You Have The Reins of D&D…
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I’ll finish up my Actual Play posting of my family’s Christmas game this week, but I wanted to take a moment to present a hypothetical situation to you all.
Imagine you’ve been given the reins of Dungeons and Dragons for the next edition? What would you do for the line? I’m not wondering about exact rules, but imagine it’s building off of the existing rules, perhaps changing a bit. I know I’ll end up with the grognards out there who’ll say “SCRAP THE WHOLE THING AND GO BACK TO 1st EDITION!” But that’s not what I’m looking for. In the same way that 4e built off of 3e, 5e will do the same.
Here’s what I would do:
Release a Red Box-type set about six months before the rules come out. Give a few limited choices in classes and races, bulk it up more than the current Red Box. Give players the option to play through level 5. Give some maps, encounter building ideas, etc.
Then release the rules in a concise format, along with a Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual. That’s four books total, but PHB would be stuff just for the players. The Rules Compendium would be for everyone, and would run about $20.
I would bring back the minis line. I understand it’s difficult to sell non-random packs, as there’d be tons of extra figures sitting around no one wanted to buy. As such, I would sell three separate sets: A random box of Heroic Tier monsters, Paragon Tier Monsters, and finally Epic tier monsters. Also, the minis would be unpainted, to cut down cost. If someone wants them painted, they can do it themselves. You could cut those figures down by half due to that.
For the heroes, you want to know what I’d do? What Games Workshop is doing for some of their minis: Customization. Release a box with lots of body parts, including torsos with armor, robes, etc, and heads for every race. Mix & match parts to make your party. You’d be able to make about 2-3 adventurers per box. You could sell the thing for $30, and they’d sell like crazy, a couple for every game group. These would also be unpainted.
I would release the dungeon tiles like they’ve done with the Essentials, but there would also be a single dungeon tile sheet with each and every new rulebook, attached to the back of the book, or the inside back cover, which would feature an iconic location based on the book theme (a Draconomicon would have a dragon hoard, a book of undead would have a graveyard, etc.)
You know what? I’d have collectible cards. Why not? I’ve said it a few other places, but I’ll say it here too: no one is forcing you to buy them. See what Greywulf says about it.
What about you? What would you do to take over D&D?
Ooooh, good question, and some excellent suggestions. I especially like the snap-together character minis.
As for my ideas, I’d probably go with more and more and more abstraction, as I’ve seen it work very successfully in Gamma World. Abstracting ability scores (buying plusses instead of the arbitrary 3-18), abstracting hit points, and for crying out loud, abstracting rituals. Though I’ve never played it, I understand there is an interesting abstraction built into the Mage game that sounds like it works brilliantly.
I really like your idea! Okay, i just bought the company and hired you…now get to work little monkey!
I have wished for a long time that they would have changed the way D&D minis were packaged. I am okay with tokens…I can make my own already
I always thought it would have been great to realease the minis in clamshells for the monsters that typically come in packs….undead, goblins, orcs, etc… But I really love your idea of release by tier. Perhaps they release the heroic tier for the 1st 4-6 months, they unveil the next tier and so forth.
Great ideas!!!
I really like the staggered release date on the minis idea, Etherrider.
And yeah, I wouldn’t mind a bit more abstraction, Dixon. It works well for Warhammer Fantasy RP 3e too.
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Those are some really solid ideas. I would like to see more packs like the Beholder Edition. Here is box of minis for an orc encounter. They still could be painted because they would be recylced from previous sets. The build your adventure is a great idea. I have several characters who get their physical features and wardobe from what I could kitbash together from DDM and MK minis.
I think WotC has done a great job with 4E (we could work on rituals and magic item usage). I think the booster aspect of Gamma World is awesome. I think the Fortune cards are a neat twist.
I learned a really interesting thing when I was in college. Ever wonder why textbook publishers put out new editions that more than likely only fixed a typo from the previsous edition. That’s right the pulisher only makes money when they sell the book the first time. WotC needs to keep putting material out there to entice the public to buy. I used to be a completest and had to have everything. There are too many tangents in this hobby (i.e. I am getting into Hirst Art casting as I type) that I personally need to focus on what is esstential to me. I didn’t buy any MMs because there is always a bazillion books in that line. but I didnt buy the Monster Vault because on Amazon because price and tangalbe benefits had a cosmic alignment.
I can’t speak about Pathfinder and won’t. I will speak about the DDC RPG when it comes out as a 3.x clone because I will be purchasing it. Pathfinder does speak heavy about the textbook publisher model.
4E is a great ruleset just like those that have come before it. I have always challenged the groups to play something other than d20. Like White Wolf storyteller, Shadowrun, or even Palladium.
Game on…
I definitely agree that it would be nice to see the next version of D&D’s release staggered by tier (similar to how Dragon Age is being released). That would allow broader support with more classes and races in a player book since it would only need to cover a third of each class’s mechanics. A staggered approach would also let the game focus on what makes each tier unique. For example, rules for running organizations and larger scale warfare could be added in the paragon tier book.
For mechanical changes, I’d like to see the game give more focus to non-combat situations with better rules and guidelines for skill challenge like mechanics. I’d also like to see changes to a number of elements of 4E like rituals, masterwork armor bonuses, forgetting powers, and magical item quantity and power levels.
Glimm the Gnome´s last [type] ..Cinematic Pacing
I know you specifically asked for no system-specific things, but I would ditch the D20 system of constantly increasing to-hit bonuses and armor classes. It’s a clunky solution to make sure 1st level characters can’t kill Orcus — and it’s embarrassing that such a solution has survived four editions and almost 40 years of game development.
If I had the reigns, I think I would begin introducing the 5th edition with a board game — a la Munchkin but with dungeon tiles and minis (yes, I’d bring back minis — seems kinda dumb to design a game that requires minis and not sell ‘em…). By default, the game would be game-masterless, and not so much a hard-core board game, but more of a family night game.
Introduce the conflict resolution rules, the skill check rules, etc. in this game. Set the foundation for players of this board game to move on to a true table-top RPG, which would come out soon after the board game.
I would make the development of the on-line gaming table a priority — looking at the eventuality of an MMORPG-type interface. Think about the ease of playing an MMORPG but with an actual living, breathing DM on the other end — writing the dialogue as you talk with NPCs, moving the monsters, setting up the encounters, etc.
Definitely like the idea of the customizable minis, but that’s not what I would do.
I would hop across the hall and talk to the Axis & Allies guys. They manage to fit multiple scenarios, hundreds of minis and an infinitely customizable game into a single game box. Find out how they do it then do that, all in the D&D style. This will innevitably mean changing the scale of the game from traditional 25mm to something more like 15mm. That’s a good thing – more cost effective, more monsters on the table, bigger dungeons. 4e gamers will be up in arms, then love you forever when you release a box of 150 unpainted Orcs and Kobolds for under $30.
Next, make a one book D&D hardback that contains all the rules, char gen and monsters you need to get to 10th level. They did it with d20 Modern, so they can do it for D&D. Then release a hardback for 11th-20th level which features strongholds, Domain management rules and mass combat. Then 21st-30th with Empire building rules, and 31st-40th level with planar travel, and 41st-50th with godhood. Build and expand the game rather than keeping it the same but with larger foes.
Next, hop across the hall to the Magic:the Gathering guys and make a one-book M:tG Campaign Setting book. Release a new campaign setting every year, all as one book settings. Cover the existing ones – Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk (please?), Dark Sun, Ravenloft, etc then head into new directions. A one book Campaign Setting per year could take the game into Dark Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Modern Fantasy, etc as well as open up potential wider licenses. How about a one book Game of Thrones official D&D Campaign Setting? Or Gormenghast? Or even Lord of The Rings? Widen the appeal of D&D into literate audience rather than pretending that fantasy literature doesn’t exist (as they have insultingly done with Fourth Edition).
Release a printed publication magazine (possibly called Dragon) on the newstands to target new and lapsed customers. Aim it at teens (ie, non credit card wielders) as well as more mature gamers. Offer new monsters, adventures, GM advice, supplemental material and previews for the Campaign Settings and more – all fodder for new and existing customers alike. People buy magazines, and people who buy magazines buy stuff. Simple.
Finally, ditch D&D Insider. Get Bioware or whoever to make a world-class character builder and sell that for $30. Make it the exact same builder as it used for all official D&D computer games and sell subscriptions for them instead. Put the content that would have gone into D&DI into Dragon magazine (which is also available for subscription) and it’s a win all round.
End result: a fantatic edition of D&D that is well supported from the ground up with a clear path for the future and a growing userbase.
Job done.
greywulf´s last [type] ..In the absence of content- here’s a picture
I like your start. Make the starter box as super simple as you can, but with all the rules for up to 5th level. In fact, you’d have to own it. It would be the rules for 1st-5th level. It would include:
Human, Dwarf, or Elf for race. Wizard, Fight, Rogue. The magic would be very limited. (Cause I’m tired of 1/4 of my book taken up with stuff I won’t necessarily use myself.
Then, you have four more books come out: Monster Manual, Adventurer’s Manual (which has all the non-magic using classes) Magic Manual (for all the Magic users) and DM’s guide.
Split it this way, and you can have 2/3rds of the classes in the Adventurer’s Manual, including the upgrades to take the fighter and rogue from the Box to lvl 10. In the Magic Manual you’d have ll you need for the more magically inclined races and classes (the other 1/3rd). This way, the person who “has to catch ‘em all” gives more money to Wizards, and the guy who just wants his Thrug the Barbarian stats doesn’t have to flip past 300 pages of magic to find his Beat Stick of Anger in the Magic Items section.
I agree about bringing back the minis, and selling them unpainted.
I have a number of minis, but none of them were made specifically for D&D. They’re all from board games like HeroQuest, DarkWorld, and DragonStrike (TSR!). I have no problem with them being unpainted. Sure painted ones look cool, but the extra price isn’t worth it me. I would buy D&D minis if I could get them inexpensively and if they didn’t come in those random packs.
From the seller’s perspective I can see why they sell the random packs. If they didn’t, stores would end up having a bunch of unsold packs of the “unpopular” monsters. With random packs, some people will buy them just to get one or two minis that they want. The downside is that I can’t buy a pack of just orcs or zombies. My solution would be this: have a catalog of all the minis (online and in game stores), if you want to buy minis you pre-order them, every one or two weeks they make exactly the right amount of every kind of mini and ship them out. Customers get the minis they want and the sellers don’t have unsold stock.