You are in charge of what WOTC puts out for DnD.

[green slime]

Firstly, I'd pull the plug on all the projects going on.

Secondly, I'd review the artists work to make sure the art is of a quality I enjoy. Some of those guys that they have really should be taken out and shot. Or at least have their drawing hand bent out of shape to prevent them inflicting their damage to my eyes.

Then I'd give serious thought about cleaning up the mess that has been created of DnD. Options are fine, but at this stage, someone has to take a step back and try and provide leadership in the hobby again. What is going on now is seriously lacking in concentration, focus and imagination and is very much a hit and miss affair.

Untested "classes", as well as too much sub-par filler text produced just to make page count.

WotC is bloating. Less is more. I want less books, less crap, more qualtity.

 

[glass]

See, look! I'm doing it too!

And me!

See, look! I'm doing it too!

And me!

I thought this thread seemed familiar. Oh well, at least I'm consistant.


glass.

 

[edemaitre]

If I was a rich man...

I would answer the initial question in two ways. First, if I could get what I'd like to see published by Wizards of the Coast for D&D3.5, and second, what I think the company should publish to keep the line profitable and pen-and-paper (or dice-and-pizza) role-playing thriving.

-Basic books: I agree with the idea of cleaning up the rules and making them as accessible (and widely available) to new gamers as possible. The recent boxed sets are a step in that direction. As noted in other threads, a book that dealt with Fighter, Sorcerer, and Rogue, and Elves, Dwarves, and Humans would be a good place to start, with later books expanding out to the other classes and races before even getting to the prestige/epic options.

-World books: Granted, most of these reflect personal preference and nostalgia, but I think WotC can support occasional reprints of "classic" settings (Al-Quadim, Kara Tur, Mystara, and Greyhawk) as well as its existing properties (Forgotten Realms and Eberron). Speaking of D20, I believe that a "saga edition" of the Star Wars RPG is in the works. While I like steampunk, I myself prefer lower-powered settings (sorry, fantasypunk fans) and wouldn't mind seeing more historical-based sourcebooks.

-Tools: Splatbooks sell. While I don't need more prestige classes, core classes, or feat/spell books, compilations of existing ones that incorporate errata are a good idea. WotC has done some decent work with terrain books, but I agree that more general ones (a la the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, Wilderness Survival Guide, urban/realm creation/survival guide) would be nice. As someone who has built and run a homebrew world for more than 20 years using several editions of D&D, campaign-building guides using the latest rules set are always welcome.

-Minis: While I understand the economics and market for collectible randomized miniatures, I'd like to see nonrandom packs of basic creatures, which I as a Dungeon Master would be more likely to buy. Why is it that in many cases, the players like to collect all the rare monsters, but the D.M. has to fish around for a few Ogres? Bits of terrain, dungeon dressing, steeds, and mundane animals would also be nice.

-Media: I agree that to keep the franchise alive, licensing out D20/OGL should continue, perhaps with some of the settings or tool books mentioned above (I prefer Frost & Fur to Frostburn and True 20 to D20 Modern, for example). In addition, there is a vacuum of well-made high fantasy on television at the moment, so a _good_ live-action or animated D&D series would be great. Videogames continue to erode pen-and-paper RPGs, so WotC should study how to more effectively court fans of both (merely licensing videogames as D20 settings hasn't worked much).

Good MMORPGs, TV and movies that move D&D back into mainstream consciousness and acceptance, and consolidating and cleaning up the existing rules while renewing old favorites and continuing to build worlds would be a winning strategy, IMHO...

 

[theredrobedwizard]

1) Cancel FR for the foreseeable future. Treat it like WotC has treated the Star Wars RPG. See how the Drizztbags like it.

2) No book published will be less than 260 pages. Yes, there will be expanded content to fill these pages. They will use the old stat block and monster/prestige class size formats.

3) Softcover PHB, DMG, and MM for sale outside a basic box. $15.99 each.

4) Complete SRD - Black and white, softcover. No art, no superfluous text. $20.00

5) Re-release of Planescape to take FR's slot in the release schedule. Each year after Planescape, WotC would produce a "shortrun" campaign setting (Darksun, Birthright, Mystra, Spelljammer, etc). There would be a campaign book and 8 splats produced for it. WotC originally had this idea for Wheel of Time and Call of Cthulhu, but they were pulled before the "shortrun" ever got beyond the core book.

6) More boxed series. Yes, the Races series and Core series are all well and good, but if you're buying in bulk, there should be a discount. (Ex - The Races Series [Stone, Dragon, Eberron, Wild, Destiny] Individual Market Price $150, Box Set Price $120). Yes, this will piss off the people who bought it at the get go, but that's what waiting gets you. Also, larger upfront expense than buying them one at a time.

7) Acquire Malhavok publishing. Advertise Arcana Evolved and Iron Heroes as much as WotC advertises M:tG or any of their card games. Do not fire anyone, Monte Cook retains complete control of the Malhavok subdivision.

8) Buying a .pdf of the book should be cheaper than the book itself. If a book normally costs $40, the .pdf is $27.50

9) Release "d20 Fantasy", a quasi-D&D suppliment for d20 Modern. Use the Modern base classes, with the D&D classes as Advanced Classes.

10) There will be no references to Drow in any D&D suppliment for my tenure there, save the one below.

11) Pay R.A. Salvatore to write "Drizzt is Dead". It will have a page count of 10 pages, but will be given out for free. In it, Drizzt dies by tripping on a patch of slippery water and falling off a cliff. Into a den of lions. Magical Sword eating lions. They eat his precious swords, then he dies. A very unheroic death. He can't have any "OMG COOL" moments, either. He just has to complain, then get eaten by lions without putting up a fight. No future Drizzt books will be published. The cover will be a picture of me, flipping off the reader.

12) Sell the rights to future D&D movies to The Dead Gentlemen.

13) A series of 48 adventure modules, published every other week. 24 set in Eberron, 12 set in Greyhawk, 12 set in Planescape. Each world would get two series of 6 (Eberron 4 series of 6) that would take characters from 1st to 20th level. They would be much better designed and whatnot than the previous attempts at this. Their stories would intertwine, but only tertiarily.

That's all I've got for now, I'll probably be back later.

-TRRW

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Firstly, I'd pull the plug on all the projects going on.

(....)

Secondly, I'd review the artists work to make sure the art is of a quality I enjoy.

(....)

Then I'd give serious thought about cleaning up the mess that has been created of DnD. Options are fine, but at this stage, someone has to take a step back and try and provide leadership in the hobby again.

Somehow this sounds like you want to establish the saying "Wizards - the other Palladium"

1) Cancel FR for the foreseeable future. Treat it like WotC has treated the Star Wars RPG. See how the Drizztbags like it.

Ah, so you want to ruin Wizards. Okay, that might be a bit exaggerated, but you do realize that the Realms sell. Talk about closing a gold mine on a whim.

2) No book published will be less than 260 pages. Yes, there will be expanded content to fill these pages.

I have to steal that "more is less" line. Some topics just aren't cut out for this amount of info needed.

4) Complete SRD - Black and white, softcover. No art, no superfluous text. $20.00

I think other d20 companies have done that. For less.

Each year after Planescape, WotC would produce a "shortrun" campaign setting (Darksun, Birthright, Mystra, Spelljammer, etc). There would be a campaign book and 8 splats produced for it.

Probably with the same results as last time. I wonder how the new company will be called.

7) Acquire Malhavok publishing.

I very much doubt that he'd want that.

8) Buying a .pdf of the book should be cheaper than the book itself. If a book normally costs $40, the .pdf is $27.50

Okay, that I can agree on. In fact, there should be a considerable discount if you get both.

10) There will be no references to Drow in any D&D suppliment for my tenure there, save the one below.

11) Pay R.A. Salvatore to write "Drizzt is Dead". It will have a page count of 10 pages, but will be given out for free. In it, Drizzt dies by tripping on a patch of slippery water and falling off a cliff. Into a den of lions. Magical Sword eating lions. They eat his precious swords, then he dies. A very unheroic death. He can't have any "OMG COOL" moments, either. He just has to complain, then get eaten by lions without putting up a fight. No future Drizzt books will be published. The cover will be a picture of me, flipping off the reader.

Sorry, but you lack the finesse and sheer manliness of Maddoxx's to pull of his stunts.

You do supply us with a textbook example of how to ruin a company. Couldn't you have put it in less word. Let me try: "Stop producing all the stuff that sells well"

 

[ShinHakkaider]

EDIT: Unneccesary post.

 

[DaveMage]

EDIT: Unneccesary post.

You've just described 98% of all postings on all messageboards everywhere (including this one).

 

[Kaodi]

Well...

I'm not going to try and go into an exhaustive list of a complex publishing strategy that I would undertake as decision-maker at WotC for D&D. Instead, I'm just going to say that I would try to buy back the appropriate licenses for all D&D related computer software, and then give out more limited licenses, so that no other company could potentially block what I wanted to do on that front.
First of all, I would try to get a real Eberron CRPG made, of the quality of this much vaunted Planescape: Torment I keep hearing about. The Daelkyr would probably function as the main villains for this, and I'd keep the Lords of Dust in reserve for another game (a truly epic scale one, if not epic level). The Blood of Vol/Emerald Claw would be consigned to side roles.
After that, I think I would experiment with allowing other publishers to sell their own computer game licenses, but with some sort of royalty on their share of the profits.
Anyway, I have to split, later.

 

[Pramas]

If Wizards would like to know what I'd do with D&D, my consulting fees are very reasonable.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Lower the price on the Fantastic Location modules from $14.95 to $9.95.

Reprint the original adventure path in 3.5 stats for $4.95 each.

Come out with new adventure path at 32 pages for $4.95 each. These would be 'core' adventurers designed to get players into the game and playing with no assumptions of GM owneship beyond the PHB, DMG, and MM.

Way too much stuff coming out down the pipeline seems to be going against the 'easy to get in and play' type of game that D&D needs to have easily available.