You are in charge of WOTC.......

[KenM]

1) Star Frontiers hardcover for D20 Future

2) Advertise in comics, Sci-Fi monthlies and on appropriate TV

3) Celebrity Spokesman: William Shatner

4) Challenge Andy Collins to an arm wrestling match to double or half his wage (he looks semi-buff)

5) Bring back the Castle at Gen Con

6) Rehire Gygax in some capacity, possibly "Loud Mouthed Sidekick" or "Hatchet Man" oif he didn't feel like doing design work

7) Ride around WotC Headquarters on a pony

8) Build WotC headquarters as a giant, undersea bubble-city

9) Spike the water-cooler with LSD

10) Insist that all employees were business suits made of chainmail (Except for Gygax and Shatner; Gygax can wear whatever he wants, Shatner must wear his "James T. Kirk" getup from the original Star Trek (or alternately his LCPD Outift from T.J. Hooker)

Most of these ideas are twisted and sick. I love them.

 

[Truth Seeker]

Hmmm, lets see, what would I do, if I was in charge.

1. Every 5 years, all staff members played whatever they like *WOTC will be on hitaus from business*.

2.The second 5 years, goes into R&D, with the fifth year as a product release.

3. Repeat the cycle.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Hmmm, lets see, what would I do, if I was in charge.

1. Every 5 years, all staff members played whatever they like *WOTC will be on hitaus from business*.

2.The second 5 years, goes into R&D, with the fifth year as a product release.

3. Repeat the cycle.

That seems a little light on "William Shatner involvement" to me.

 

[KenM]

I have any idea based one some of what TB said. Produce a "how DnD was made" feature movie. With Shatner playing Gygax.

 

[francisca]

I have any idea based one some of what TB said. Produce a "how DnD was made" feature movie. With Shatner playing Gygax.

In the name of all that is holy, NNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Not that I dislike Shatner, it just isn't a good fit.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Not that it's wise at all, but it's what I'd do....

1. Begin development of 4E. As for what 4E is... :
   • Build races from the ground up--have them with LAs that are accurate, or monster levels that make sense for the progression.
   • Few core classes (maybe going with UA's generics), but provide easy-to-use pre-made templates of classic classes (fighters, clerics, mages, etc.) made using this system. Make NPC classes & PrCs that work with this system.
   • Make psionics a good, built-in system, and
   • Provide a quick & dirty method for psionics & spellcasting (like spell slots & levels), as well as other optional systems for them as well (like power points, uses/day, skill checks/ etc.).
   • (Ideally) Provide a lot of the optional ways to run game mechanics in the DMG (I like UA, though I do wish it appeared in the DMG in the 1st place).
2. Develop electronic support for D&D. Use a decent program that (hopefully) can be easily upgraded to new editions of the game.
3. Provide 3 options mini-wise: random mini packs as currently done (maybe generate official D&D mini game leagues); offer mini sales individually (for tabletop gamers who REALLY want a few particular minis), & for the completist w/ a disposable income, full sets of each wave of minis.
4. Have a true, fully-compatable "Basic D&D" set, complete with character generation & the like.
5. Try for more one-shot properties, esp. licensed properties (depending on the license, either in softback or in hardback for the really popular licenses).
6. Maintain the d20 Modern license, & keep up with the era supplements (possibly expand further, like d20 Ancient, d20 Horror, etc.
7. Get the Marvel license back (if feasible).

 

[Skrit]

Not to thread-jack, but do you know how many people said that when 3.5 came out? And how many of them are now playing 3.5?

When they release 4.0, people will move. Become disgruntled, but they'll move.

I don't play 3.5 don't have one book even dealing with it.. When 4.0 comes out I'll take a look at it but I haven't bought of feel the need to buy anthing 3.5 at this point and will most likely skip over it. I do have a bunch of 3ed book though and continue to play it every now and then..

I am however going to buy D20 modern and future soon so WOTC will be getting some of my money which they haven't had in awhile.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I would advertise more. I can't remember ever having seen an ad for a WotC product outside of a gaming store or an internet site already related to D&D. How are they supposed to get any new customers if they don't advertise? Get on TV on Saturday mornings and 4:00-6:00 on weekdays to get the kids. Get on TV for the 9-11 slot on things like the Cartoon Network for the fertile adult counterculture crowd. Get into magazines covering other hobbies. Put up a billboard every now and again. Get licensing deals with chocolate bars and Taco Bell. Saturate. Infiltrate. Dominate.

They're friggin' Hasbro, for heaven's sake. You'd think they'd be plugging their products.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Not to thread-jack, but do you know how many people said that when 3.5 came out? And how many of them are now playing 3.5?

When they release 4.0, people will move. Become disgruntled, but they'll move.

For reference, there were a handful of very slim supplements for 3.0 when 3.5 came out. After 3.5 came out, there was a sudden ramping up of the supplement production to flood the stores with 3.5 supplements to replace the old supplements, starting with the Complete series, and later adding Races and a few other miscelleneous books (eg. psionics handbook) that kept updating rules.

Now, there are more books in print for 3.5 than there were for 3.0. There will continue to be an increasing number of 3.5 books until just before 4.0 comes out. This causes a certain amount of inertia. With 3.5 you could say "well, I don't really have that much that will become obsolete, and it's pretty much still compatible with my older books, so what the heck." But with a 4.0, you might say "well, I have this gigantic stack of 3.5 books, and 4.0 is likely to be less compatible with 3.5 than 3.5 was with 3.0, rendering my books completely obsolete if I try to convert, so I'm not going to bother, considering that there's a huge online community extant to help continue to support this edition."

I suspect WotC anticipates this effect, and will either have to make 4.0 fairly compatible with previously released supplements, or have some brilliant idea to get people to switch over without just losing interest in new products and playing 3.5 until judgement day.

 

[glass]

If I were in charge at WotC...

I'd start by digesting all the business information, market research etc available to me (doing some more research if necesary). As a result of that I might change my mind about any or all of the following. In any case, while I did that, I'd let things keep ticking over as they are while I got my bearings.

• After that, I'd probably start developing 4e (if they haven't already), but I wouldn't ship it before 2010 if I could possibly help it, and given a straight choice I'd wait longer than that. Whenever it was shipped, I'd make sure it had been in development and playtesting for a good long time.
  
• And the basic/introductory boxed D&D game would be developed in parallel with the new edition and shipped a month or two before the new PHB and DMG.
  
• Before that, to give core book sales a bit of a boost in the mean time, I'd probably repackage the core rule. Same content, but with a brand new look (a bit like they did with 2e).
  
• I'd strongly consider a D&D CCG, for the revenue and cross-marketting possibilities.
  
• I'd find out what the situation was for movies and TV licensing for WotC's D&D related properties. In particular, I'd try to get a new cartoon series on the air, and if at all possible, a properly-made Dragonlance movie.
  
• If I could make a Dragonlance movie a reality, I'd publish a 'Dragonlance RPG' core book to coincide, with a new 'Powered by D&D' logo next to the 'd20 System' logo.
  
• I'd also look to try to get more licenses like the WoT one, and they would also have the 'Powered' logo. Shame they missed out on LotR, really.
  
• And finally, because I want to, I'd release a Campaign Classics line of books. Each would be a big hardback covering one of the old campaign settings, probably starting with Greyhawk and including Planescape, Birthright, Dark Sun, etc. They would have matching trade dress and a nice 'Campaign Classics' logo on the spine, to suck in the collectors.

glass.