What would you do if you owned D&D?

[Parzival]

Hasbro implodes, WotC collapses, and the D&D brand and rights are available for loose change… and now you are the sole proprietor of all that is or was Dungeons & Dragons.

What would you do?

[oldskolgmr]

Good question Parzival, I'll get back to you when the Coffee has hit my brain ('cuz at this point, 'Fire Bad' [Frankenstein voice]).

[aldarron]

The number one thing I would do for 6th edition is get rid of the action economy system. It ruins the game. The next thing I would do is get rid of all the "specialist" classes and turn those class skills back to something like the "non-weapon proficiencies" of old, which can be acquired through an education system requiring time and the spending of much gold. You know, like the one in AiF but simpler.

[sixdemonbag]

Here's where I'd start:

1. Release older materials as PDFs
2. Make the current edition rules a free stripped-down PDF for those that like playing in-person
3. Invest heavily in VTT since that's the direction things seem to be going?
4. Protect what little IP I can (*see note below)
5. Release a simplified basic boxed set that covers all levels
6. Profit?

So, I guess, just #5 for me...

*Protected IP according to WOTC. Bolded are the monsters:

"Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master, Monster Manual, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, d20 (when used as a trademark), Forgotten Realms, Faerun, proper names (including those used in the names of spells or items), places, Underdark, Red Wizard of Thay, the City of Union, Heroic Domains of Ysgard, EverChanging Chaos of Limbo, Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, Infinite Layers of the Abyss, Tarterian Depths of Carceri, Gray Waste of Hades, Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, Nine Hells of Baator, Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Twin Paradises of Bytopia, Blessed Fields of Elysium, Wilderness of the Beastlands, Olympian Glades of Arborea, Concordant Domain of the Outlands, Sigil, Lady of Pain, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti."

[tdenmark]

Some of these ideas I've mentioned before, but here goes.

A compiled Rules Cyclopedia of each edition (OD&D, Basic, AD&D, AD&D2, 3rd, 4th, 5th) as a collector's set. Complete with era appropriate art, well edited, as much of the original text preserved as possible. For the 50th anniversary celebration.

6th edition. I would strip the entire system down to its basics and rebuild taking the best stuff from various editions. Publish that in the classic 3 core rulebooks. I'd make a Mythic Earth the default setting, with Greyhawk as an example of an original fantasy world. A simplified Basic Boxed Set is essential, reminiscent of B/X and the 5th edition Starter Set (which was quite good, frankly).

Supplementary Campaign worlds, and here is where it gets interesting, I treat each campaign setting as an alternate Rules Cyclopedia using 6e rules from the perspective of that world. So theoretically you could play with just that book. I'd leave most of the adventure writing up to the community, though I'd probably have a starter set of adventures.

Since monetization is necessary to stay in business, I'd look to creating themed accessories with the release of each Campaign setting. DM screens, Dice, Spell/Monster/Item cards, etc.

And I too would go all in on VTT, without diminishing the tabletop experience. I just wouldn't be a jerk about it like Wizbro is.

[scottenkainen]

Repackaging. Every book would be available in a stripped down e-version for free, but also in different formats up to and including leatherbound hardcovers. There would be six released editions, each from 10 years apart and counting a new one slated for 2024. None would be straight reprints, but would be rewrites retaining at least 50% of the original form and structure, and new art in the style of the editions from those decades. This would apply to both rulebooks and supplemental materials released around those times, with even modules getting rewrites.

[waysoftheearth]

Depends on the overall agenda, but assuming we're talking about the digital agenda...

Foray into the digital marketplace, Part One:

A "content author/publisher toolbox" which is a set of content generation, sharing, testing, and packaging tools which enabling anyone to create, playtest, review, and share D&D-content fragments. Authors can meta tag their content, and mark their stuff as private or public. Others could search the library of public content and reuse, organise, aggregate such into richer/larger content pieces. Which itself could be similarly shared and reused. So we would collectively work toward a huge digital library of D&D-content having everything from single monsters, items, or rooms, etc; to dungeons, towns, wildernesses; to entire campaign settings.
All publishable as HTML, pdf, or hard copy on demand, in a standard structure (but with individual style), right there.

Subscription/membership would grant access to the content generation/collaboration tools, and to the giant library of (non-private) content.


Part Two:
Similar to above, but for D&D-rules.
Would include all the "official" editions of D&D, all broken down into individual, line by line rules.
Would have tools for D&D authors/publishers to add their own house rules.
And then, similar to above, tools to aggregate rules into publishable rule books of whatever mix you like.


Part Three:
(less important to some, but desired by others...)
The digital D&D simulation environment. The VTT. Runnable on PCs and other devices.
Takes arbitrary set of game rules (from TWO) and arbitrary content (from ONE) as inputs, and allows humans to "run them" in a digital simulation environment. Probably has fancy graphics and sound.
Allows a bunch of humans to get together on a video call, and orchestrate the operation of a shared simulation. Whether humans are acting as a player operating a single PC, or a full side of thousands, or an omnipotent ref, or a just a lurker.
Also useful for "testing" whether content scenarios are too easy, too hard, or just right, or whether specific rules, items, spells are OP or broken, by running them a thousand times over to see the frequencies of different outcomes, and impacts of different rules or strategies.

[tdenmark]

One more thing: I'd make a GURPS style pan-genre Rules Cyclopedia! I want D&D flavored sci-fi, and D&D flavored existential horror, and D&D flavored supers, and so on. D&D is like chocolate and other genres are like peanut butter. They go great together.

[dicebro]

I would hide in shadows and stab it in the back!

[geoffrey]

1. Keep the font type but increase the font size on Gary's AD&D Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and Dungeon Masters Guide. Something similar in size to 11-point Palatino.

2. Hire dozens of crusty, angry, obsessive, old-school AD&Ders who have been playing AD&D at least since the early 1980s. These guys would comb through the reformatted rule books to ensure that not one mistake crept in.

3. Fix the very few undoubted typos in the books (such as halflings' dexterity and constitution maximums being switched in the character race ability scores min/max table in the PHB). If in doubt, it doesn't get "fixed".

4. Add mezzodaemons and nycadaemons (since they are included throughout the DMG) to the Monster Manual.

5. Clear all the distressing verbiage (especially those white ovals on the backs, and most especially the one covering the City of Brass) off of Tramp's and Sutherland's 1970s covers.

6. For the covers' "ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS", use the weird letters used for the cover title of the first 26 issues of The Dragon. This:


7. For the logo, use the 1975 lizard man. This:


8. Re-publish without any changes most of the old TSR AD&D modules. Also publish new AD&D modules of similar caliber.

9. Boxed set for beginners: Holmes, B2, and loads of dice.

10. Start-up the old The Dragon again.

11. Make killer, sharp, old-school dice...BUT make the dice truly random (unlike my friend's old 12-sider from the Holmes set that rolled an 8 about a third of the time). No fancy dice for the sparkly unicorn brigade. No. Serviceable, easy-to-read, utilitarian dice.

12. Be utterly unconcerned about "all the money I'm leaving on the table". Others can go pursue dreams of wealth via 2nd edition and/or 3rd edition and/or 4th edition and/or 5th edition and/or 6th edition, etc. I don't care.

[tdenmark]

Jan 29, 2023 19:50:36 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

2. Hire dozens of crusty, angry, obsessive, old-school AD&Ders who have been playing AD&D at least since the early 1980s. These guys would comb through the reformatted rule books to ensure that not one mistake crept in.

Yes, I would hire these players as editors for the 50th anniversary edition I want to be made. The crustier, angrier, more obsessive the better.

[scottenkainen]

Jan 29, 2023 19:50:36 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

10. Start-up the old The Dragon again.

Hear hear on that one! I should have included this in my response.

[tombowings]

If I was in control of D&D, I would release everything (every book, trademark, etc.) through the Creative Commons License and let the world have at it. I want to see what the world can create.

[Parzival]

Jan 30, 2023 16:35:54 GMT -6 scottenkainen said:

Jan 29, 2023 19:50:36 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

10. Start-up the old The Dragon again.

Hear hear on that one! I should have included this in my response.

Amen— before it got converted into a house organ.
In the good old days Dragon offered solid reviews of everything, willing to criticize TSR products and praise competitors— the mark of a good, independent magazine. Yes, it promoted D&D and D&D products as well, but that promotion was boosted by the magazine’s willingness to publish independent, unbiased reviews. That’s why I maintained my subscription so long even after the Williams era began to take its toll. By the time WotC took over and made it 100% a house organ for 3.0, I was already done. I picked up a copy back in that day, thumbed through it, and put it back in the rack as utter PR/Marketing crap— because it was.

Gamers lost a lot of good with the demise of Dragon. I feel sorry for kids today who will never experience the joy of going to a mailbox and finding the latest issue of Dragon waiting for ‘em. That was awesome.

And I’ll say it— I miss Wormy, dammit!

[tdenmark]

Jan 30, 2023 22:38:21 GMT -6 tombowings said:

If I was in control of D&D, I would release everything (every book, trademark, etc.) through the Creative Commons License and let the world have at it. I want to see what the world can create.

Spoken as a true fan and probably, ultimately, the right thing. D&D is too important to be owned by one company.

It will all go into the public domain one day, unfortunately we'll be long gone by then. Unless some miraculous life extending technology is developed soon.

[howandwhy99]

There's a lot that I might answer with. And plenty of it is already included in what others have said and I agree with. I just wanted to point one out now that the future does look to include some element of computers for play. I believe in technological assistance, but not the removal of the imagination and memory as our primary play venue and challenge space.

My idea would be to create a table side software package which enables DM's to coordinate their notes and their Maps, and the creation of those things, with the simplification of running at the game at the table. Like tracking the numerous elements, rule lookups with digital ease, touch screen ability, and quite simply illustrations may be shown on a big screen or computer monitor.

This doesn't mean players must have a computer to play. Or handouts would no longer be accessible at the table. Or that online play would replace live action play. I still find communication on the head set to be incredibly limiting to group chatter and fluid communication. Something I find to be essential for the party to be a team.

[tdenmark]

Feb 1, 2023 19:55:05 GMT -6 howandwhy99 said:

There's a lot that I might answer with. And plenty of it is already included in what others have said and I agree with. I just wanted to point one out now that the future does look to include some element of computers for play. I believe in technological assistance, but not the removal of the imagination and memory as our primary play venue and challenge space.

My idea would be to create a table side software package which enables DM's to coordinate their notes and their Maps, and the creation of those things, with the simplification of running at the game at the table. Like tracking the numerous elements, rule lookups with digital ease, touch screen ability, and quite simply illustrations may be shown on a big screen or computer monitor.

This doesn't mean players must have a computer to play. Or handouts would no longer be accessible at the table. Or that online play would replace live action play. I still find communication on the head set to be incredibly limiting to group chatter and fluid communication. Something I find to be essential for the party to be a team.

Running and playing a game is a lot of data management. And if anything computers excel at data management. I've tried various software options with some levels of success, but nothing has been an ideal solution.

DND Beyond wasn't too bad if you're running a 5th edition game, but I don't play 5th edition that much.

[Deleted]

I would hold the Gen Con of all Gen Con's just to have a good time and see what was up.

[cadriel]

If I owned D&D....

1. There would be an OD&D, Holmes, B/X, BECMI, Rules Cyclopedia, 1e, 2e, 3e, 3.5e, and 4e SRD, all released under CC-BY.
2. I'd create licenses and fan hubs for each of the settings to allow new fan creations to be created and sold on an online marketplace, with a very modest built-in royalty (like 10% of the product price). There would be some very minimal standards (nothing really nasty or inappropriate) but generally open. Royalties would only be for proprietary settings. Similar to how DM's Guild works now but without the extortionate royalties and provisions. This would include affordable print on demand (some of the 5e POD hardbacks, like the Monster Manual Expanded, are hugely expensive).
3. The new version of D&D would sort of resemble a stripped-down 5e, but without all the subclass features and with the power levels and complexity stripped back closer to older editions. The core rulebook would have everything but the monsters in it, despite being shorter than the 5e PHB. The DM Guide would literally be a book of tools and adventure creation methods.
4. I'd put a lot of resources into having a starter set that has a self-teaching solo game that teaches the would-be DM how to play, and has a sandbox adventure module to explore beyond that.
5. Big releases would definitely follow the model of building big new adventures around classic adventure modules, though they would really be rethought in terms of usability and adventure quality. Taking notes from things like Necrotic Gnome's releases.
6. There would be a movie set in the Greyhawk megadungeon.

[atlantean]

1. Reprint OED, Chainmail, all the original supplements, all articles involving OED that appeared in Strategic Review, and The Dragon.
2. Pay Tolkien REH Moorcock and Lovecraft estates millions and millions of dollars so Conan, Elric, Cthullu references can stay and halflings become hobbits
again.
3. Give One D&D and VTT stuff to someone who gives a darn.

[tdenmark]

Feb 2, 2023 7:42:06 GMT -6 cadriel said:

If I owned D&D....

6. There would be a movie set in the Greyhawk megadungeon.

YES.

I, for the life of me, cannot understand why in the *&*%&! they cannot make a Dungeons and Dragons movie set in one of the classic beloved adventures. Why even use the name D&D?

Why haven't we gotten Mordenkainen, or Bigby, or Acererak??

How about Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, that would be an AWESOME movie! Tomb of Horrors? If it was even halfway decent I'd watch it multiple times at the theater, buy the DVD, and bring friends and family along to see it.

[waysoftheearth]

Feb 1, 2023 23:30:03 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

Running and playing a game is a lot of data management. And if anything computers excel at data management. I've tried various software options with some levels of success, but nothing has been an ideal solution.

Bit off topic, but to try to be helpful:
When asked to do so (by humans, or human-orchestrated processes) it's true that computers are great at encoding, storing, and reading data. But only humans can truly manage data because the purpose of managing anything is to achieve some kind of objective, whereas computers have no objectives. They are a tool. Probably part of why none of the software options you've tried have met your needs (objectives) is cos they were the wrong tool for the specific job you wanted doing. It can be helpful to separate the part we humans have to do from the part we want a tool to do for us

[DungeonDevil]

1) Dedicate far more attention to gauging consumer trends (likes, dislikes, wishlists, etc.) In person "vox pops", online polls, Youtube solicitations for feedback, and the like. A constant, direct conduit to the consumers is critical.

2) I would make ALL EDITIONS AND ALL MATERIALS available through POD. POD is much more economically sound (and ecologically responsible).

3) De-video-game-ify the brand. Stop trying to make it like Warhammer, any number of video-games, and defenestrate any anime-inspired graphics. It's a TTRPG. Not a bloody video-game!

4) Market an extensive line of 1/72 scale plastic (3D print?) minis all inspired directly by pre-d20 D&D art. Have a very simplified ruleset for basic wargaming. No need to make it too complicated.

5) Have a film division to produce a webisode series based on the modules, starting with IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN, progressing through KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS, and eventually making it through a number of the advanced modules. Bite-sized, 30-minute eps with cliffhangers galore to keep people watching each week.

[Parzival]

All in on 2, 3 (especially 3), and 4. Couldn’t give a kobold’s patoot for 5– I don’t think the source material can produce a satisfying film experience. Game, yes. Film, no.

(On 3, I look forward to the day when people look back at anime/manga inspired D&D art and go “what the heck were we thinking?”

[tdenmark]

Feb 2, 2023 18:29:37 GMT -6 DungeonDevil said:

5) Have a film division to produce a webisode series based on the modules, starting with IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN, progressing through KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS, and eventually making it through a number of the advanced modules. Bite-sized, 30-minute eps with cliffhangers galore to keep people watching each week.

Agree with all your points, especially #5. The classic adventures would make for fantastic webisodes. They have such compelling story hooks, locations, and themes that they'd make incredible stories and would really hold an audience if done well.

[geoffrey]

Feb 2, 2023 8:16:50 GMT -6 atlantean said:

Pay Tolkien REH Moorcock and Lovecraft estates millions and millions of dollars so Conan, Elric, Cthullu references can stay and halflings become hobbits again.

Excellent point. I'd love, for example, for references to "halflings" to be replaced by references to "hobbits".

[Mordorandor]

Feb 2, 2023 22:04:32 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Feb 2, 2023 8:16:50 GMT -6 atlantean said:

Pay Tolkien REH Moorcock and Lovecraft estates millions and millions of dollars so Conan, Elric, Cthullu references can stay and halflings become hobbits again.

Excellent point. I'd love, for example, for references to "halflings" to be replaced by references to "hobbits".

In so far as OD&D is concerned, one can do that now. “Hobbit” is in the public domain, and no flavor text exists in the 3LBBs to run afoul of the Tolkien conception/version.

[thegreyelf]

Work with Troll Lord Games to re-brand Castles & Crusades to Dungeons & Dragons. That part is easy. No other changes needed. TLG deserves to be the stewards of the line; Gary himself essentially chose them.

Re-release Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms as new boxed set/setting books, taking it back to the original settings (while maintaining Aihrde).

Seek to recover the license for Castle Zagyg (which once again could become Castle Greyhawk), and to secure a license for Blackmoor.

in the future look to Planescape and Dark Sun, if only due to their popularity. I would, however, want to limit the number of official settings because that ends up with self-competition.

Robust support moving forward would see most supplements and adventures with detailed guidelines to use them with any of the published settings.

[waysoftheearth]

Another opportunity to consider would be whether to elevate Planescape to an umbrella setting and common rules base over all the game settings and rules lines in the portfolio, including D&D and all its settings.

[retrorob]

Feb 3, 2023 5:09:39 GMT -6 Mordorandor said:

Feb 2, 2023 22:04:32 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Excellent point. I'd love, for example, for references to "halflings" to be replaced by references to "hobbits".

In so far as OD&D is concerned, one can do that now. “Hobbit” is in the public domain, and no flavor text exists in the 3LBBs to run afoul of the Tolkien conception/version.

I'm afraid the word "hobbit" is trademarked so can't be used without permission. That's way The Rings of Power series doesn't call the Harfoots "hobbits". 

Of course you're right, Tolkien didn't invent the word. In addition to The Denham Tracts, according to English Dialect Dictionary: "sb. Wal. Also written hobit. A measure of corn, beans", attested in 1850.