D&D 5E What Wizards can do to make D&D Next successful.

[keterys]

I think it's the key thing. Yes, there was nerdrage and vocal "h4ters," but without the 3pps being boxed into picking a 'side,' it would have been no different than the 2e/3e transition.

That's what they tried to do. Take the GSL and WotC'll work with you, but you have to give up the OGL. It didn't work. Replacing the OGL with a 'better' (more desireable from a 3pp standpoint, somehow) OGL might have worked.

That's still not entirely accurate.

They could have made 4e not open in a way that was a thousand-fold more friendly to 3pp. They didn't work with any of them. If anything, they worked against them. They didn't deliver the GSL in a timely manner, and delivered it in a crippled fashion. They didn't bring 3pp in to preview or shape the new edition, nor to work on tie-in products.

Folks like Necromancer games (and probably a number of others) would have spun up to make 4e products _if it were a realistic possibility_. Instead, you had to dodge legally to do it at all, it wouldn't go into the character builder, you weren't going to advertise it effectively through the main product line, etc.

It wouldn't have taken much to say - 4e isn't OGL, but here's an easy way to work with us. Oh, and you four companies - especially you company handling our magazine full of people who used to work for us - come meet with us a year in advance, tell us what's needed to get you on board, and let's get a couple tie-in products from each of you within the first X months.

 

[mlund]

For 5e to succeed, it has to work with the open source model, not try to scuttle it.

I disagree with this. If they go Open Source Model on D&DNext then Hasbro is putting the old girl out to pasture in terms of making it a revenue stream. It'll be the last edition of D&D Hasbro will ever publish because their revenue models will never be met by an Open Source Support business model.

If 3pps can't hop on the 5e bandwagon with at least as sweet a deal as they got under the d20 OGL, they'll keep producing for d20, and that's direct competition.

Hasbro is only going to be interested in 3PPs support if they think that it'll help drive demand for non-RPG-book products from the D&D Brand - like novels, board games, and video games.

Remember, Hasbro's business goals for the D&D Brand were about growth beyond the pen-and-paper RPG Book and PDF sales.

That's still not entirely accurate.

They could have made 4e not open in a way that was a thousand-fold more friendly to 3pp. They didn't work with any of them. If anything, they worked against them. They didn't deliver the GSL in a timely manner, and delivered it in a crippled fashion. They didn't bring 3pp in to preview or shape the new edition, nor to work on tie-in products.

I don't think that was ever the business model they were angling for. They wanted a product that would drive subscription services for things like the Character Builder, Compendium, and especially the Gaming Table. They wanted to pull market-share and expand the market at the same time by offering something with professional quality that no other game system could offer. Instead they wound up with a failed IT project that brought the business model to a dead end.

It looks like they finally packed that in along with D&D Minis and settled for trying to push into the board game market (which has been growing over the same time the RPG market has been shrinking).

If I had to guess at 5E's middle-term business model I'd say they are going to try to draw as many eyeballs as possible onto the brand by making the CORE appeal to fans prior editions, make more splat-book revenue via optional game modules, and use the modular core brand of the game to continue to drive parallel play products like board games and video games.

It's either that or they are going to cash out selling everything they can publish under the IP in any form they can and spin off / sell off the brand before the glut causes decline to really set in.

Hasbro isn't content with a D&D brand that tries to draw its revenue from the traditional RPG market. There's not enough money there for such a large company in comparison to small-fry companies (and even the largest dedicated RPG publishing company is a small-fry compared to Hasbro). As long as they can make ROI rates like they make with re-releasing Monopoly a billion times over, the RPG market as it stands is a wasted investment.

- Marty Lund

 

[DaveMage]

I don't think that was ever the business model they were angling for. They wanted a product that would drive subscription services for things like the Character Builder, Compendium, and especially the Gaming Table. They wanted to pull market-share and expand the market at the same time by offering something with professional quality that no other game system could offer. Instead they wound up with a failed IT project that brought the business model to a dead end.

I doubt they would do it, but I think it would help regain people's faith in the sustainability of the new edition (a little) if they *shared* their D&D business strategy with the fans. Do they take the 3E approach - the focus on core rulebook sales? Do they take the 4E approach with the goal of a robust online subscription service to sustain the game? Do they simply want to have something in print to keep the brand alive to leverage the D&D name to sell other products and/or make movies, etc.? How do they hope fans will support the game? What's the plan for the edition treadmill? Are we doing what 3E and 4E did with a "reboot/relaunch" in 2-3 years (ala 3.5 and Essentials)? What do they envision for support products? How many new rulebooks will we see every year? How many adventures? What accessory product lines will support the core game? Do they intend/hope to license any portion of the game to other companies?

I would want to know the answer to at least some of these questions if I was considering investing anything substantial in the game....

 

[timASW]

I'd like to see a good virtual table top. Theres absolutely no excuse not to have one.

Hell they could license an existing VTT out of the several good ones and put a little money into adding features without any problem.

And it needs to be simple and easy to use. Lots of video wargames have a mapmaking tool with them. WoTC should have the same idea. Stick a disk in with the books when you buy one that lets you build your dungoens and fill them with official critters. Tie it in with a character builder thats good and gets continual support.

And most important make it versatile. You should be able to play it with your group on a shared server with everyone having a laptop or Ipad, or hell even a smart phone.

And at the same time dont make it essential to the game for those old schoolers who dont want that level of technology in their game.