Quote from: James Gillen;501698If pissing off your aging, male, antisocial base was the key to success, the Republican Party woulda done it by now.

JG

Divorcing an anti-social group from a social game sounds win to me!

NOW WITH LESS CREEPY ANTI-SOCIAL WEIRDOS!

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;501697

Slogans for 5e:

"A version of Dungeons and Dragons unsuitable for paedophiles"
"The roleplaying game that does not cause cancer!"
"30% more box in every boxed set!"
"For when your computer has broken down!"
"Compatible with all platforms, from shelves to tables to floors!"

You forgot "For when the WoW servers are  down".

Quote from: The Butcher;501719Also kid stuff. Why not a new D&D cartoon, complete with toy line, aimed at kids in their early teens? Yes, it would probably suck by our jaded grognard standards, but you've got to reel in the young 'uns if you want to keep the hobby and by extension the IP alive.

Again, I'm no business guy, I'm just making this shit up as I go along. Thoughts?

As a kid I loved the cartoon and the D&D action figures (anyone else remember the fortress of fangs?). A cartoon makes sense to me.

Quote from: The Butcher;501719I am no business whiz, but I suppose Paizo has proved that they are more competent at promoting, selling and supporting D&D than the current owners of the D&D brand. I feel making up with Paizo and licensing the "D&D" stamp out to them would be good for both parts, as Paizo gets the D&D stamp and Hasbro/WotC is free to milk the IP for all it's worth on other fronts; hopefully starting by securing a good  and functional videogame licensing deal. We've been years without new D&D games, which is ridiculous. WoW is growing old and bleeding subscriptions for the first time ever, if they want a slice of the MMO market now's the fucking time.

Also kid stuff. Why not a new D&D cartoon, complete with toy line, aimed at kids in their early teens? Yes, it would probably suck by our jaded grognard standards, but you've got to reel in the young 'uns if you want to keep the hobby and by extension the IP alive.

Again, I'm no business guy, I'm just making this shit up as I go along. Thoughts?

The TV show could easily be aired on Hasbro-owned channel "The Hub" along with whatever transformers thing they've got going now.

Also I think the license (for videogames or MMOs) has been tied up for a while, but that's just now being resolved IIRC.

And I think "let Paizo handle it" would be a good way to handle it only when Paizo's ready for a new edition. This name change would give them an excuse to make a genuinely new edition (where previously it was the rules' similarity to 3x that made Pathfinder heir apparent, now they would have the name). In a world where this happened, I imagine we would have to wait another 3 or 4 years for it, as Pathfinder is still making money.

Quote from: Rincewind1;501757You forgot "For when the WoW servers are  down".

Now THERE's an ad slogan.

JG

Quote from: The Butcher;501719Pseudo's nailed it.

I am no business whiz, but I suppose Paizo has proved that they are more competent at promoting, selling and supporting D&D than the current owners of the D&D brand. I feel making up with Paizo and licensing the "D&D" stamp out to them would be good for both parts, as Paizo gets the D&D stamp and Hasbro/WotC is free to milk the IP for all it's worth on other fronts; hopefully starting by securing a good  and functional videogame licensing deal. We've been years without new D&D games, which is ridiculous. WoW is growing old and bleeding subscriptions for the first time ever, if they want a slice of the MMO market now's the fucking time.

Also kid stuff. Why not a new D&D cartoon, complete with toy line, aimed at kids in their early teens? Yes, it would probably suck by our jaded grognard standards, but you've got to reel in the young 'uns if you want to keep the hobby and by extension the IP alive.

Again, I'm no business guy, I'm just making this shit up as I go along. Thoughts?

A problem I see with this is that Paizo makes some money with derivative Pathfinder products. You know the battle maps, the card deks, item decks, all that stuff. Maybe it's not central to its PF strategy, but it's part of it nonetheless. So if the contract to reacquire the D&D license shapes itself like this, that means Paizo will have to (1) rethink its marketing strategy for Pathfinder-D&D from the ground up, and (2) lest we forget, actually put itself back in the situation where Dragon and Dungeon mags were licensed to the company, thereby recreating the scenario where these licenses could be taken away from them once more.

For these two reasons, I actually think that Paizo would say "No, thanks." It would be an idea for WotC, for sure, but Paizo... not so much.

This thread has suddenly become much more relevant.

As for me, there are two possible tactics I'd take here; but since I've just started an email correspondence with Mike Mearls, I think I'll reserve descriptions for later.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;502210but since I've just started an email correspondence with Mike Mearls, I think I'll reserve descriptions for later.

RPGPundit

Hope he's not too sensitive about your recent denigration of his physical features...

Quote from: The_Shadow;502211Hope he's not too sensitive about your recent denigration of his physical features...

That's called "playing hardball".

RPGPundit

I'll just shime in to say that I share Misterguignol's idea in that I believe the OD&D (1974) format was a winning idea that came to be pretty much by accident at the time (lack of budget, different settings between Gygax and Arneson, etc): the game itself, simple, which sparked your imagination to play the game without much strings attached, and then the Supplements, which each had their own takes on the game, adding this or that element of play, that you could use separately, or in combination to each other, or just as inspiration to your own private 'supplement', so you could take the game in the  directions you wanted.

So I basically agree with MG's premise: a simple game, loose, that you can play like B/X D&D, create characters in 5-10 minutes tops, that includes the focus on exploration, advice on the dungeon and the wilderness, how to come up with your own environments and so on, that you can expand on on your own and provides the tools to do so, that is NOT bound to tactical miniatures and grids and all that bullshit. Format would be a box with three little booklets inside that you can easily handle at the game table, sheets of reference and dice. THEN the supplements, adding selected elements to the basic frame of the game which you can use separately or in combination with each other. One supplement to add tactical mini combat to the game. One supplement that focuses on building grand epics and changing the game into a storytelling exercise. One supplement about world building and the sandbox playstyle. And so on. Maybe these could have different colors for their covers, or boxes, that people could associate with Mentzer D&D.

A swiss army knife, with the core being basically B/X or similar in spirit and execution, and the supplements adding a tool to the basic knife frame so YOU can make the game what you really want it to be for you and your friends at the game table. That's the winning recipe to me.

More thoughts later.

Quote from: RPGPundit;502210This thread has suddenly become much more relevant.

What can I say?  I'm prescient like that.