You've just taken over WotC, what do you do?

[Scott Christian]

Separate the digital from tangible publishing. Literally, two separate companies.

 

[humble minion]

Personally, I’d thoroughly read and understand the in-house sales data, including the returns numbers (shorn of any Amazon spin), the internal project postmortem feedback, and the survey results before making any decisions. I’d also assign a couple of people to lurk on, for example, tiktok for a few months, especially in the wake of the movie, to see what the younger audience is saying (and hearing) about the game.

Then I’d reboot Al-Qadim and publish an epic 800 page Dark Sun setting book/campaign.

But really though, I think all of us have to admit that ‘what attracts the biggest audience and makes long-term big sustainable money for WotC’ and ‘the stuff that I most want to buy’ aren’t necessarily the same thing.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Reboot Buck Rogers.

 

[Timespike]

Lay off everybody (provide high-end career services and glowing references to the creatives, black list all of the C-suite executives), liquidate all the assets, put the IP into the public domain and give all the proceeds to charity.

I'm done with WotC.

 

[Sketchpad]

Hostile takeover of Hasbro, forcing a split, and now you're in charge of D&D. What do you do with it, the OGL, and everything.

What do I do with WotC? A few things...

• Hedge closer to ORC with the OGL.
• Have year-long events taking place in a single world.
• Bring back lost worlds such as Star Frontiers, Gamma World and more. These would use the OGL and become their own settings/games as needed.
• Bring back FASERIP and, if possible, regain the Marvel Superheroes license to make a new edition of the game.
• Create a VTT that's a free entry. Books bought physically would have a code to use them online for free.
• Curate an OGL website that offers an expansive library of open rules and content for free.
• Create affordable ways to bring your game in a third dimension. No more $$$$ minis.
• Work with licensors on new video game and streaming content that enhances the games and community.
• Create live events that can be ran via game shops that would also enhance play and community.
• Keep communication open between the game and the community.
• Work to bring new content to screens, whether big, small, or streaming.

D&D is so much more than a game or a tabletop experience, and there's no reason why it shouldn't be more available to everyone. The concept of D&DOne is a great concept, but it needs to live up to its own hype now.

 

[Blue Orange]

Honestly, not much. I don't have a business background, and knowing what THAC0 is doesn't give me the knowledge base to deal with the modern D&D fanbase.

 

[pnewman]

Sell it for money and then retire.

 

[TheSword]

As well as the normal sensible stuff I would spin off a boutique division of D&D. Call it D&D Gold, or D&D Original or D&D Specials. Their remit would be to produce small run products to cater to fans, that might appeal to new players too.

Prices would be quite high on these products - including collector sets - to account for lower print runs. They could also look at minis and playing aids. Have a much more transparent development process with developer diaries and monthly updates on projects. All optional and in some cases material for older editions or edition neutral material.

WOTC would take full credit for these but also have enough to distance these things from the core product line.

It follows a tactic Games Workshop has used recently (the last 6 years or so) with great success - generating a great deal of goodwill, community engagement and profit.

 

[nevin]

Hostile takeover of Hasbro, forcing a split, and now you're in charge of D&D. What do you do with it, the OGL, and everything.

Maybe it's a holdover from my marketing classes in college, but I still place a lot of emphasis on branding. It's really important. So that's what I'd focus on. A lot of licensing for use of that branding, which in turn improves the value of the branding.

Everything from every previous edition rules-wise goes into CC. Let the creators create. Let them do most of the work. Sure, create a core new edition, but stick to the core rule books and IP specific settings/creatures. Let the fans create the adventures and supplement material. The core game needs to be more accessible than any other system out there.

Continue focus on VTT, but forget microtransactions. Instead allow 3PP to sell their own stuff (cosmetics, monsters, magic items, etc) on the VTT and take a % of it.

And that's pretty much it. Trying to monetize everything only leads to a financial death spiral in the end. Be happy with a steady but stable income stream rather than chase every penny.

No I'd do away with physical books, sell them much cheaper online with the ability to download them. Dropping all old content into CC every refresh is a good Idea, but I'd Focus on VTT with microtransactions because the Whales will generate me more money than everyone else combined, if you could make dnd beyond subs and VTT profitable enough you wouldn't have to refresh content as often which would save you lots of dev dollars.