In honor of D&D's 40th Anniversery...

[bsquishwizzy]

Rework a classic P&P quest from the old days of D&D. Haunted Halls of Eveningstar is nice, but let's face it: old D&D was Blackmoor, Oerth, and Grayhawk.

There is so much material to choose from. I find it hard to believe that at least one of those modules couldn't be reimagined into a set of 2 or 3 quests.

[Chaios]

Rework a classic P&P quest from the old days of D&D. Haunted Halls of Eveningstar is nice, but let's face it: old D&D was Blackmoor, Oerth, and Grayhawk.

There is so much material to choose from. I find it hard to believe that at least one of those modules couldn't be reimagined into a set of 2 or 3 quests.

Doo eet!

[Memnir]

As much as I agree, and would love to see some other classic modules brought into DDO.. Turbine is very much at the mercy of Wizards of the Coast when it comes to matter such as this. Inferring from a lot of what has been said, I think FR was a protracted negotiation. And then to be able to convert Haunted Halls was an even more protracted affair after that. Since it seems like FR is what WotC wants to hype - I doubt we'll see any Greyhawk era material anytime soon. Definitely not in time for the anniversary, at any rate.

[dunklezhan]

As much as I agree, and would love to see some other classic modules brought into DDO.. Turbine is very much at the mercy of Wizards of the Coast when it comes to matter such as this. Inferring from a lot of what has been said, I think FR was a protracted negotiation. And then to be able to convert Haunted Halls was an even more protracted affair after that. Since it seems like FR is what WotC wants to hype - I doubt we'll see any Greyhawk era material anytime soon. Definitely not in time for the anniversary, at any rate.

Then they should stop spending so much money on lawyers and get back to making Eberron content

[bennyson]

Then they should stop spending so much money on lawyers and get back to making Eberron content

Agree

[bsquishwizzy]

As much as I agree, and would love to see some other classic modules brought into DDO.. Turbine is very much at the mercy of Wizards of the Coast when it comes to matter such as this. Inferring from a lot of what has been said, I think FR was a protracted negotiation. And then to be able to convert Haunted Halls was an even more protracted affair after that. Since it seems like FR is what WotC wants to hype - I doubt we'll see any Greyhawk era material anytime soon. Definitely not in time for the anniversary, at any rate.

This is the thing I’ve never understood.

As far as I can tell, WotC has the rights to the Grayhawk campaign, and most of the modules. They still sell them. I believe they have the rights to the older, non-campaign type stuff that can be transplanted in to just about any campaign. They are cash cows at this point. It is a no-brainer to get a small license fee from Turbine / Warner Bros. as a re-release of old material. They literally have nothing to lose here.

The newer stuff has obligations that need to be met: pushing new material to pay for its development, and so on. But the older stuff is basically paid for at this point, and has a fraction of this cost of newer stuff. Any cut of the royalties is simply money in the bank and little else.

From WotC’s perspective, this should be an arrangement with minor complications. There is more money to be made with less effort with the old stuff as opposed to the new stuff.

Then again, much of what goes on in the business world these days makes very little sense to me…

[Memnir]

Well, it also depends greatly on where WotC wants to put their focus. When DDO first launched - it was placed in Eberron because Eberron was the shiny new setting. And WotC was pushing the hell out of it, trying to make it the new FR. DDO's setting had little to do with Turbine's development ideas, or because it was a popular setting. It was placed in Eberron because that was WotC's main goal and focus at the time and they told Turbine that this would be the setting.


We received FR mostly (I believe) due to DDO players' constant demands for a FR setting - and the fact that WotC is refocusing on FR as it's primary setting. But in order to protect their current corporate agenda with the Realms - they don't want to muddy the message by putting out a lot of material, in any media, that is different. Sure, Greyhawk has legions of fans - many of whom may like to see Greyhawk put into DDO. Ditto Planescape, Krynn, Ravenloft, etc. But WotC likely doesn't want to possibly derail their FR plans by allowing those settings back into the zeitgeist and draw attention away from FR.


As fans, we see it as a rich library to be drawn upon and enjoyed as a whole. For WotC, it's an intellectual property that must be carefully tended to and shepherded in order to maintain the current brand identity. Right now, FR is D&D's brand identity. Much like how in 06 it was Eberron. And that's why I doubt we'll see Greyhawk (or any other setting) in DDO, no matter how much we as fans would be overjoyed by them. Myself - I think Planescape would be a naturalistic expansion, and a hub to link all of D&D's settings under the DDO umbrella. But, I know in my head that it's never going to happen - even though my little geek heart would swell to overflowing if it did.

[bsquishwizzy]

Not disagreeing with what you said, because it sounds very reasonable. However, many of that early stuff was pretty generic as far as settings. For example, Keep on the Borderlands was pretty setting-neutral. They could fir it in somewhere.

Then again, that’s low-level content.

Likewise, an MMO player joining DDO is unlikely to join D&D. However, there is a HUGE contingent here that started with D&D, and is now playing DDO. And those guys already know or are playing FR or Ebberon.

Like I said: I’m not disputing what you’ve pointed out. But WotC does not own this game. And Turbine is pushing FR already. Some of the older content can be easily “retro-fitted” into the existing areas.

[Seikojin]

As much as I agree, and would love to see some other classic modules brought into DDO.. Turbine is very much at the mercy of Wizards of the Coast when it comes to matter such as this. Inferring from a lot of what has been said, I think FR was a protracted negotiation. And then to be able to convert Haunted Halls was an even more protracted affair after that. Since it seems like FR is what WotC wants to hype - I doubt we'll see any Greyhawk era material anytime soon. Definitely not in time for the anniversary, at any rate.

^This^

I would love to see more modules brought on, but I doubt it will be anytime soon.

And who plays in settings they don't design? I mean even as a kid the games I played in weren't one setting or another. They were the GM's setting. Only in my teens did we actually care about that stuff.

[Memnir]

But WotC does not own this game. And Turbine is pushing FR already.

Yes, they do. WotC and Hasbro have all the rights to it - Turbine is just leasing the license to develop a D&D game. As soon as that license ends - the lights go out.

Turbine only was able to develop FR content because they received permission to do so.

[bsquishwizzy]

Yes, they do. WotC and Hasbro have all the rights to it - Turbine is just leasing the license to develop a D&D game. As soon as that license ends - the lights go out.

Turbine only was able to develop FR content because they received permission to do so.

That's not what I am saying.

WotC / Hasbro have rights to Ebberon and FR - yes. However, as far as I am aware, they do not dictate the content of the game. They do not dictate to Turbine that they make a Gianthold area, for example. They don't tell Turbine what to put in their game. They do have some boundaries as to what Turbine can do with their license, but that is often easily resolved by basically paying WotC more money to expand permissions.

So, it is possible. it all then becomes a matter of having the desire to do it. Adding Grayhawk? That won't happen. Re-imagining a Grayhawk-ish quest? That is possible.

But I agree...lawyers will get involved.