days of rampant rumor-mongering, if you will...)

Apparently the "secret project" was such because there's been a bit of a battle with executives at WotC and Hasbro, who are balking at letting the D&D folks publish the book in the first place. It is a bit too "intense" for their "rather bland tastes" and they are worried about the company's image.

So I guess first quesiton is -- is this true?

Second question -- if it is, is this what folks were worried about when Hasbro bought WotC way back when?

Third -- is such a product even really necessary? (I guess I'd have to know lots more about what's inside to know for sure.)

Fourth -- Whose brainchild was this product, anyway? Who had to be "convinced" in order to get it even on the schedule? What were the parameters and where did they draw the line when it was in development?

 

[Teflon Billy]

...Apparently the "secret project" was such because there's been a bit of a battle with executives at WotC and Hasbro, who are balking at letting the D&D folks publish the book in the first place. It is a bit too "intense" for their "rather bland tastes" and they are worried about the company's image.

So I guess first quesiton is -- is this true?

Second question -- if it is, is this what folks were worried about when Hasbro bought WotC way back when?

It's pretty much what I was worried about: That a big, lowest common denominator lovin', corporation would wring anything challenging or the least bit dangerous out of D&D.

Third -- is such a product even really necessary?

Well, I will certainly purchase it. Necessary? what's necessary outside of the core books?

it's desirable.

Fourth -- Whose brainchild was this product, anyway?

The Devil's

Who had to be "convinced" in order to get it even on the schedule? What were the parameters and where did they draw the line when it was in development?

You went to the well once to often Mr. Noah

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I don't know, but I'll speculate too (it's fun!).

First - Sounds reasonable to me.

Second - yep (but it seems this is almost a rhetorical question).

Third - No, it's not, but Monte's stuff is always of a high quality level.

Fourth - Sounds more like questions 4 through 7, but I see what you're getting at. These are good questions. What stinks is that Monte likely won't be able to answer such questions due to professionalism. I'd say it was greenlighted originally by someone no longer at WotC, and was shephered along and kept away from Hasbro's eyes until it was done and ready to go. Still, I imagine there was more than a bit of wrangling over it. I'd love to know how it was pitched.

 

[EricNoah]

Re: Re: Weird rumor concerning "Book of Vile Darkness"

Well, I will certainly purchase it. Necessary? what's necessary outside of the core books?

it's desirable.

Ok, fair enough -- maybe what I mean is, why would WotC feel it a worthy or necessary addition to their stable of products. Obviously they think it will sell.... Hmm, so maybe my real question is "who does WotC see as the potential customer of this product?"

 

[King_Stannis]

if it was just another "evil" sourcebook, i'd probably pass. but with monte's sneak peek, i'll probably buy....let's face it, with the inclusion of the lords of hell/abyss, they probably had about 75% of us at "hello".

 

[Morrus]

Another question would be - when did all this take place? It's in the catalog now, Monte has (presumably) been paid as have other staff working on it. Surely the "issues" would be before the investment stage?

 

[EricNoah]

Yep that's a good one.

Maybe WotC are having second thoughts. One nice "way out" might be for them to sell the product to a d20 publisher who might be interested in picking it up?

 

[rounser]

Third -- is such a product even really necessary? (I guess I'd have to know lots more about what's inside to know for sure.)

On the surface of it, I'd say "yes". Sacrifices, losing souls, evil artifacts, demon lords and slavery have long been a core component of pulp fantasy stuff like Conan and Elric.

Codifying this sort of thing in D&D should do the game a lot of favours since it would make D&D's pulp fantasy simulation all the more pulpy, which is a good thing IMO.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Re: Re: Re: Weird rumor concerning "Book of Vile Darkness"

Ok, fair enough -- maybe what I mean is, why would WotC feel it a worthy or necessary addition to their stable of products. Obviously they think it will sell.... Hmm, so maybe my real question is "who does WotC see as the potential customer of this product?"

Good question. It wasn't begun because of anything the d20 pubs did - it takes too long for stuff to come down the pipe at WotC for that to have happened.

Customers? Hmmm. I'm guessing that when it was pitched, it was done so more as a DM sourcebook than material for players to use for their PCs. Of course, such sidesteps have been used before - the Complete Necromancer's Handbook is a good example of this. It gave all kinds of material to play some of the most unsavory of all RPG characters, but labelled as a DM book in a *nudge nudge wink wink* appeasement of potential controversy. But, to answer the question directly - maybe WotC got tired of all the "3e is for kids/munchkins/whatever" line of criticism and decided to actually produce a book that was more "in your face" than anything else they'd done, or anyone had done, for D&D (in an official way), and that would quiet all those who have clamored for more "mature" or "adult" material. I'd say that it also came about from a brainstorming session - "So, what has never been done for D&D?"

 

[EOL]

After reading the Salon article (so YMMV) about Wizards of the Coast and Peter Atkinson, I would speculate that it was his brainchild. Which would explain a lot.