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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bert the Ogre" data-source="post: 3298999" data-attributes="member: 47816">The Trends I'm Seeing...WOW! I never though I would start a thread that would get so much discussion!Anyhoo... One thing I'm seeing as I read these posts is an interest in creating a "freeform" boardgame for casual players, but STILL be able to expand into the full tabletop/imagination obsessed version. I think the DDM helps this, by creating a physical/tactile way of playing the game almost boardgame style, but developing a product line that expands the basic individual characters in to many different possibilities. So to me, it seems as if a new "Basic Set/Core Rules" model needs to be developed and marketed. I would think a streamlined PHB/DMG with skills, feats and a reasonable spell and much expanded monster selection would be a very good idea. Sort of like what the "Black Basic Set Box" had, but MORE! More along the level of the Moldvey/Cook or Menzer versions, but with all the tasty minis and tiles and other goodies. Prices at say $30-$35 a set, with rules for 1-3rd level, then possibly a second boxed set (Expansion Packs, where have we seen these before?) for higher levels, say 4th-10th instead of 4-14th. It seems to me (and I could be wrong) that once PCs pass Level 10, the magic items, powers and other items takes the game away from "Hack and Slash" that is playable as a boardgame, and requires more of the tabletop/imagination version of the game.A boardgame version works well with most people's first introduction to D&D: the dungeon crawl. And boardgames, if well designed and enjoyable, tend to last for a very long time.  So a well designed dungeon floorplan, followed by different floorplans and mini sets (also marketable as Expansion Packs!) would be appealing to the casual player, while adventures, sourcebooks and all the other material that has already been published would remain as the Role-Player Supplemental Material. I kind of liked the Minis included in the Black Basic Set, they were the most basic "monsters" beginning characters were most likely to encounter, although there will always be arguments between should the first monsters be goblins or kobolds, hobgoblins or orcs, skeletons or zombies. But considering WoTC tends to do FAR more market research than TSR ever did, I'm sure the initial package of monsters, or the decision to just drop in a random pack, will be hottly debated over these boards! I'd personally like to see the cards that came with the minis be editable from a CD included in the Basic Set, sort of like the Iniative Cards from The Game Mechanics, or The Other Game Company. A short and simple character sheet without the entire history of the character, his/her parents, their parents, and the entire abbreviated history of Greyhawk and how it affects the character! Just the basic "game mechanics" necessary information, so both the DM and the Player can have the critical data right in front of themselves. I use the info cards from the WoTC web site, even if I don't have the specific mini availabe.I also think a better/more advanced virtual tabletop for internet playing, with premade adventures, DM driven NPCs, and other tools for building a custom world for a smaller group of players than the MMORPGs currently offer. An isomorphic tabletop with customizable avatars as well as generic clones for monsters/npcs would make the visual/mini aspect of tabletop portable to the internet.Making/marketing the game as a mainstream game will get us away for the "only geeks play tabletop D&D" mentality that exists in the U.S. Millions of people play computer based RPGs, but the tabletop players still tend to be seen as the geeks and freaks. While some players heartily embrace the "Chic Geek" lifestyle, it's that type of stereotyping that probably hurts the growth of the game. So, if YOU were to be the designer of "The Next Big Thing" in D&D, what would you want to have put in or left out?</blockquote>

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