Here. Just one of the zillions of posts you will see discussing JK Rowling's supposed belief that "RPGs rot kids' brains". Apparently, as far as I can tell, this got started by a guy on RPGnet posting as "Matthew" who said he knew the person WotC had dispatched in England to discuss the possibility of a Harry Potter RPG, the quote being directly from her. Here.

Dates back to 2005. If anyone can get further than this or get a primary source, that would be awesome.

Quote from: jibbajibba;462721But 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.

WotC's general failure to:

(a) Figure out how to produce a compelling and accessible RPG in a single box.
(b) Produce such a box for D&D.
(c) Produce such a box for every popular license on the face of the planet.
(d) Get these boxes into mainstream markets sitting next to other games.

Pokemon. Harry Potter. Star Wars. The Matrix. Twilight. Transformers. Naruto.

Is it popular? Are kids buying a ton of merchandise for it? Then there should be an RPG-in-a-box for it.

This is not easy, because figuring out game structures for these properties which are as accessible and compelling as a dungeon crawl wouldn't be trivial.

Quote from: ggroy;462735Did JK Rowling ever say this on the record?

Or is this just speculation and/or rumors?

Every time I've tried to trace this back, it ends up leading to an RPGNet thread where people apparently just made some crap up that sounded good enough to become a meme.

It appears to be fairly verifiable that Rowling didn't want any official Harry Potter books of any kind published before the series was finished (and since published RPG generally equates to "book", that was a problem).

But given that Rowling has (a) allowed other types of Harry Potter games to be published and (b) given her blessing to at least one and possibly several online sites dedicated to people roleplaying in the Harry Potter universe, it seems doubtful that she actually has any objection to a roleplaying game being published.

I think LUG missed an opportunity to explain what the FUCK happened with the Dune license. Did Herbert and Anderson just fuck them over? That would seem odd as Anderson's primary market must be the same kind of market that buys D&D fiction.

It all looked so promising; the artwork for all the intended products.

Then it went to shit.

And no one has since managed to sort out the Dune license (if indeed they have tried).

This assumes that anyone would want to play a game in the Duniverse (in whatever form it took)

There is something unique about the Potter license though. I think the number of Potter RPG/fanfic sites shows that. Maybe Its because of the format but I really htink Potter fans are more likely to want to sit downa nd learn a PnP RPG that Star Wars, matrix or marvel fans.
Don't get me wrong people that RPG already will love those other games and we saw int eh 80s that the StarWars brand could sell a game but I think the market is different. With Computer games in particular most Star Wars, Marvel and Matrix fans (refer to as SWMM from now on) will grab the computer game tie in but maybe not the RPG. There are far more sites where people role play being at Hogwarts than there are sites where they role play being Iron Man or joining the Avengers.

So SWMM licenses will get RPG guys to buy your product but I don;t think they would bring in new kids.

Look at CCGs. Magic was enormous in the gaming community, Jyhad was biggish the remaining 1000s of games not so much until YuGogi (is that right?) and Pokemon. Now those games targeted that 8- 12 age bracket and as a result boomed. Potter RPG could do that whereas a SWMM game would have to appeal to the teen thru 20 geeks that want a tactical system with a bit of crunch real stats for 30 different spaceships and well defined source powers or ways of uploading new programmes into the matrix etc etc

I think LUG missed an opportunity to explain what the FUCK happened with the Dune license. Did Herbert and Anderson just fuck them over? That would seem odd as Anderson's primary market must be the same kind of market that buys D&D fiction.

It all looked so promising; the artwork for all the intended products.

Then it went to shit.

And no one has since managed to sort out the Dune license (if indeed they have tried).

This assumes that anyone would want to play a game in the Duniverse (in whatever form it took)

Quote from: jibbajibba;462620Harry Fucking Potter

Missed how? JKR will not let it happen, and why should she. She don't need the money!

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;462821Missed how? JKR will not let it happen, and why should she. She don't need the money!

See previous posts. Basically it's a perfect vehical for introductory RPG play. Everything from the setting to the magic system to the type of fans who read the books.

The fact that its a missed opportunity because Ms Rowling won't allow it to happen is sad but as you point out there is no onus on her to do anything.

Quote from: jibbajibba;462806So SWMM licenses will get RPG guys to buy your product but I don;t think they would bring in new kids.

I remember back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, I knew some hardcore Star Wars fans who would buy the WEG Star Wars rpg books just to read.  But they had very little to no interest in playing any rpg games.  (Not even D&D).

This was in the days before Star Wars novels were being cranked out like crazy.  (Star Wars novels started being cranked out like crazy in 1992-1993).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_novels_by_release_date


I wouldn't be surprised at all if a significant proportion of the sales of WEG's Star Wars rpg books, went to such hardcore Star Wars fans who bought the books largely to read for "pleasure reading".

For any licensed property made for an rpg, the question is whether the newcomers it brings in to the hobby, will actually stick around and continue playing rpg games.

Over the years I found out many of the people I gamed with during the 1980's, don't play any rpg games at all these days.  Quite a few of these old gamer friends, sold (or gave) me all their rpg books over the years.


In the case of a Harry Potter rpg, one wonders how many younger players of such a Harry Potter rpg will stick around in the hobby, after they come across the catpissmen and fatbeards one will eventually come across at gaming stores and/or rpg conventions.

Quote from: jibbajibba;462823See previous posts. Basically it's a perfect vehical for introductory RPG play. Everything from the setting to the magic system to the type of fans who read the books.

The fact that its a missed opportunity because Ms Rowling won't allow it to happen is sad but as you point out there is no onus on her to do anything.

Absolutely, in the right hands a Hogwarts rpg would be gold dust to the industry.

But she won't let it happen, it's her IP and she's famously protective of it.

Quote from: ggroy;462825I remember back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, I knew some hardcore Star Wars fans who would buy the WEG Star Wars rpg books just to read.  But they had very little to no interest in playing any rpg games.  (Not even D&D).

This was in the days before Star Wars novels were being cranked out like crazy.  (Star Wars novels started being cranked out like crazy in 1992-1993).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_novels_by_release_date


I wouldn't be surprised at all if a significant proportion of the sales of WEG's Star Wars rpg books, went to such hardcore Star Wars fans who bought the books largely to read for "pleasure reading".

The original SW rpg was a joy to read.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;462821Missed how? JKR will not let it happen, and why should she. She don't need the money!

I see people saying this but I haven't seen any proof that it is true.  its like someone said it on the internet and everyone picked up on it as if it were true.

is there any proof that she rejected a HP rpg from being designed?

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.

Fucking agreed!

RPGPundit

Quote from: kryyst;462652RPG'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.  

ABSOLUTELY fucking agreed!

RPGPundit

I don't think that's entirely fair: rpg's are different. They require a great deal of study, many are complex or at least esoteric. Their appeal or mechanism are not readily apparent and there's a lot of work involved in preparing the play experiene - and most games do not put that across well enough at all. Someone drawn to WFRP3e that visits the bookshop nearest me is going to have to pay £80 for a box of delights and a game unlike anything they've played before.
Someone drawn to 40k, perhaps through the tabeltop game, is going to have to deal with FFG's insanity and eye bleeding msitakes (god love these games, they are riddled with errors).
Someone drawn to D&D will need to buy books for something that isn't quite a book. Then there's all the card bits, essentials, and all the various accoutrements WotC sells without explanation.

It is an unprecedented hobby form and that is the problem. It hasn't fully crossed into the mainstream, even with the likes of Big Bang Theory or the scen in ET. People still don't understand it and so see it as 'nerdy' in a way that video games no longer are.