The biggest missed opportunity is keeping an evergreen version of D&D in the game section of Toy Stores. Something like a Holmes boxed set with 5 or 6 levels of play and one or two adventures.

Quote from: estar;462639The biggest missed opportunity is keeping an evergreen version of D&D in the game section of Toy Stores. Something like a Holmes boxed set with 5 or 6 levels of play and one or two adventures.

That was one of the purposes of D&D Essentials, I heard, although the editions unpopularity may change that. Thats one thing I've thought as well for the longest time, that there needs to be an evergreen version of D&D. The uproar over 4E is so vile that we may be prevented from having this just when a large company is willing to see to it. I'll still maintain that 4E is the best version to introduce children to the game with, between the video-game-like mechanics and Habsros willingness to put out a red box intro set. If people want to teach the kids their '1892 this-is-how-we-did-it-in-MY-day-goddamit! D&D' thats fine and dandy, but I hope they'd let Hasbro have some slack in this case.

There is actually a lot of HP roleplaying on the net, showing a clear demand, it just takes place on message boards and chat rooms, welllll outside the confines of the RPG industry.

Still, nobody would have stopped Game Company X. from releasing a game inspired by Harry Potter, even if they couldn't use the actual IP. The one that came closest was some d20 product named Redwald, I believe.

[edit]Also, Twilight and those vampire/werewolf sex novels that are all the craze.[/edit]

Quote from: Yevla;462642That was one of the purposes of D&D Essentials,

The D&D Essential boxed set isn't a full RPG which places in the same category as all the other failed boxed set after the Mentzer Red Box. And rest of the D&D Essential line is still oriented towards gamers. I think it improved the presentation of the D&D 4e in that regard.

RPG's general and perpetual blunder is that they went to a lot of trouble in differentiating themselves as special from other games.  Things for only some kind of select few special people to get into.  They should have, from the beginning fought a hell of a lot harder to be a mainstream form of game.  Something that was sold in general toy stores, book stores, modelling stores etc... Places were 'normal' people go to shop, places where kids will accidentally stumble across them.  

It's taken decades for RPG publishers to figure this out again and still they are just sorta kinda limping back into it by showing up in large book chains and occasionally in non-hobby stores.  The true shame of even this is that they are only getting back into this store because they are riding on the tailwind of hobby board games like Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride and Apples to Apples.   They are paving the way for RPG's to get back into the general populace as it were.

I think the greatest thing sales wise that the RPG community has been doing and even then only in the last few years is embracing the box set again and pulling their heads out of their asses.  A few companies are actually cluing in the RPG's are games and can be marketed and sold as such.

Quote from: estar;462638Actually that is a copyright holder issue, J.K. Rowling, not a lack of interest by the RPG Industry.

Doesn't say a lack of interest in the RPG Inductry mate is says a missed opportunity.

JK is obviously thte blocker for whatever bizaare reason she might have but its a thing that would have brought RPGs back to kids and made the genre huge again

That will never happen no matter what anyone does, forever.

Most "missed opportunities" are just opportunities to throw more money away and gain nothing.

Hogwarts RPG.

Quote from: Piestrio;462628I always thought that both the Lord of the Rings RPG and Star Wars d20 did not take full advantage of the movies that came out during there life times.

I was mostly a timing issue,

Uh... Star Wars Saga Edition had 17 hardcover books that did a pretty bang up job of covering all six movies and expanded universe. There isn't much that Saga Edition is missing, especially if you use the campaign guide and planets books from the previous d20 version. In fact, Saga Edition was released to coincide with the completion of the sixth film so the timing was pretty darn good.

Anything you don't have in the books, you can get from numerous reference books and wookiepedia.

The approval process for licensed rpgs seems to be a good killer-of-interest; pity things can't move quicker sometimes when the materials are in Studios' hands.

I would have liked to have seen all the nifty stuff for nBSG that were planned.

WotC could have taken advantage of the OSR and released some sort of "Dungeons & Dragons Classic" retro-product.

Mongoose's RQII Conan which got shot down by Paradox Entertainment (holders of the Conan IP).

Also, as other have mentioned, Harry Goddamn Motherfucking Potter.

I realize that a licensed Harry Potter game would be appealing to some, but can't it be done with other systems currently out there?

Quote from: Melan;462644Still, nobody would have stopped Game Company X. from releasing a game inspired by Harry Potter, even if they couldn't use the actual IP. The one that came closest was some d20 product named Redwald, I believe.

It's Redhurst, and it was pretty good (though it's set in a D&D world rather than in the modern world.) Even more so if you combine it with Community.  There's also the free game Broomstix that I really like.

I think True20 is a pretty good match with its fatigue mechanics for spellcasting, when I run Potter-esque games at conventions (they ALWAYS fill), I use True20.

Quote from: PaladinCA;462714I realize that a licensed Harry Potter game would be appealing to some, but can't it be done with other systems currently out there?

But the point is that a licensed Potter RPG on sale in a box in the toy shop next to the board game and the video game and the plastic broomstick and the rubber figurines would have brought in new players. Young players which is what we don't got.

Cutting different flavours of this game or that game just move the players we have about they don't bring in new blood.

Quote from: jibbajibba;462620Harry Fucking Potter

and The Matrix.

Pete