Wizards of the Coast for Sale?

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I'd put CRKrueger CRKrueger as executive president, based on this post:thumbsup:.
CRKrueger said:
If I had WotC?
  • Sell off everything that wasn’t a Roleplaying game to Asmodee or whoever.
  • Fire Crawford and anyone who thought a Gaming Company should be a political organ and move to the Midwest or East Coast or something.
  • Keep Mearls for the Lolz.
  • Hire anyone from the Pub, I might disagree with you bastards sometimes, but you’re mostly sane.
  • Develop all the D&D lines.
  • Keep other RPGs in PDF or POD.
  • Put some of the best OSR peeps on the payroll.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they were trying to dump WotC. The ICV2 article’s points do make sense.
  • They bought WotC for Pokémon, and they don’t have Pokémon any more.
  • They moved all the Boardgames from WotC to Hasbro already.
  • All the current lawsuits seem to be them cutting all existing contracts, a classic pre-sell off move.
  • WotC is a Culture War shitshow (ok, that’s my point, not the article’s)
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TristramEvans said:
just publish reproductions, or do a new version of OD&D?
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Not sure, actually. Maybe both?

I think that if WotC took the boxed set (amd maybe Greyhawk) and revised it (fixed typos, maybe put in Frazetta artwork, perhaps put Greyhawk material into the original 3 booklets) and released a small boxed set in similar format, it would be an awesome tribute to the 50th anniversary of the game.
 
finarvyn said:
I think that if WotC took the boxed set (amd maybe Greyhawk) and revised it (fixed typos, maybe put in Frazetta artwork, perhaps put Greyhawk material into the original 3 booklets) and released a small boxed set in similar format, it would be an awesome tribute to the 50th anniversary of the game.
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Back in the late 1990s, I scanned my OD&D books and OCRed them, ending up with ascii text files. I planned to combine the the 3LBB and Greyhawk (and a few things out of Blackmoor and Eldritch Wizardry like their monsters) into a single volume set for my own use. I got sidetracked by the real world and never finished the project. What I am trying to say in a roundabout way is that I'd buy that product.
 
Honestly I'm probably one of the few here who is pretty happy with the way WotC has handled 5e, some of the adventures are good to possibly great (only time will tell), others flawed but still useful, rules bloat has been largely avoided, the game runs smoothly with some of the same longstanding issues (e.g. HP bloat) that one can't really 'fix' unless you change the system so thoroughly you may as well be playing a different system.

A few things I'd do, some of which seem to be in their long-term plan anyway:

- No 6e, when the time is right release an 'updated edition' but closer to how Chaosium released 'new' editions of CoC and Pendragon that were really re-presentations of the same core ruleset with minor tweaks, new layout and artwork. Make it clear that this is what it is to try and stave off the howls of outrage from the fanboys. A hopeless task as shitting on WotC D&D seems to be some people's fulltime job but at least cut them off at the knees by referring to it as an 'updated' edition, not a 'new' edition.

- A kids edition of 5e. Essentials, with its concise statement of rules, race and class in approx. 48 pages may already be this, I bought it for my sister-in-law who wants to GM and checking it out after I think it is a great set. But releasing a new one every 4 years of so may be a good move to keep youngings entering into the game, which revisionist histories aside has been the lifeblood of the game almost from the start (hell Gygax's original group included a number of kids and teens).

- Release anniversary editions of OD&D, 1e core and B/X just like FF did recently with WEG SW. I'd say BECMI and RC too but that may be more than the market could bear and RC has been available POD for a while so that may not be feasible.

Keep the original covers, I didn't like the uninspired last reissued covers approach but have alt covers by Easley and Otus for FLGS as they do now for the new releases. That would work like gangbusters on collector scum and completists who won't be able to resist buying both variations.

I'm tempted to suggest that they take a page from Goodman Game's recent classic adventure reissues and include in the OD&D reissue a slightly revamped (i.e. address obvious and real holes in the ruleset), new layout, new art version of the OD&D ruleset that can actually be used at the table, otherwise the reissue will just be for collector scum (of which I consider myself).

- Release 5e, one-volume classic settings for Dark Sun, Planescape, Spelljammer, Al-Qadim, Birthright. As much as I love Greyhawk it was featured in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and is probably best featured via its adventures and The City of Greyhawk itself.

Include a sample adventure and point-crawl tools. Include the original designers on the team or as advisors (although Tracy Hickman's involvement on CoS was roundly ignored by its detractors).

- Distinct from the other settings, release a Dragonlance reissue for 5e, keep the classic art. A lot of claims about it being the Railroad to End All Railroads are factually off, particularly for the mid-to-later modules (need to start that DL re-read thread sometime) but most of those issues were addressed either in the later 3-module-reissues or the M. Weis 3e conversions. Again, alt covers by the original artists, who I believe are all still with us (?) to bleed the compulsive collectors of their cash.
 
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Voros said:
- Release 5e, one-volume classic settings for Dark Sun, Planescape, Spelljammer, Al-Qadim, Birthright. As much as I love Greyhawk it was featured in Ghosts of Saltmarsh and is probably best featured via its adventures and The City of Greyhawk itself.
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This would be a welcome addition. Luckily they don't seem to be pushing out huge series on settings, not even FR. A single hardcover would be plenty for these settings.
 
Voros said:
Again, alt covers by the original artists, who I believe are all still with us (?) to bleed the compulsive collectors of their cash.
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Larry Elmore (DL5, 6, 7, 9), Jeff Easley (DL2, 11, 12, 13), and Clyde Caldwell (DL1, 10, 14) all are, but Keith Parkinson (DL3, 4, 8) passed away in 2005, alas.
 
Heck, I'd want a consolidated edition that combines all the stats and rules from the many source books into single copies of the PHB, DMG and MM. Especially with stuff like Tasha's and Xanthar's.
Also just a Simplified character creation and management page, cause trying to find all the little bits of info for leveling up in the PHB is a pain in the behind.
 
My WotC business plan:
1. Also acquire controlling interest in the University of Basel Institute for Time Travel Research; force merger of managerial staff with D+D design team.
2. Send group back to 1980, when they will oversee the completion of the Basic and Expert sets and enforce a strict company-wide rule that all core books must be published as stitched binding hard-backs if over 100 pages and as stapled soft covers if under.
3. Development teams for what would become UA and all subsequent editions and rules supplements of Basic and Advanced D+D lines are switched to useful projects or forced into early retirement. The 1000 year empire of these editions begins.
4. All subsequent projects for the D+D line must be: A) pastel modules; B) setting boxed sets; or C) compilations of monsters, spells, magic items or gear
5. Institute quarterly gaming retreat where the staff hangs out with cool people from other companies to play Traveller, The Fantasy Trip, Runequest and other games that scratch an itch D+D can't reach, no matter how hard it tries.
 
OK, well I had all week during Finals to think about this, and now have the time to articulate my answer..

so dream scenario if I suddenly (through whatever twist of fate) found myself in charge of Wizards of the Coast...

step 1: I know nothing about Magic: The Gathering, but as that is a solid money-maker for the company, I'd mostly retain the same people in charge of its direction, with the only change being more support for tournament judges and brand ambassadors who run demo games in shops, as well as a stricter vetting system for anyone associated with the game/company (meaning any professional judges would need criminal and background checks).

step 2: As Avalon Hill is now part of WoTC, my first priority would be to hire the staff of Multi-Man Publishing to work on a new premium edition of Squad Leader/Advanced Squad Leader. This division of the company would then become the Wargame wing of Wizards of the Coast, tasked to the development and introduction of a new version of Chainmail, and various lines of miniature and boxed wargames.
  • The Squad Leader line would be a premium, boutique product aimed at the conservative classic experienced wargamer.
  • Other historical "chit-based"wargames, as a niche product, would be released as periodic crowdfunding campaigns.
  • Chainmail would be the official D&D skirmish miniatures wargame, featuring periodic releases devoted to specific D&D settings.
  • I would introduce my Claymore wargame as an Oldhammer-inspired alternative to Warfammer Fantasy Battles as a mass battle miniatures wargame
step 3: I would split D&D into three seperate divisions: Dungeons & Dragons, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and D&D Classic

Dungeons & Dragons would be a very streamlined version of 5th edition, filtered through the Mentzer paradigm. This would be aimed both at a younger and the (as it was phrased earlier in the thread) "East Coast crowd". That means returning to just classes (so elf is your class not your race), a World of Warcraft approach to orcs, etc. The basic game released as a new version of the Redbox, followed up by a new version of the Rules Cyclopedia.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons would be aimed instead at the lifetime gamers. Designed from the bottom up as essentially the spiritual succesor to TSR-era D&D, the 3rd edition to AD&D & 2nd edition.

D&D Classic would be a small team devoted to digitizing all old TSR content and offering it all as Print on Demand. Additionally annually or semi-annually a crowdfunding campaing would be devoted to a large hardcover omnibus for one of the classic D&D campaign settings - sorta like the White Wolf 20th anniversary editions. As part of this I would try and arrange it with the current Ral Partha rights holder to do a limited run resin recast of the original D&D miniature lines associated with the campaign worlds.

and the ultimate step: attempt to reach a license agreement with Marvel to bring the original Marvel Superheroes game back into print.
 
TSR killed and absorbed SPI through some shady moves. Then WOTC bought Avalon Hill. Most of the games' copyright reverted to their owners but I wonder just how many games they are sitting on that aren't worth reprinting for them. They sell acquire and a handful of things and lease out Squad Leader but there are probably many wargames that they don't have the expertise or time to bother with. I wish they'd either sell the lot that they have no plans for to a wargame company or just make them open content so others can revise and reprint or at least make print and play files available.
 
Voros said:
- No 6e, when the time is right release an 'updated edition' but closer to how Chaosium released 'new' editions of CoC and Pendragon that were really re-presentations of the same core ruleset with minor tweaks, new layout and artwork. Make it clear that this is what it is to try and stave off the howls of outrage from the fanboys. A hopeless task as shitting on WotC D&D seems to be some people's fulltime job but at least cut them off at the knees by referring to it as an 'updated' edition, not a 'new' edition.
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Tasha is clearly a patch book, with it's race and class revisions and introducing cultural tweaks as well; so I'd straight-up just roll all that into the corebook along with the Alchemist, with a note in racial descriptions that most members of a race tend towards particular racial stats (But you don't have to if you don't want to) for folk who miss that information.
 
Stan said:
TSR killed and absorbed SPI through some shady moves. Then WOTC bought Avalon Hill. Most of the games' copyright reverted to their owners but I wonder just how many games they are sitting on that aren't worth reprinting for them. They sell acquire and a handful of things and lease out Squad Leader but there are probably many wargames that they don't have the expertise or time to bother with. I wish they'd either sell the lot that they have no plans for to a wargame company or just make them open content so others can revise and reprint or at least make print and play files available.
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I know Hasbro owns the mechanics to James Bond 007.
 
AsenRG said:
"To the extent that mechanics can be copyrighted", I guess:shade:.
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Yep. And "Classified" is an awesome update of the equipment list and rules. I was chatting with Chris Klug recently, and he even said that the minimal changes (using all d10 instead of a mix of d10 and d6) were things he would do if he were designing the game now.
 
First thing is leave the money makers (card and board games) alone, let them keep doing their thing as it seems to be working. Plus I really don't care about them so couldn't do better myself.

On the RPG front, diversification, no more edition wars which I think are a short term money grab, long term loser. I'd probably leave 5E alone and keep it as the banner holder and gateway drug. It seems to have found a nice middle ground acceptable to OD&D, AD&D and 3E fans so no need to muck up what seems to be working. I would then revisit the past, and bring back the older editions, re-edited for comprehension, but no major rule changes, market each appropriately and look for licensed products to support each line (make a license that is appealing to outsiders, but still allowing for some quality control). Drop references to editions and advertise each "edition" to highlight its strengths to different play styles. This mostly to shift the thinking of 5E players (the gateway drug) to looking at each as an option instead of direct competitor. OD&D, BD&D, AD&D (2E can squeeze in under the AD&D title) no problems there but 3E, 4E would need some creative naming as they are so closely tied to past edition wars.

Let the dust settle there, and then start revisiting the rest of the catalog to start introducing "level / class less" games, Top Secret SI, 007, Conan.


Then buy HERO and hire Miracle Max to revive it (its only mostly dead, not all dead) so all these D&D 5E players have a game worth playing :hehe: .
First step, revise and re-issue (production and editing primarily) 3E, 4E and 5E core rule books to reward the existing player base.

Simultaneously introduce a non tool kit "Fantasy HERO" probably based on the 3E rules, with some minor streamlining, also with a large spell book and included setting (one of the D&D settings, probably Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms), no power building included or referenced. Then start dropping GM option advanced "tool kit" books, while still supporting the non-building side with ready to play adventures and settings (remember we own the rights to TSR games so, there is a lot to draw from, just need to adapt to the new system).

Get a good D&D movie made, Vin Diesel would not be a terrible choice, he is a fan and probably has a clue of how awful the past films have been. He also still has a fair bit of star power I would think to help pull in financing and to help strong arm away from obvious mis-steps during filming. RPG experience from a screenwriter, and director a major plus. I'm kind of out of the loop on current film production, and most of my choices are dead or retired. Hmm Clint Eastwood as director would be interesting, all good fantasy stories are basically westerns after all.
 
Moonglum said:
My WotC business plan:
1. Also acquire controlling interest in the University of Basel Institute for Time Travel Research; force merger of managerial staff with D+D design team.
2. Send group back to 1980, when they will oversee the completion of the Basic and Expert sets and enforce a strict company-wide rule that all core books must be published as stitched binding hard-backs if over 100 pages and as stapled soft covers if under.
3. Development teams for what would become UA and all subsequent editions and rules supplements of Basic and Advanced D+D lines are switched to useful projects or forced into early retirement. The 1000 year empire of these editions begins.
4. All subsequent projects for the D+D line must be: A) pastel modules; B) setting boxed sets; or C) compilations of monsters, spells, magic items or gear
5. Institute quarterly gaming retreat where the staff hangs out with cool people from other companies to play Traveller, The Fantasy Trip, Runequest and other games that scratch an itch D+D can't reach, no matter how hard it tries.
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I'd humbly submit that you add one more person who's only job is to punch Lorraine Williams in the face. :p
 
Endless Flight said:
I don’t like that new logo.
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Yes, looking at it gives me a strange urge to punch James Cameron...

601okdL.jpg
 
They're still quite coy about how much of that revenue is actually from D&D. My google-fu can't find a single statement of revenue from the D&D product line. MtG must outsell it by a huge margin.
 
I don't see Hasbro selling Wizards. That said, companies do sometimes divest profitable subsidiaries when it makes sense to do so; it's not just something they do when times are bad. I just don't see an advantage to selling Wizards now.
 
Hasbro has never sold anything as far as I am aware. They would let D&D die before selling it. They have mismanaged other properties and just held on to them to take another shot five to ten years later.
 
They sold Hasbro Interactive to Infogrames many years ago, but yeah, it's not a common thing with them.
 
I wish they'd transfer the Avalon HIll rights over to GMT. And that's never going to happen, but is still more likely then them selling WotC.
 
Black Leaf said:
I wish they'd transfer the Avalon HIll rights over to GMT. And that's never going to happen, but is still more likely then them selling WotC.
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Yea, I've expressed that too. They could keep the ~5 games that they publish or might publish and release the rest.
 
Stan said:
Yea, I've expressed that too. They could keep the ~5 games that they publish or might publish and release the rest.
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Or give limited time sub licenses out. Let people explore the IP without giving it away. Maybe they make the game a hit and suddenly you turn it into a movie franchise. I mean WTF Battleship I'm looking at you.
 
Gringnr said:
I'm conflicted, because while I prefer discussion of WotC's new logo to what passes for discourse on some other forums, this thread has some big "old man yells at cloud" energy.
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Hey don't go dissing old man vs cloud technology. Once they perfect the means to harness that energy, there will be no more energy concerns. You could power a large city with one small group of old people yelling at clouds.

If you roll into a large classic car meet with a Prius, the US would have enough power to run for 5 years. :hehe:
 
Toadmaster said:
Hey don't go dissing old man vs cloud technology. Once they perfect the means to harness that energy, there will be no more energy concerns. You could power a large city with one small group of old people yelling at clouds.

If you roll into a large classic car meet with a Prius, the US would have enough power to run for 5 years. :hehe:
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My own reaction at Age of Sigmar could power a small town for months and I don’t even play WFB.
 
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