What if. . .WotC never bought TSR?

[jcfiala]

We'd all be playing Hackmaster most likely....

That's a possibility. Kenzer might have been able to gather the funding to buy at least part of TSR, perhaps the game without the rights to the name, do the same sort of revisions they did in our timeline, and sell it as Hackmaster. People would go around on the boards referring to it as AD&D version 1.5 or somesuch.

 

[Mystery Man]

That's a possibility. Kenzer might have been able to gather the funding to buy at least part of TSR, perhaps the game without the rights to the name, do the same sort of revisions they did in our timeline, and sell it as Hackmaster. People would go around on the boards referring to it as AD&D version 1.5 or somesuch.

I don't know exactly how Hackmaster works but I think they did buy some sort of 2E license from TSR. Or the rights to use it or something. Those in the know could straighten that out.

 

[The Shaman]

i'd still be playing OD&D(1974).

And I'd be playing Top Secret and Traveller.

Wizards who?

 

[Whimsical]

I'm someone who loves to love WotC. To me, WotC buying and revising D&D was the Best Cast Scenario. I rolled a "1" on my save vs. D&D 3e.

I believe that if this didn't occur, I would be playing GURPS and HERO games almost exclusivly. I was so done with D&D 2nd ed by the end of the '90s.

Although I would like to play some GURPS or HERO now. Although I have enjoyed 3e & 3.5e very much over the last five years, I am quite sated and looking for new gaming experiences.

 

[King of Old School]

First, a point: pen-and-paper RPGs are at the "low popularity level they had in the mid-1990's" now, Danceyist propaganda aside. They might even be lower, post-bubble.

Okay, if Wizards had never bought TSR:

* The rights to D&D would have been in limbo for many years before some corporate entity (probably Hasbro or a like competitor) bought them. They were (are) too valuable for any existing RPG publisher not buoyed by boom-era CCG sales to attain in a bidding war.

* There'd be no d20. The corporate ownership would never have bought into Dancey's scheme -- as, arguably, the current corporate ownership doesn't buy into it and might not continue it when 4e eventually comes.

* AD&D3e would probably look a lot like D&D3e turned out in the real world, but with more AD&D2e influence.

* The RPG industry would be dominated by White Wolf and Palladium, with everyone else fighting for the scraps. Palladium would probably be the top dog in sales, winning over a lot of the old D&D, anti-WW diehards while the D&D brand was in limbo; and the Palladium house system wouldn't look quite so clunky without d20 around to show it up. WW would be the de facto "public face" of gaming (as it arguably was during the height of WoD LARPs, towards the end of TSR's run).

KoOS

 

[The_Gneech]

I'm someone who loves to love WotC. To me, WotC buying and revising D&D was the Best Cast Scenario. I rolled a "1" on my save vs. D&D 3e.

I believe that if this didn't occur, I would be playing GURPS and HERO games almost exclusivly. I was so done with D&D 2nd ed by the end of the '90s.

Yeah, what Whimsical said! Except just HERO, no GURPS.

Speaking of which, The Valorian Age for Fantasy Hero just keeps tempting me...

-The Gneech

 

[Storminator]

I would never have gotten back into RPGs at all. And I never would have picked up mini painting, and my wife wouldn't be running Reaper's events at GenCon and Origins.

I wouldn't have met all the folks I hang out with on a regular basis, and I have no idea what I'd do with the time I'd save.

PS

 

[eyebeams]

White Wolf or WotC would produce a D&D RPG on license from the brand's owners: Activision.

 

[francisca]

First, a point: pen-and-paper RPGs are at the "low popularity level they had in the mid-1990's" now, Danceyist propaganda aside. They might even be lower, post-bubble.

And where did you find this info? I'm not being snarky. I'd just like to see the numbers.

White Wolf or WotC would produce a D&D RPG on license from the brand's owners: Activision.

That was my initial thought, Blizzard, Atari, or somebody would have bought the rights.

I would never have gotten back into RPGs at all. And I never would have picked up mini painting, and my wife wouldn't be running Reaper's events at GenCon and Origins.

I wouldn't have met all the folks I hang out with on a regular basis, and I have no idea what I'd do with the time I'd save.

And yeah, I never would have met Storminator!

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I wouldn't have three shelves (soon to be 4) of 3.X/D20 game books, instead I'd have a lot more Rifts/Palladium and Steve Jackson/GURPS books.

I will be a diehard third edition fanboy until the day I die.