What if Mongoose Licenced D&D?

[dmccoy1693]

Say 4E flopped hard and wizards decided to license out the D&D rpg and minis (or even sell the whole thing outright) and mongoose got it. Would they do more of a 1E style D&D? Or more of a 3.5 inspired game or something totally different (4E-ish, etc)? Any thoughts.

 

[Gorfinger]

It's hard to say, I don't think 4e will flop so to speak. Its being looked forward to about as much as 2nd was during 1st editions run. I personally don’t look forward to its release because it is geared more to the convenience of online players. The game has been reshaped and gutted so that it can be easily run on a rolling dice base and the hushed rumors are that it has vice griped the Role Playing experience even father than it was in 3rd and 3.5. I enjoy 3.5 honestly it has a very fresh look and its updated enough that a new person can come to the table and not have to take a Tha.0 101 course or feel stupid. I think Dungeons and Dragons will limp on for more years to come but I think its time for newer and more fresh gaming models to take the spot light and for DnD to pass the main spotlight torch to another RPG. It been long, it’s had its good moments and bad, but it’s now in the nursing home. Let the new youth of RPG's come out and race in the big competition! Just like Warhammer 40k held the shiny trophy of mini's for the longest time BUT arrogance caught up with them and now people are finding new games.

That’s honestly just my thought on the subject and I hope no offence is taken by anybody but that’s my view on DnD's outlook if they don’t shape up and stop being ...well for lack of better word shoddy.


J

 

[Tankdriver]

That and the fact that the price of GW miniatures is getting ridiculous and the constant revisions are a pain. Since they introduced 3E for 40K, there have been three Codex: Space Marine books, not including the chapter specific stuff.

 

[Gorfinger]

I would gouge my eyes out of my head if I was still collecting 40k stuff. It was wonderful to start building and painting my very own unique forces BUT!! *and that’s a big but in a box* its cost effectiveness was like a learning curve made to spite gamers... in other words brutal. Same goes for D&D now, between my local gaming group we have ALL of the books for 3.5 *that are useful anyways* and that was when Wizards sprung the ol' "New edition coming out around next week, 3.5 totally useless now and all of that money to waste TEhehe!"

ok... Gor.... off your soap box....just step down....

 

[Tankdriver]

Yeah, I know, but I still like the game. Now Fantasy is not too bad. The miniatures are pretty consistant. It is just the rules that change. But I have seen cases in 40K where half of someone's army was essentially useless after one change of editions.

 

[Gorfinger]

Its kind of the same way with Magic the Gathering... wonderful gaming crack *no I kicked the habit stay strong*. Invest X amount of dollars to get a good gaming deck then, keep up with just the new expansions forthcoming...then all of the sudden... your core deck is no longer legal or valid for anything other than casual play and then give it a year after that.... USELESS! All in all its sad really, I know WHY they have to illegalize deck sets to keep the rules nice and in alignment but its still just sad.... on to non-collectable miniatures games for Jay *yay!!!*

Jay

 

[Tankdriver]

I am seriuosly considering buying the second edition of 40K again and sticking with that.

 

[Gorfinger]

I believe I have the second edition rulebook if its the one with the Black Templar on it and came with the Space Marines and Dark Eldar starter set... I cant remember anymore, there has been so many changes. If thats the one your looking for just give a shout!

Jay

 

[Tankdriver]

That was the third edition. Second came with Orks and Space Marines and had three rule books. Plus it had the dark millenium expansion.

 

[Gorfinger]

Haha! Oh well, I had it laying about gathering dust so I thought I would pitch the idea BUT oh well. Thanks for the clarification!

Jay

 

[Tankdriver]

I just found the second edition on Ebay. No codexes though.

 

[Gorfinger]

haha good luck hunting them all down!

 

[Tankdriver]

Maybe we should get back on topic.

 

[Gorfinger]

Indeed! So yes, ahem... as I stated earlier I honestly cant see D&D totally floping due to the very name and market that follows it BUT, I do believe that the new edition will not go over well at all. So far from most of the table based gamers I have talked to they indeed DON'T look forward to its arrival on the scene... but time will tell if it was a good or poor move.

 

[Tankdriver]

I was not all that impressed with 3E or 3.5 and 4E seems to be more of the same. I think if Mongoose could get ahold of it and go old school, it would be a hit.

 

[AKAramis]

4E will probably sell just fine. It may not appeal to the older generation, but it is going to make a decent bridge for the CRPGers looking for more flexibility...

and that's probably a good thing for the industry. Not, perhaps, for the grognards, but for the industry.

 

[Gorfinger]

Yea I agree AK, its just hard that with the flexibility of online gaming comes the shaving losses of sitting at a table face to face with friends. However, it’s nice for people like myself who live in Nowhere America and cannot find a solid group to game with. Again though, that means its time for the hardcore tabletopers to move onto newer greener pastures!

 

[Tankdriver]

I remember talking to a guy who was running a 3.5 game near here. All the guy talked about were stats and character gen. Now I like character generation too, but the whole preoccupation of what your stats were was what got me. The guy could not tell me anything about any of the characters that did not come from a table. And the min/maxing was horrible.
Yes, I am an old fogey, but it is ROLEplaying games. Not ROLLplaying games.

 

[AKAramis]

I remember talking to a guy who was running a 3.5 game near here. All the guy talked about were stats and character gen. Now I like character generation too, but the whole preoccupation of what your stats were was what got me. The guy could not tell me anything about any of the characters that did not come from a table. And the min/maxing was horrible.
Yes, I am an old fogey, but it is ROLEplaying games. Not ROLLplaying games.

You are not enough of an old fogey, then. D&D starts as an extension to Chainmail, a minis game.

Hack-n-slash seems to have been the Gygaxian norm through the mid 80's and beyond, treating dungeons almost as a board-less board games.

 

[Tankdriver]

I got into the game in 1980-81 at the young age of 10. About a year later I played in my first convention, as an assassin. Why an assassin, because it fit my attributes. Now my assassin was not a maniac psycho killer. he was more professional. Professional enough to know this adventure was not his mission. Like I said I was only 11 or so, so the DM made sure I sat next to him so I could get help as needed. Odd to say, I became one of the voices of reason when a a late arrival, a power-gaming mage tried to take over the party.
Throughout the adventure, we had the help of two lizardpeople, male and female, blue and pink respectively. To keep the members of the VERY large group (about 12 players before mr. powergamer and his friend arrived) the DM-controlled lizards played rock paper and scissors for treasure.

I do not have the slightest clue what the attributes of that characters stats were, but I remember that game like it was yesterday. my first kill in a AD&D game: an Axe-beak. My first party saving mood: Following the hints the DM gave us to determine we needed to heal the goblin we were fighting to kill it. My first big treasure score: After a sliding wall trap in a C-shaped room had jellied the power-gamer, I used my hammer and spike to block the wall in place, opening a safe passage to a HUGE pile of treasure. Even got a magical, wish-granting lamp out of it.