If you had the Rights to do Whatever You Wanted with your Favorite Game?

[Leon ap Hywel]

Why? That seems just mean. If you think another game has potential to replace D&D, buy that game instead and pump it up. D&D has a certain level of first mover advantage, but the truth of it's popularity is that it delivers something that the masses want.

I'm glad it's popular. It means lots of people are familiar with RPGs which makes it more likely I can find people interested in the games I enjoy.

Never pretended not to be.

 

[Alai]

...what is there to not understand about RQ's system?

I assume the "lore" complaint is actually about Glorantha... leading me neatly on to...

Stretching "game" beyond a single rules system, I'd spend it on about three different rules systems(*) for that setting, and copious background material. With the art budget and production values of the current line (and ideally some rules-editing and stress-testing thrown in as an added bonus). Without the "everything has to be colour-saturated so much that your eyes goes numb to it, and stop noticing anything is" art direction. With all the richness of "the lore", not the "maximal lumping, minimal nuance, the God Learners were only wrong in not going far enough!" version. But presented in a sane, "this is what it's like around this bit", "idiot's guide to running a lozenge-spanning campaign" manner, rather than the "everything everywhere all at once and a little bit more, and in seventeen different versions" impression you'd get from rummaging around a '90s mailing list archive.

(*) The notional scheme that exists at the moment's actually a pretty sensible one! One "simulationist" ruleset, one "gamist", and one "narrativist". I have quibbles about each though. RQG is a coelacanth of a system, and I think a modernised-RQ-variant would have be better. But giving the RQ1/2/3 grognards a golden ladder to climb down (off their High Llamas) with copious conversation and back-compatibility notes. The other two are also in drydock and have been that way for some time, so aside from "in theory they exist, that's nice" they're not much use to man, beast, or anything in between. (Looking at you, divers hsunchen tribes!) And that's a real drawback, as RQ is ultimately deeply limited when it comes to broader-scoped and higher-powered games. So ideally there would be system-neutral regional and religious background material, and a range of supplements with a one-system-first (and sketchier notes for the other two) mechanics. I'm also somewhat agnostic about QuestWorlds as a system these days, and might be convinced that Gloranfate or Powered by the Hero Wars might not be a better bandwagon to jump on. (Maybe depending on how lavish the budget is. If I get to lock Robin Laws and Jonathan Tweet in a room for a couple of years I'm sure QW:G might polish up very nicely.)

 

[Alai]

There seems to be too many people demanding a "good guy" faction, not realising this isn't a game about hope, it's a game of increasing despair with the only thing holding back a tide of unrelenting death, pain and fear is brutality and oppression.

Ah. So this isn't a publishing strategy, it's a "getting smarter fans" one.

We're gonna need a bigger budget.

 

[Mosker]

I'd answer this with my Tunnels & Trolls visions, but once I got started, the lack of sleep, eating, bathing...before I finished. And then there's the issue of budget induced catatonia.

(I'd start small: invest enough for in-store and convention presence. Rules, art, licensee dreams...see above statement.)

 

[Alai]

Buy out Hasbro, take it private

Wau... we're playing the $8bn level version of this game? Hrm. I'm going to have to work on my "previous answer scaled up several orders of mag" plan...

 

[Alai]

Define "nearly limitless funds'?

Because if I had like, Elon Musk level money, I'd acquire the rights to a good system (e.g. Year Zero Engine, BRP), raise the designer's and publisher's salaries, and then market the crap out of it.

Blanket streaming and podcasts with ads for the game.

Get sponsored streamers of the Critical Role variety to do spin-off streams/live plays. Turn those into animated or live action series/movies.

Do super-bowl ads a few years running.

Basically, I'd try to get a flywheel going for a huge boost to the number of people playing TTRPG's through the power of marketing. I'd leave thee system design to the professionals.

I kinna like this plan, but it does seem to be distinctly like the "not one cent on tribute, triillions of defence" strategy! Or at least, Lidl-beer money on the system, and a supertankers of 1959 Dom Perignon on the ads...

 

[MichaelTee]

Problem: There are 11 different Traveller versions.
Answer: Release a new version that fixes all the issues in the previous versions.
New problem: There are now *12* different Traveller versions.
Wait, didn't XKCD mention this?

 

[Telok]

Wau... we're playing the $8bn level version of this game? Hrm. I'm going to have to work on my "previous answer scaled up several orders of mag" plan...

The price tag got your attention but the plan to slaughter a million d20 one-true-way purists with anger induced aneurysms doesn't raise any objections?

 

[Jetstream]

Well people already beat me to the Exalted shit, though I'd say just give that corebook rewrite to Vance and Minton. They know their shit.

But otherwise? All I want is a god damned playable version of Demon: The Fallen!

 

[Lord Dynel]

This would be D&D...

 

[Alai]

The price tag got your attention but the plan to slaughter a million d20 one-true-way purists with anger induced aneurysms doesn't raise any objections?

Well, "size of the '(nearly) limitless funds'" is a parameter to the problem. How evilly/righteously (and I'm not sure which that might fall under) a solution you develop using it is your own business...

I dunno how much the rights to D&D would be if we were breaking up Hasbro up for parts. But I'd hazard that it's O(two mags less). Which is a lot cheaper per cerebral haemorrhage.

 

[Bunch]

Wau... we're playing the $8bn level version of this game? Hrm. I'm going to have to work on my "previous answer scaled up several orders of mag" plan...

It might be cheaper next quarter!

 

[Mosker]

Tweaking (adding a house rule? elaboration? to) the initial question:


If you had the funds, whom would you recruit to to write for it? Handle illustration and layout? Whom might you pay to stay away or just be an ambassador (think of Marvel comics and Stan Lee)?Why? (I think of some game/talent pairings that would just work and others...)

 

[migo]

Tweaking (adding a house rule? elaboration? to) the initial question:


If you had the funds, whom would you recruit to to write for it? Handle illustration and layout? Whom might you pay to stay away or just be an ambassador (think of Marvel comics and Stan Lee)?Why? (I think of some game/talent pairings that would just work and others...)

Going back to using Star Wars as the setting, I'd definitely want Kevin J. Anderson to write some fiction for it. I think I'd definitely want Cook and Connors to come back for it, since they did a good job on the originals. Layout would be Kevin Crawford. Artists would simply be good quality artists, like the ones that did covers for various EU novels. Wouldn't have to be just one, because they're all good and have a consistent, realistic style. Of course to maintain that consistent style, no stills from the movies.

 

[Ravenswing]

Wau... we're playing the $8bn level version of this game? Hrm. I'm going to have to work on my "previous answer scaled up several orders of mag" plan...

Yeah, if we were doing THAT, then we could go full-scale radical. If I could just burn that kind of money on the task, I'd take my rewrite of the GURPS corebooks -- eliminating a couple hundred pages and making GURPS Lite the core rules of the system -- and put them up as online PDFs for free.

 

[Sosthenes]

Going back to using Star Wars as the setting, I'd definitely want Kevin J. Anderson to write some fiction for it.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

This would be D&D...

View attachment 56575

I've always prefered this logo.

 

[Imaginos]

I’m going with an RPG I like, wouldn’t call it a favorite. I’d take Dark Conspiracy and probably divorce it from the GDW rules. Just recently reacquired the 1E books and thinking maybe use Monster of the Week for a game. Not sure Id use MotW in an official redo, possibly something closer to Cortex. Or if I want it to be deadly, Cyberpunk 2013.

 

[MoonHunter]

You know I have another one.

Chivalry and Sorcery. I would pull the material from The First True Edition, the one someone wrote as a thesis for their Medieval Studies Masters (Doctorate?). The game was actually really well done... highly detailed... and the magic system was based on folklore and grimoires of the age (with tons of modifiers for time of the moon, year, season, herbs used, and so on.) You would think it would be unplayable, but First Ed was pretty darn good. (The next editions they killed off most of the scholarship and modifiers.) It just became D&D, but more medieval.

I would take all of the Great Things from that edition, cut all the Tolkien and D&D they have wedged in since then, adapt some of the elements from The Red Book series (which had work that shined like Harn's in scholarship, detail, and realism), and attach it to a D20 version of a D100 system (skills and stats as big numbers divided by 5 for most rolls (8 for tough ones and 3 for simple ones) for a 1-20 roll ).

 

[Moonglum]

C&S 1E was a truly great game disguised as an unreadable, unplayable game. But those who get it, get it.

 

[David Johansen]

For an alternative take I'd get Silent Death and bring out stls of all the ships. Then I'd do a ground combat game with a similar level of detail for tanks and mechs with a line of stls. Then I'd do an rpg / campaign game with yes stls for player characters and a character sheet that resembles the fighter and tank displays. Then I'd do a comic, maybe get Dave Dorman or Dave Trampier or Dave Dietrik maybe all three, are they all alive still? Thats okay, unlimited funds means unlimited necromancy. I'd follow that up with a TV show, movie, and line of 8" action figures with 24" long fighters.

 

[chuckdee]

Just thinking, I'd get the Renegade Legion license and simply make it back to what it was before as far as getting Centurion, Interceptor, Prefect and Leviathan. I'd also update Centurion to make it a better fit with the rest of the games- probably focus it on more narrative so the system would be useful across the other games with the heavier system lift.

 

[Telok]

Just thinking, I'd get the Renegade Legion license and simply make it back to what it was before as far as getting Centurion, Interceptor, Prefect and Leviathan.

I actually had and played a bit with a couple of those back when they were new. Did something change at some point?

 

[JAMUMU]

I think I'd get the Marvel TSR FASERIP license and do a mild streamlining and a Gamer's Handbooks of the MCU series and ???? and profit.

 

[TristramEvans]

Chivalry and Sorcery. I would pull the material from The First True Edition,

which edition was that?

 

[Toadmaster]

You know I have another one.

Chivalry and Sorcery. I would pull the material from The First True Edition, the one someone wrote as a thesis for their Medieval Studies Masters (Doctorate?). The game was actually really well done... highly detailed... and the magic system was based on folklore and grimoires of the age (with tons of modifiers for time of the moon, year, season, herbs used, and so on.) You would think it would be unplayable, but First Ed was pretty darn good. (The next editions they killed off most of the scholarship and modifiers.) It just became D&D, but more medieval.

I would take all of the Great Things from that edition, cut all the Tolkien and D&D they have wedged in since then, adapt some of the elements from The Red Book series (which had work that shined like Harn's in scholarship, detail, and realism), and attach it to a D20 version of a D100 system (skills and stats as big numbers divided by 5 for most rolls (8 for tough ones and 3 for simple ones) for a 1-20 roll ).

That sounds pretty good. I understand why most historical gaming goes heavy fantasy, but I'd like more options for largely historical but the myth and legends people believed in were actually real.

 

[JAMUMU]

That sounds pretty good. I understand why most historical gaming goes heavy fantasy, but I'd like more options for largely historical but the myth and legends people believed in were actually real.

I got the new quickstart for C&S and it was...intriguing. But I'm in the same boat as you, in terms of historical-but-realmythic. There's the Mythras stuff, obviously, but I'd like a wider selection.

 

[Toadmaster]

I got the new quickstart for C&S and it was...intriguing. But I'm in the same boat as you, in terms of historical-but-realmythic. There's the Mythras stuff, obviously, but I'd like a wider selection.

I got the latest C&S from a bundle recently, but haven't been through it yet. I like Lion & Dragon, despite some oddities like the French Frog people (easily ignored), unfortunately controversy attaches itself to the game due to outside factors (author). I think it is unfortunate that RQ3s Mythic Europe has never been supported as I rather liked the setting. Not truly a historic setting, but not a D&D pseudo Europe either.

 

[JAMUMU]

I got the latest C&S from a bundle recently, but haven't been through it yet. I like Lion & Dragon, despite some oddities like the French Frog people (easily ignored), unfortunately controversy attaches itself to the game due to outside factors (author). I think it is unfortunate that RQ3s Mythic Europe has never been supported as I rather liked the setting. Not truly a historic setting, but not a D&D pseudo Europe either.

Yeah RQ3 is also one of my favourite settings. Lion & Dragon does a great job of a medieval-sort-of-England, but it really fails hard at fantasy-Scotland (all barbarians who worship The Hawk *what* what even is that) and the frog-man stuff is dumb. Still, the core of it is really sound and informs my own fantasy !notEngland. Pundit's stuff is a mixture of solid research, great flights of fancy and absolute bullshit.

The C&S I have is sort of like Runequest with extra steps. I really dig the vibe, but those extra steps won't go down well at my table, though there's stuff that could be backported into the skill list, or whatever. Courtly Romance as a skill? Yes please! Even Burning Wheel misses out on that one.

 

[Alai]

The C&S I have is sort of like Runequest with extra steps. I really dig the vibe, but those extra steps won't go down well at my table, though there's stuff that could be backported into the skill list, or whatever. Courtly Romance as a skill?

Prominently in Pendragon of course, so certainly not Unknown to the BRP (well, BRP-adjacent) world!

 

[chuckdee]

I actually had and played a bit with a couple of those back when they were new. Did something change at some point?

Yes. nu-FASA rebooted it and has turned it into something that it's not, still using the name.


Someone else had tried to use it, but all of their stuff is down now... I didn't like either approach.

Renegade Legion to return

The original Interceptor, Centurion, Leviathan, Prefect, Circus Imperium and Legionnaire were all published by FASA.

www.geeknative.com

The page that had the rules for the centurion game by this other company is down on DTRPG though they have a Patreon.

Patreon

Patreon is empowering a new generation of creators. Support and engage with artists and creators as they live out their passions!

www.patreon.com

They were supposed to have a Gamefound campaign in 2022, but it doesn't seem to have launched.

Budgie Smuggler Games – Building Fun Games

budgiesmugglergames.com

 

[Toadmaster]

Yeah RQ3 is also one of my favourite settings. Lion & Dragon does a great job of a medieval-sort-of-England, but it really fails hard at fantasy-Scotland (all barbarians who worship The Hawk *what* what even is that) and the frog-man stuff is dumb. Still, the core of it is really sound and informs my own fantasy !notEngland. Pundit's stuff is a mixture of solid research, great flights of fancy and absolute bullshit.

The C&S I have is sort of like Runequest with extra steps. I really dig the vibe, but those extra steps won't go down well at my table, though there's stuff that could be backported into the skill list, or whatever. Courtly Romance as a skill? Yes please! Even Burning Wheel misses out on that one.

That is a good description of the situation with L&D, the core is really solid, and I like a lot of the new classes, adventures and such he has put out there but yeah the attached world is a bit, erm peculiar. The nice thing with historical is there is no shortage of actual historical info and fiction to draw from.

 

[David Johansen]

Problem: There are 11 different Traveller versions.
Answer: Release a new version that fixes all the issues in the previous versions.
New problem: There are now *12* different Traveller versions.
Wait, didn't XKCD mention this?

Nah we'll just update T4 and then we'll have the perfect version of Traveller without truly increasing the number of versions. No need to thank me.

 

[TristramEvans]

Nah we'll just update T4 and then we'll have the perfect version of Traveller without truly increasing the number of versions. No need to thank me.

What are your feelings on GURPs Traveller?

 

[TristramEvans]

So, I'm already doing what I want with my favurite game re: Phaserip. I mean, it'd be nice to have the license to use my favourite artwrk from Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse comics properties, and be able to release official supplements, but I'm not that concerned, as I'm planning tons of unofficial fan supplements anyhoo, and I'm not doing this project to make money off it. My best case scenario is a small successful KS that allows for a print run.

So instead I'm going to pitch my dream products for a few other games.

Let me start with Pendragon. This is an interesting situation in that usually resorting to public domain artwork is the result of necessity, not having the free cash to hire a stable of illustrators. But when it comes to the Arthurian mythos, we have close to 800 years of some of the greatest masterpieces of art and illustration tackling the legends, and I'm afraid that what passes for art in recent editions is actually a pretty big let down in comparison.

So first off, I want an abslutely gorgeous, leatherbound rules edition just dripping with classic art. I'm talking a pre-raphaelite wonderland with all the major works by JW Waterhouse, James Archer, John Garrick, Arthur Hughes, Frank Dicksee, Nichlas Hyman, etc...

And in turn the pages adorned with black & white masterpieces from the golden age of illustration by H.J. Ford, Arthur Pyle, Louis Rhead, W.H. Margetson, Aubrey Beardsley, etc...

In regards to the rules, I'd start with Greg Stafford's final published version, but I'd rewrite their presentation to 1) divorce the core rules from the Great Pendragon Campain, 2) present them in a clearer and newbie-friendlier fashion akin to first & third edition, and 3) present cmplete stats/profiles for all the major characters in the arthurian romances.

Finally, I'd title the book "Pendragon 2nd Edition"

 

[sharps54]

Well considering Pendragon 6E is just around the corner we’ll see how close they get to your wish.

 

[TristramEvans]

Well considering Pendragon 6E is just around the corner we’ll see how close they get to your wish.

my bet is nowhere near

 

[David Johansen]

What are your feelings on GURPs Traveller?

Personally the attempt to wedge Traveller into the GURPS Tech Level paradigm was a complete failure of design. In Traveller guys with cutlasses and shotguns can still hurt guys in battledress. I GURPS they simply can't. There are other issues but really the biggest one was to decide that Traveller is TL 11/12 because they have anti-gravity where it should really be TL 9 -10 with antigravity tacked on. GURPS first to third edition always had problems with the armour verses weapon across tech levels. Though to be fair Traveller 4 gave personal body armour a rating of 6 and most weapons did 3d damage and you could only hurt people in partial armour with them. But TL 11-12 adds in a lot of things Traveller never had like personal force fields. light sabres, small computers, and blasters.

 

[AsenRG]

The price tag got your attention but the plan to slaughter a million d20 one-true-way purists with anger induced aneurysms doesn't raise any objections?

"I knew it, the only objections would be on the second point".

...if you don't know the joke, consider yourself lucky.

 

[MichaelTee]

Nah we'll just update T4 and then we'll have the perfect version of Traveller without truly increasing the number of versions. No need to thank me.

You know, with the errata issues that T4 had, as well as the artwork, I never really gave T4 the look it might deserve. I wasn't playing much when it came out so never got to try it at the table. (Re: artwork: Foss' stuff is nice, but surely doesn't fit the Traveller universe. IMO, the art director just wanted color pages and bought already made art for the book. But then, Ken Whitman... <eyeroll>)
But despite my joke about too many Traveller versions, if I could buy the exclusive rights to Traveller, I would start with Cepheus Engine mechanics (NOT Deluxe or Light), add in the CE Vehicle Design Guide, a star system generation system, a robot building system, and a few more pieces. Then I'd release several different backgrounds showing the possibilities of the system. Yeah, kinda like Mongoose is doing, but ... differently. And with lower prices!